Alameda, California

As part of the Defense Base Relocation and Closure Act (BRAC), the US Navy designated 87 acres of the former Alameda Naval Air Station and the Fleet Industrial Supply Center and East Housing Area to be closed and redeveloped.

This brownfield site was transformed through a public/private joint venture, to create Bayport Alameda: a vibrant, sustainable, mixed-income community designed according to New Urbanist principles of traditional neighborhood development. The new street grid is not walled off from the surrounding City, instead acting as an extension of the City of Alameda’s existing street network. All of the community’s homes are clustered around a centrally-located K-8 public school and a 4-acre community park, and four smaller pocketparks are also located throughout the project area. Single-family and duplex homes, as well as multi-family affordable housing, line up along the pedestrian-friendly grid of treelined streets, creating an appealing human-scaled environment with a strong sense of place. Garages all face rear alleyways, which were designed with a dual purpose: not only do they allow for vehicular and service access, but they also help to collect and channel storm water, eventually depositing runoff into an on-site bioretention treatment pond, achieving 100% on-site storm water treatment.