Senior housing breaks ground at Lake Merritt BART

Like all parking lots, the one at Lake Merritt BART paved over history.

To build the station in the 1960s, the agency bulldozed 75 houses along with a church and an orphanage. Other developments in the neighborhood at the time, like Laney College, further displaced Chinese-American residents and cleaved their community.

This week, yet another development project broke ground at the site of the BART station parking lot. A 97-unit building of affordable homes for seniors is now under construction at the lot bounded by Oak, Fallon, 8th, and 9th streets. Forty-four of the units will house formerly homeless residents.