A three-story building with 14 small one-bedroom apartments and ground-floor retail is set to rise just north of downtown Napa, in a bid to offer more moderately priced rentals in a city where high housing costs often push workers to live elsewhere.
The Napa Planning Commission on Aug. 7 unanimously approved developer Joe Rossi’s plan for 1600 Yajome St., a parcel now home to the Pepperette Baton and Dance Club in a former DMV office. The new structure will wrap around the existing building.
The project comes amid what housing advocates say is a worsening rental crunch in Napa County. Between 2012 and 2022, the number of local rentals priced at $2,000 or more nearly tripled, while those in the $1,000 to $1,500 range fell to a third of their previous totals, according to the 2024 “State of Housing in Napa Valley” report by nonprofit Generation Housing and Napa County…