A young San Francisco company that makes prefabricated housing is set to provide multifamily buildings for two urban Bay Area projects that its development partner hopes will become a model for eco-friendly construction.
Zeta Communities will construct the housing for the 22-unit developments, planned for parking lots in Berkeley and San Francisco. The projects will feature tiny living spaces – 310- to 340 square-foot studios – and no parking. Instead, they will include a car-sharing space.
The proposed four-story projects are the first foray into prefabricated housing for East Bay developer Patrick Kennedy of Panoramic Interests.
He said the construction technique conserves resources because fewer materials are wasted in a precise, factory building process, and the housing can be completed far more quickly than the conventional on-site approach. He chose two parking lots for development sites, he said, because they were perceived to be too small for other uses and are close to public transportation…
Posted by: Robert Selna, Chronicle Staff Writer
Date: May 18, 2010