Features

If all goes well in a Thursday night hearing at the Design Review Commission (DRC), construction of an 80-unit low-income senior housing project at 1535 University Ave. can start soon. 

The meeting begins at 7:30 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst Ave. 

The project by Satellite Housing, a Berkeley-based builder of low-income housing, received the last of its needed funding in June, and construction is scheduled to begin in late October or early November. 

The design by Berkeley architect Erick Mitiken of Mitiken Associates, won high praise in earlier appearances before the panel, which nonetheless asked for minor changes. 

The project’s studio and one- and two-bedroom apartments are reserved for tenants making from 30 percent to 60 percent of the Oakland-area average median income, with rents ranging from $435 to $931 monthly. 

The four-story, 80,501-square-foot project at the northeast corner of University Avenue and Sacramento Street features 33 parking spaces, 12 for commercial tenants and 21 for residents. 

The project will also feature colorful murals by noted Berkeley artist Juana Alicia. 

The Zoning Adjustments Board gave the project its approval in February. 

DRC is also scheduled to give its final verdict on Prince Hall Arms, a proposed four-story housing structure with ground floor retail and space for a Masonic lodge at 3132 Martin Luther King Jr. Way. 

The long-delayed project has had a tough time winning DRC approval. 

Also on the agenda is a preliminary review of designs for seismic and accessibility upgrades of a 55,831-square-foot mixed use building at 2424 Ridge Road.›