BART rents portion of Castro Valley Station parking lot to company combatting housing crisis through ADUs

The Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) is renting a portion of its parking lot at the Castro Valley Station off Redwood Road to Bay Area-based company Spacial. 

Spacial installed two tiny homes in the parking lot, which is currently underutilized by passengers as BART continues to welcome riders back to the system. BART is renting the parcel of the lot to Spacial for nine months, with the possibility of extension. The rental agreement provides much-needed income for a public transit system that has been financially challenged by the pandemic. 

During the COVID-19 pandemic, BART says it experienced a dramatic loss in passengers as people stayed in their homes and avoided public spaces. In recent months, ridership has been increasing; on March 17, BART recorded a single-day record for ridership since March 2020, at 133,246 riders. BART customers, this data signifies, are returning to the system. 

As BART continues to await a return to normalcy – and regular ridership figures – the staff in BART’s Office of Real Estate and Property Development decided to rent a portion of the Castro Valley Station parking lot to Spacial to display two model accessory dwelling units (ADUs), which interested parties can tour ahead of purchasing a home. During the pandemic, amidst lower ridership, BART has reimagined its parking lots as COVID-19 testing sites, farmers markets, vaccination sites and is considering a Meals-On-Wheels hub.   

Currently, the two Spacial units take up 16 parking spaces (the parking lot has 1,102 spaces in total). BART will reevaluate the rental agreement at the end of November to determine whether to renew the lease, which will be dependent upon BART passengers’ use of the parking lot. 

In the meantime, the lease agreement is a pro-housing opportunity for BART that is helping to generate non-fare box revenue. Historically, about 65 percent of BART’s revenue in recent years has come from passenger fares. That percentage dropped precipitously during the pandemic. 

“In the real estate department, we strive to generate non-fare box revenue to help support the district,” said Paul Voix, BART principal property development officer. “Here was the opportunity of underutilized patron parking that could result in a win for all, as we collect rent for the space. And it allows Spacial a central Bay Area space to showcase their ADUs, which will, in some ways, serve to alleviate the affordable housing crisis in the Bay Area.” 

BART says it is doing its part to combat the housing crisis that plagues the San Francisco Bay Area. In recent years, the transit system – which currently owns about 250 acres of land at 27 stations that could accommodate future development – has created a program for transit-oriented development (TOD). TOD is “well-designed, mixed-use, higher density development adjacent to frequent transit.” BART has completed 13 TOD projects, with four under construction and an additional 10 projects approved. 

Spacial specializes in designing, installing and permitting ADUs, which are sometimes called in-law units, granny flats, casitas or backyard cottages. According to the California Department of Housing and Community Development, ADUs “are an innovative, affordable, effective option for adding much-needed housing in California.” 

In 2020, California passed a series of laws that made it much easier to get ADUs into most backyards in the state of California. Since that time, ADU installations “have gone up very, very fast,” said Spacial CEO Cory Halbardier. 

“If ADUs weren’t a thing, then people would be moving further and further outside of the urban area, further, further out towards Tracy,” Halbardier explained. “Then you end up with a lot more cars on the road coming back and forth. What ADUs allow for is something called urban infill, where you’re creating more homes inside the same geography that’s close to the jobs that already exist. ADUs basically allow you to put more people in the same amount of space.” 

Spacial’s units start at $209,000 for a studio. The price includes the foundation, utilities, structure, labor, and city building plans.