From the San Francisco Business Times:
Ernst Valery is pursuing Richmond development with a focus on inclusion and equitability. His development partnership, SAA|EVI, is behind some of the most progressive housing and mixed-use projects in the country.
Anyone who’s lived in the Bay Area – or in any region with a fast-growing economy – is all too familiar with the debate that rages around any new development. The competing forces are, on the one hand, the need for more development to help solve the regional housing crisis, and on the other, the opposition to that development on account of its tendency to irrevocably alter the character of the neighborhood and push current residents out.
SAA|EVI, a community partner and real estate development organization, says it’s committed to making sure that doesn’t happen in Richmond.
The company held a groundbreaking ceremony in July 2018 to build the new Richmond Business Hub, a space for a food hall and Co-Biz, a co-working hub and business incubator. In addition, SAA|EVI recently executed a disposition and development agreement with the City of Richmond for its mixed-use redevelopment of two blocks of Macdonald Ave in Downtown Richmond, between 11th and 13th Streets. The approved agreement calls for 54,000 square feet of new commercial space and up to 378 housing units, some of which will be offered at affordable rates.
SAA|EVI says that with the Richmond project they’re applying a model for redevelopment that it calls “development without displacement.” This model seeks to bring all the benefits associated with development – increased investment, better business opportunities for residents, affordable housing for workers priced out of other neighborhoods – without losing current residents along the way…