Parcel H at Brooklyn Basin is finally coming off the blueprint and into the skyline. Construction crews are busy on the Oakland waterfront site, where the first phase of a five-story, townhouse-style building is starting to rise. The project, led by Signature Development Group, will bring 83 townhouse-style apartments with ground-floor stoops and a podium garage, even as work continues on the neighboring plaza and park. For neighbors walking along the Clinton Basin, the long-promised waterfront district is shifting from renderings to real, lived-in blocks.
Phase one: what’s been approved
City planning records describe Phase 1 as a five-story building with 83 units and about 2,663 square feet of ground-floor retail or community space, consistent with the Final Development Permit for Parcel H. The Oakland City Planning Commission records the Phase 1 building height at 58 feet and notes that the parcel is planned to be built in two phases.
What crews are building now
On-site photos and reporting indicate the structure will yield roughly 155,570 square feet of gross floor area, with about 109,780 square feet devoted to housing and a podium garage sized for 83 cars, plus bicycle storage on the ground floor. SF YIMBY captured recent construction progress and reports that the Phase 1 unit mix includes 15 one-bedroom homes and 68 two-bedroom homes, with Hawk Development serving as the general contractor.
Design and team
TCA Architects, the design firm behind Parcel H, describes the Phase 1 concept as a "stacked towns" approach that uses setbacks, varied massing and human-scale articulation to visually break down the building’s bulk. TCA Architects explains that the configuration was chosen to provide townhome-style ownership options in a mid-rise format while staying within the Brooklyn Basin design guidelines.
Where it sits and the park across the street
Parcel H spans about 2.14 acres along 8th Avenue, between Brooklyn Basin Way and Harbor Lane East, and it will look directly onto the new Brooklyn Basin Plaza at the head of Clinton Basin. According to Brooklyn Basin, the plaza is already under construction and is expected to open later this year, giving Parcel H a front-row seat to a key public space once residents move in.
Big-picture context
The Brooklyn Basin master plan covers roughly 64 acres of former industrial land along the Oakland waterfront and has been updated in recent years to boost housing capacity. Oakland City Planning Commission materials show that entitlements were expanded in 2023 to allow up to 3,700 units as the project evolves. Signature Development Group and city planning records describe Parcel H as one of several gateway sites expected to layer in housing, retail and park space as the new waterfront neighborhood fills out.
