A Novato-based property owner has filed preliminary permits for a new housing proposal that would carve 40 acres of wooded Oakland Hills land into 56 separate lots, with 54 single-family houses and six multifamily buildings adding up to 216 dwelling units at full build-out. The site sits at 5885 Skyline Boulevard, tucked into terrain that overlooks the highway roads approaching the Caldecott Tunnel and the North Oakland Regional Sports Center.
The filing was detailed by San Francisco YIMBY, which reports that SJ Management LLC, the Novato firm that owns the property, is behind the latest iteration of plans for the parcel. The land sits near Skyline Boulevard, Grizzly Peak Boulevard, and Tunnel Road, and was once part of the historic Merriewood tract, according to the same report. Today the property remains covered with eucalyptus trees, oaks, redwoods, and other trees, a wooded character that has shaped how the site has been approached over nearly a decade of shifting plans.
Oakland describes its Wildland-Urban Interface Fire Area as terrain marked by steep slopes, hot and dry seasons, high winds and limited emergency access—conditions that make fire safety a significant consideration in hillside development. The city says the 1991 Tunnel Fire killed 25 people and destroyed 3,469 houses and apartments, and expanded its very-high-hazard zone to cover the WUI area. Those citywide designations do not establish this parcel’s specific status; Oakland provides an address lookup map for that determination. Oakland’s wildfire-area and hazard-zone information
A Decade of Changing Blueprints
This isn't the first time SJ Management has tried to develop the hillside parcel. Back in 2016, the company submitted a proposal for just 50 single-family houses and a senior care facility, the outlet's report notes. By 2019, that plan had grown substantially — the company expanded its proposal to 198 dwelling units, which in one account included 67 single-family homes alongside a 131-unit senior housing complex.
The numbers get murkier from there. A separate 2021 filing covered by the same outlet described the 2019 expansion differently, characterizing it as 131 multifamily dwelling units at market and affordable rates, with a total of 198 units reserved as senior housing. That 2021 account also described the parcel itself at a different scale than the current filing — a 39.2-acre site divided into just twelve lots, compared with the 40 acres and 56 lots now on the table. The discrepancies reflect how the project has been described across different filings over time rather than a single settled plan.
Who's Behind the Project
The 2021 preliminary application identified a fuller project team: Mandalay Realty as the developer, SJ Management LLC as the property owner, and Clark Civil Engineering managing the design concepts, per that year's filing. That version of the plan called for a mix of single-family dwellings, multifamily dwellings, and senior housing. At the time, the project was described as under review, with no estimated construction timeline announced.
A preliminary filing is not necessarily a project approval. Oakland offers a vesting preliminary housing application under SB 330, which the city says is intended to establish the zoning, design, subdivision and fee requirements that apply to a proposal. The state housing department explains that this process lets applicants submit limited project information before a full application and, after filing and paying the fee, freeze applicable fees and development standards while assembling the remaining materials. Oakland’s description of its SB 330 preliminary application and the state’s explanation of the process provide context, though the current proposal’s precise filing type is not specified here.
Other Hillside Projects Nearby
The Oakland Hills have seen other housing activity along the same corridor. Earlier this year, a proposal at 11880 Skyline Boulevard pivoted toward affordable housing, with plans to bring 31 units of affordable housing in a four-story residential complex, the outlet's report notes. That application was filed by Maracor Development through an entity called Skyline Redwood LLC, separate from the ownership group behind the 5885 Skyline Boulevard site.
The proposal also sits within a citywide housing-planning obligation: Oakland must plan for 26,251 new homes between 2023 and 2031 under the state’s Regional Housing Needs Allocation. If all 216 units in the Skyline proposal were built, they would represent about 0.8% of that planning target; the target covers housing needs across income levels and is not a measure of units already approved or completed. Oakland’s Housing Element sets out the city’s allocation.
Together, the filings point to renewed development interest along Skyline Boulevard's hillside corridor, even as the specifics of the 5885 Skyline Boulevard plan continue to shift from one filing to the next. For now, the preliminary permits mark another chapter in a proposal that has changed shape repeatedly since it first surfaced a decade ago.
