PYATOK ARCHITECTS NEWSLETTER:::SPRING 2010

In recent years, Pyatok Architects has developed award-winning affordable, market rate, and student housing, multi-use facilities, preservation projects, and TODs.


	In the face of the proposed market–rate development in a prime Oakland location, neighborhood activists and citizen groups joined forces to fight for affordable housing. Led by the Coalition for Workforce Housing, the protesters fought for several years, staging marches and rallies, mailing postcards and writing op-eds, and persuading Oakland’s City Council to oppose the Mayor’s plan. In 2003, the coalition succeeded. Oakland’s city council and mayor agreed to set aside a valuable part of the development for a stand–alone affordable housing complex. Six years later, working families and individuals moved into their new homes at Fox Courts.

IN THE MIDST OF THE DOT-COM BOOM OF THE LATE 1990s, Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown saw a golden opportunity. Mere blocks from City Hall and practically visible from Brown’s office, was an historically neglected area called “Uptown.” Little more than a patchwork of parking lots, it was prime real estate for redevelopment. With the right combination of market-rate apartments and nightlife, Oakland could become “the place to live” for all the dot-comers who worked in high-priced San Francisco but wanted more reasonably priced housing near major public transit. The Uptown area could be the key piece of Mayor Brown’s 10K Initiative, his cornerstone political campaign to bring 10,000 new residents to downtown Oakland.

Within a year, Mayor Brown found a developer to take on the project (due in no small part to the $60 million subsidy that Brown promised). Forest City Enterprises proposed building about 800 units of hip, attractive, market-rate housing that would serve as the centerpiece for the new Oakland Arts and Entertainment District. Oakland looked like it might be the next hotspot for urban living in the San Francisco Bay area.

What Mayor Brown did not see from his office was the community resistance that would rise against his plan. Within months of the announcement of his 10K Plan, a group called the Coalition for Workforce Housing (CWH) formed, ready to fight efforts to gentrify downtown Oakland. (Visit Causa Justa - Just Cause for current organization.) In 1999, the CWH submitted their demands to the City Council: if the Uptown area was to be developed, at least 25% of it must be affordable housing for working individuals and families. The people of Oakland were not going to be pushed aside by sweetheart deals for developers that wanted to serve only well–off up–and–comers.


	Opened in 2009, Fox Courts is an 80-unit affordable housing development for working individuals and families. Its signature features include: two central courtyards that allow natural ventilation in all the apartments, studio lofts and stacked townhouses; streetfront stoops and on-site childcare; tiles and murals produced by local artists to reflect local identities; and its prime location in a resurging neighborhood in downtown Oakland and near major transit systems. Developer: Resources for Community Development Architect: Pyatok Architects Contractor: JH Fitzmaurice


	On each of the four sides of Fox Courts is art produced by local artists to reflect local identities. On the north, west, and south facades, hand-carved tiles by K. Ruby Blume depict the ethnic heritage of people who live in Oakland today (Latinos, Asian Americans, African Americans, Native Americans). On the east facade, muralists Eduardo Pineda and Joachin Newman created two murals based on the designs of local high school students from the neighboring Oakland School for the Arts.

FOR THE NEXT FEW YEARS, the battle was on. In 2001, the CWH organized a “gentrification tour” that built opposition to the market-rate development. In the same year, Oakland’s City Council called Mayor Brown on the carpet to debate the need for affordable housing in the Uptown development. In 2003, with the assistance of professional architects and developers, the CWH submitted an alternative development proposal showing how much affordable housing was really possible on the Uptown site.

The pressure on Mayor Brown continued as supporters wrote op–ed pieces, mailed hundreds of postcards to the City Council, attended several City Council meetings en masse, and marched on Mayor Brown’s home in protest.

In November of 2003, the CWH’s efforts were rewarded. The City Council and Mayor Brown agreed to set aside 27% of the development for affordable housing, including a stand–alone building in a prime location next to the historic Fox Theatre. The next year, Resources for Community Development and Pyatok Architects were chosen through a highly competitive process as the developer and architect of this new affordable home for working individuals and families.

Fox Courts, an 80–unit affordable housing development for individuals and families, is the product of that struggle for housing equity. When Fox Courts opened in 2009, it marked the culmination of a decade–long battle for convenient, attractive, affordable housing. Today, as families settle in this vibrant, downtown neighborhood, it stands as a symbol of the community standing up to powerful development interests — and winning.


	Fox Courts is a model of sustainable affordable housing. Not only is it centrally located near public transit, but it was designed with numerous elements of energy–saving technology in its design. The building’s common areas are powered by 297 photovoltaic panels on the roof. Every apartment has Energy Star appliances and uses hydronic heat radiators instead of forced air heaters or electrical units. Environmentally friendly materials such as low–VOC carpeting and geniune linoleum flooring are found throughout the building. All together, these sustainable and efficient systems combined to earn Fox Courts the 2nd highest GreenPoint Rating (143) in the state of California.

Recent projects are located in the San Francisco Bay area, the Central Valley, Southern California, Washington, Arizona, Hawaii, the Phillipines, and Malaysia.



2009 GOLD NUGGET Mixed Use Housing and Health Clinic	Merced, CA Student Residences LEED Gold	Lodi, CA Affordable Senior Housing

2009 GOLD NUGGET Affordable Senior Housing	Oakland, CA Affordable Senior Housing 2007 Preservation Design Award	San Francisco, CA Mixed-Use Housing and Retail

PYATOK ARCHITECTS 1611 Telegraph Avenue Suite 200, Oakland, CA 94612 P. 510.465.7010 www.pyatok.com