Features

Zoning Adjustments Board members gave their final approval to building plans that will transform a landmarked automotive showroom into a Buddhist studies center. 

The exuberant embodiment of Art Deco design, the Howard Automotive Building at 2140 Durant Ave., has been an official Berkeley landmark since 1983, when baseball great Reggie Jackson sold Chevrolets there. 

The structure’s origins are linked to yet another sporting legend, a remarkable race horse named Seabiscuit, owned by Charles Howard Stewart, who commissioned the structure in 1930 as part of his multi-state dealership empire. 

The building languished after Jackson closed his salesroom, and various plans for its development failed—although one did yield a meticulous restoration to its former state of glory. 

The Buddhist Churches of America bought the structure, and filed designs that call for the addition of a two-story residential and office addition over the former shop area on the southern flank of the building along Fulton Street. 

Landmarks Preservation Commissioners—who have final say over the designs—ordered modifications, which have been implemented by Emeryville architect Sady S. Hayashida. All that remains to be resolved is the color scheme for the addition. 

The structure will house offices of the church, facilities for the Institute for Buddhist Studies, a book store, living quarters for visiting scholars and an underground parking level beneath the existing lot on Durant. 

ZAB members voted their approval without discussion or public comment. 

They also gave their nod to Satellite Housing’s application to build a 79-unit senior housing complex at 1535 University Ave. 

The use permit will allow construction to begin later this year on the four-story, 80,501-square-foot project which has won praise from the Design Review Committee (DRC). 

If all goes as planned, the structure will be ready for occupancy in two years. 

The use permit ZAB approved calls for 16 units to be permanently reserved as low-income inclusionary units, and federal funding requirements and an agreement with the city housing department mandate that all the other 63 units be rented to low-income seniors. 

Wendy Alfsen, of Walk and Roll Berkeley, asked ZAB members to require a transportation plan with the city, while a project neighbor worried that the construction of four- and five-story buildings along University would destroy the sense of neighborhood. 

Alon Chaver, who owns a fourplex next to the project worried about the building blocking winter sun from his property and questioned the amount of parking. 

But the board liked the project, and voted their approval with only Dean Metzger in opposition. 

The project heads back to the DRC for final approval. 

The one remaining issue is the murals Satellite plans for the structure. The non-profit firm has asked local muralist Juana Alicia [see the Nov. 30, 2004 Daily Planet], whose colorful creations in the tradition of the great Mexican muralists evoked some concern from DRC member Carrie Olson, who hoped for works in the more staid Bernard Maybeck tradition.