Construction Starts
- Livable El Cerrito
- Dec 11, 2025
- 3 min read
Construction of a 6-story, 70-unit apartment building near the Plaza BART station started Monday (Dec. 8.) Heavy equipment began clearing the site -- a former parking lot on the northwest corner of Central Avenue and Richmond Street.
The building at 515 Richmond St. was approved by the City Council in April 2023, before the rest of the 743 apartments which are planned for the parking lots at El Cerrito Plaza BART. Five more buildings have approvals but are not yet funded.
Project Manager Maceo Martinez discussed the modular construction plan for the building in an interview today (Dec. 11) with Livable El Cerrito.
“We’ll be out here for a year and a half or so. We will do a lot of digging to put in underground infrastructure like plumbing and electrical. Our deepest excavation is around seven feet. It will all be backfilled and then we’ll pour our concrete foundation, probably in January or February.”
On Dec. 9, the construction attracted El Cerrito resident Tiffany Blaho, her parents, and her son, Neil, who was watching the action from his stroller. Every morning that she works, Blaho walks Neil down the Greenway to her parents’ house. Neil’s grandfather, Larry Marczak, said he and his grandson watched Monday as the crew cut down trees.
The project’s chain link fencing includes a small viewing area on Central Avenue that is not covered in fabric.
The building at 515 Richmond St. will consist of 1-, 2-, and 3-bedroom apartments for low, very-low, and extremely-low-income family households. The 70-unit project will have 29 parking spaces, including one for a shared car, and a secure bike storage room with space for 106 bikes.
Project Manager Martinez said the modular building will be a “podium project.” Once the at-grade concrete slab foundation is done, crews will add concrete floors and columns to support a second slab that will become the second floor of the building.
The first floor will be used for common areas including the parking garage, which will have “parking stackers,” so cars can be parked on two different levels.
The residential floors will consist of modular units that will be manufactured by Autovol in Nampa, Idaho.
Construction time is reduced because the modular units are being built in a factory while a crew works at the building site.
“Our building will go from a concrete podium to a fully framed building in three to four weeks,” Martinez said.
Work on the exterior will follow, and the building should be completed in June 2027, he said.
The 515 Richmond Street project received funding from state and local government sources, along with federal Low Income Housing tax credits.
The city of El Cerrito contributed $970,000, including $350,000 from the city’s Affordable Housing Trust fund balance, and $620,000 that was awarded to the city from the State’s Prohousing Incentive Program (PIP).
Other funding included $5.38 million from Contra Costa County and $2.4 million from the Metropolitan Transportation Commission’s Bay Area Housing Finance Authority.
Affordable housing is exempt from property tax. However, the project will pay other city assessments, including Measure J, Measure H and Landscape and Lighting, according to Community Development Director Melanie Mintz.
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