A long-planned affordable senior housing project on Irwin Way in Orinda has finally been granted a notice to proceed, meaning construction crews could break ground soon on the hillside site squeezed between Orinda Community Church and Orinda Senior Village. The 53-unit development, known as Vista Verde, will rise five stories and 51 feet on a 1.38-acre lot at 10 Irwin Way, delivering 52 affordable senior apartments to a city where demand for subsidized senior housing has run deep for decades.
According to San Francisco YIMBY, which first reported the notice to proceed, builder Brown Construction indicated that work is expected to start soon. Vista Verde Community Housing will be built and owned by the Orinda Senior Housing Foundation. The project is sponsored by UrbanCore Development, which joined the project team in 2024 and worked in collaboration with City Community Capital and Concore Development Group, per the same outlet’s reporting. UrbanCore Development Services closed financing on the project on August 12, 2026, clearing the last major obstacle before construction could begin.
The building itself, designed by Dahlin Group with landscape architecture by Orinda-based firm Jett, will include 33 one-bedroom units, 19 two-bedroom units, and a caretaker’s unit, according to the same report. Of the 52 affordable units, eight will serve very-low-income households, 30 will serve low-income households, and 13 will serve moderate-income households. The roughly 72,600-square-foot building includes 38,890 square feet of housing area, a 13,760-square-foot garage, a community room, a crafts room, a computer room, two offices, landscaped open space, a garden, roof decks, bicycle parking, and an open-air balcony in every unit, with cementitious siding, wood-look panels, and metal mesh screens making up the exterior. The project team has not replied to a request for comment, per San Francisco YIMBY’s reporting.
Years in the Making, Rooted in a Church Partnership
Vista Verde traces back to 2018, when it was initiated by the Orinda Senior Housing Foundation, a local nonprofit whose chair is Victoria Smith, on land leased from the Orinda Community Church, according to Lamorinda Weekly. The arrangement follows earlier senior housing on church-donated land. The city formally approved project entitlements in August 2022, adopting an Initial Study/Mitigated Negative Declaration and granting density bonus concessions for building height, story count, and private open space requirements, according to state records filed with CA CEQAnet…