After years of glossy renderings and big promises, something is finally happening on the ground at West Oakland BART. The agency has closed part of the station parking lot this week so crews can drill, sample and poke around under the asphalt, early work that BART says will lead into site remediation and building construction later this year. The long-planned Mandela Station project would turn the roughly five-acre parking lot into housing, offices and shops, and riders should brace for temporary parking headaches as the early testing rolls through. For now, the soil rigs and fencing are the clearest sign yet that the stalled plan is inching toward real construction.
What The Plan Will Build
The master plan calls for about 762 new homes, roughly…..