UC Berkeley and property owner Ken Sarachan are close to a joint-venture development deal for the long-empty lot at the north-east corner of Haste and Telegraph, which means that new student housing might be in place there by August 2017. “We are in negotiations, deep negotiations,” said Robert Lalanne, UC’s Vice-Chancellor for Real Estate. Lalanne said he would like to think they are getting very close to a deal. The university would take over Sarachan’s entitlement of the proposed development for the site: a six-story Moorish, palace-like structure inspired by Italian hill towns, Tibetan forts and the rock-cut architecture of Petra in Jordan. The university would then turn over the project to a developer, who would build the structure. Lalanne declined to name the developer as a contract had not been signed. If the deal goes through, it would put an end to a 25-year saga that has vexed the city of Berkeley and Sarachan alike. City Councilman Kriss Worthington, who represents the area, once said that the lot “creates more noise complaints, more rats, and more trash than any other single address in his district.” But because the story of the lot has been so long and tortured, Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates said […]
UC Berkeley and property owner Ken Sarachan are close to a joint-venture development deal for the long-empty lot at the north-east corner of Haste and Telegraph, which means that new student housing might be in place there by August 2017. “We are in negotiations, deep negotiations,” said Robert Lalanne, UC’s Vice-Chancellor for Real Estate. Lalanne said he would like to think they are getting very close to a deal. The university would take over Sarachan’s entitlement of the proposed development for the site: a six-story Moorish, palace-like structure inspired by Italian hill towns, Tibetan forts and the rock-cut architecture of Petra in Jordan. The university would then turn over the project to a developer, who would build the structure. Lalanne declined to name the developer as a contract had not been signed. If the deal goes through, it would put an end to a 25-year saga that has vexed the city of Berkeley and Sarachan alike. City Councilman Kriss Worthington, who represents the area, once said that the lot “creates more noise complaints, more rats, and more trash than any other single address in his district.” But because the story of the lot has been so long and tortured, Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates said […]
