Avalon Walnut Creek Pleasant Hill, CA

Avalon Walnut Creek's development plan is the culmination of almost 10 years of planning by the Contra Costa County Redevelopment Agency, Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) Officials and the Pleasant Hill community. Land that is primarily surface parking for the 1,500 BART patrons, will now accommodate this new transit village. MVE developed the final site plan and architectural character for the project following guidelines established in a community charrette. The site plan is based on principles of new urbanism community planning. It integrates a highly complex network of vehicular, bicycle and pedestrian circulation, existing site features, diverse street sections and current building codes to reach a density level that can sustain a community mixed-use development with a retail component.

The architectural expression has been carefully detailed creating a cohesive development with pedestrian scaled elements. The town square is central to the scheme as a placemaking feature. A retail street with housing above and flats/townhouse units with stoop conditions create walkable streets. Wall proportions and window spacing, decks and Juliette balconies, chimneys, light features and landscape elements have all been carefully studied and refined. Preservation of existing native oak trees, green space and connection to the Iron Horse Trail, a popular recreational spine running through the city, are integral to the overall plan.

Replacement parking for BART patrons is located in a parking structure for 1,500 cars, with a housing liner to screen it from public view along the residential streets. All tenant and retail parking is located below-grade or at street level behind a liner of retail space or housing. 450 market-rate podium housing units are three to five stories over retail space. 100 for-sale units of podium housing are four stories over parking. A 12-story office building with conference facilities and support parking is also part of the overall development.