Overseen by the Transbay Joint Powers Authority (TJPA), the Transbay program includes the creation of the Transit Center District. The high-density mixed-use neighborhood currently under construction will have retail space, hotels, open space, market-rate housing, and a high proportion of affordable housing. “We’re building a place where people will be able to take public transit to all points of the Bay Area, the state, the region, and the United States. But it will also be a place where people can come and take a break from their daily lives through our retail, restaurants, public art, parks, gardens, amphitheater, and plazas,” says Maria Ayerdi-Kaplan, executive director of the TJPA
The district has a significant affordable housing component: of the 4,400 units of new housing, 1,200 will be permanently affordable. Bridge Housing, for example, is also providing 109 units of below-market-rate family units at Transbay Block 9. That multifamily complex on Folsom Street also includes 436 market-rate units created by Palo Alto-based equity partner Essex Property Trust and local developer TMG Partners.