![\"An](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Screenshot-2025-12-19-at-4.29.04-PM.png\")
A rendering depicts the first phase of projects planned for the North Berkeley BART station. An 85-unit permanent supportive housing building from Insight Housing is in the foreground at the corner of Sacramento and Virginia streets, with two more planned affordable buildings behind it. Credit: PYATOK architecture + urban design<\/p>\n
The plan to build more than 700 apartments above the North Berkeley BART station took a couple of steps forward this month, as two nonprofits applied for building permits from the city to construct affordable housing developments at the site.<\/p>\n
But the timeline for construction of one of Berkeley\u2019s most closely watched housing projects<\/a> has slipped by another year, according to a BART spokesperson.\u00a0<\/p>\n City and transit system officials once planned for a developer to break ground on the project in 2025; then in March, BART said construction wouldn\u2019t begin until at least early 2026<\/a>. BART spokesperson Chris Filippi told Berkeleyside this week that North Berkeley Housing Partners<\/a> \u2014 a team of four affordable and market-rate developers tapped to lead the project<\/a> \u2014 has informed the transit agency that the \u201cearliest possible groundbreaking\u201d will be in early 2027.<\/p>\n Plans for the development<\/a> call for building a total of 739 apartments, 381 of which would be dedicated as affordable housing, at 13 buildings on what is now an 8-acre parking lot. North Berkeley Housing Partners is led by the affordable developer BRIDGE Housing, and also includes nonprofits East Bay Asian Local Development Corporation (EBALDC) and Insight Housing, as well as the for-profit company AvalonBay.\u00a0<\/p>\n North Berkeley is one of several BART stations where officials and developers are working to convert commuter parking lots into transit-oriented villages. One stop up the line from North Berkeley, crews have broken ground on a similar project at the El Cerrito Plaza station; BART chose a development team<\/a> earlier this year to lead a project at the Ashby station in South Berkeley.<\/p>\n After years of debate, and the passage of state laws speeding up the approval process for development on BART property and housing in general, city planning staff approved the North Berkeley project in late 2024. But like other housing projects<\/a>, the plans for North Berkeley BART have faced economic challenges, including rising construction costs, high interest rates and softening market-rate rents<\/a> that make for-profit projects more difficult to build.<\/p>\n Affordable housing developers sought building permits from city this month <\/p>\n The city\u2019s online permit center shows Berkeley-based Insight Housing applied for building permits on Dec. 3 for its project at the corner of Sacramento and Virginia streets, a six-story permanent supportive housing building with 85 apartments. EBALDC spokesperson Emma Falley said the Oakland-based nonprofit did the same last week. Records show<\/a> the organization plans to build a six-story, 60-unit project at Sacramento and Delaware streets.<\/p>\n