Rockridge never saw it coming.
Residents and elected officials in the Oakland neighborhood said they were blindsided by the news Wednesday that a San Francisco developer had submitted plans to shutter the neighborhood’s two-decades old Trader Joe’s store on a tree-lined stretch of College Avenue, and replace it with two residential towers, the taller of the two soaring to 31-story stories.
The project developer, Align Real Estate, said the ambitious proposal is an effort to address unmet demand for senior housing in a neighborhood where many retirees and empty-nesters are stuck in big homes that would be better suited for families. The lack of new multi-family development has contributed to a shortage that has driven the median cost of a Rockridge home to $1.7 million…