A development proposal for a tiny sliver of land in Oakland’s Pill Hill neighborhood has ballooned once again, this time into a 20-story affordable housing tower with 334 dwelling units, alongside a residential conversion of the adjacent Saw Mill Furniture Building. The site at 3403 Piedmont Avenue sits on just 0.4 acres, wedged between Broadway, Piedmont Avenue, and Interstate 580.
The latest numbers mark a dramatic jump from where this project started. As reported by San Francisco YIMBY, developer and project sponsor oWow began the initial planning process back in 2022, when the proposal called for an eight-story building with just 73 units, according to Kidder. oWow is serving as both developer and project architect on the site.
From there, the project grew in stages. By mid-2023, the plan had expanded to 93 units by tapping the State Density Bonus program, with 24 of those units set aside as deed-restricted affordable housing, per an earlier account. By October 2024, the proposal had grown again to 105 units across an eight-story complex, this time invoking Assembly Bill 1287 to secure a 53% density bonus, with 29 deed-restricted affordable units split between three for very-low-income households and 26 for moderate-income households, the same report noted. That 2024 version also pushed the building’s height beyond its prior 85-foot cap to fit double-height penthouse apartments with mezzanines on the eighth floor.
A Much Taller Vision Emerges
The newest iteration leaves those earlier numbers in the dust, now proposing a 20-story tower paired with a residential conversion of the historic Saw Mill Furniture Building. The project’s application designates four residences specifically for on-site property managers, and plans to merge the parcels into a single lot to accommodate the design. Parking would include space for 98 cars and roughly 200 bicycles…