Presenter: Bill Shrader, The Austin Group and Ryan Call, ELS

Please join BDA for a discussion of Berkeley’s newest downtown development. Berkeley Plaza is a proposed 8-story mixed use project at 2065 Kittredge, with 187 units and ground-floor commercial space. The project provides an opportunity to reconsider the use and design of Harold Way. Ryan Call of ELS will outline a collaborative charette, co-hosted with BDA, to rethink the design of Harold Way.

Harold Way, home to Dharma College, connects to the YMCA on the north and Berkeley's Public Library on the south. The proposed Berkeley Plaza development will bring new opportunities to add life to this street long left lifeless due to the existing service dock and back of house functions of the existing retail and theater uses. The charette to rethink the street design could explore the potential of full closure, partial closure, woonerf (living street) concepts, or a more pedestrian friendly traditional urban street. While it may not serve as a central gathering place for the larger city, it could add to the experiential variety of public space experiences offered in Downtown Berkeley, making for a more livable and prosperous downtown.

Meeting Location: Spats, 1974 Shattuck Ave, Berkeley, CA 94704