The Grinnell is an affordable housing community for families and people with special needs. The six-story building includes 63 homes as follows: 18 studio units, 11 one-bedroom units, 33 two-bedroom units and one three-bedroom manager’s unit. The Grinnell celebrates and strengthens the regional community of people with an intellectual or developmental disability (I/DD). Twelve homes prioritized for households with one or more member with an I/DD are distributed throughout the building. In addition, the building’s ground floor includes a studio/gallery space leased to Creative Growth, an Oakland-based nonprofit arts center that advances the inclusion of artists with I/DD in contemporary art. SAHA is excited to partner with Creative Growth to launch its first satellite space.
The Grinnell features ample indoor and outdoor community space. The main community room with kitchenette can accommodate all the building's residents for community wide meetings, game nights, movie nights and other activities. The building includes a 693 square foot second floor deck and a dramatic 2,450 square-feet sixth floor deck with landscaping and several seating areas that will be a welcome retreat and respite for residents. The 6th floor deck also features wheelchair- accessible raised garden beds that SAHA’s Resident Services team uses for its successful community gardening program. Both the laundry room and the smaller 165 square-foot lounge are located directly off of the sixth floor deck. The design encourages informal interactions by providing multiple areas to sit near essential services that all residents will use such as the laundry room and mailboxes.
The Grinnell is named after a peregrine falcon that lived at the top of the UC Berkeley Campanille from 2016-2022. Live web cameras trained on his nest enabled fans to follow his surprisingly dramatic life from around the world. The fastest animal on earth, peregrine falcons and other birds of prey like bald eagles nearly went extinct in the 1970s due to widespread use of the toxic insecticide DDT, but their populations have rebounded since DDT's 1972 ban.
The Grinnell is on track to receive Platinum certification, the highest level in the LEED green building rating system established by the U.S. Green Building Council, in recognition of the numerous environmentally sustainable features incorporated into its design
Images provided by Patrik Argast Photography.
