OAKLAND — Hundreds of housing units, thousands of square feet of retail space and more are hurtling down the track toward the MacArthur BART station.

Construction of two new buildings should begin early next year and finish in time for them to open in 2018. It has been a long time coming, though, and there is a long way to go still.

On Wednesday, the Planning Commission will review a request from a developer to replace planned ground floor retail space with live/work units, add a driveway from Telegraph Avenue and reduce the on-site parking.

If all goes well, the request could have the City Council’s approval by the end of the month.

The developer, Hines, plans to break ground early next year on the two buildings, which are expected to provide 383 mostly market-rate apartments.

The larger of the two buildings, with 287 apartments planned, is along 40th Street, just east of the BART station. An additional 96 will be just behind that building in what is now a below-street-level parking lot.

Looming larger is a proposal by a second developer, Boston Properties, to simultaneously construct a 25-story tower with 402 apartments and 12,000 square feet of retail space.

That site sits directly along the BART tracks in the middle of the almost 8-acre project area, which extends east from the station to Telegraph Avenue and from 40th Street to West MacArthur Boulevard.

City Hall is still making up its mind about that project. “To date, we’ve had two design review committee hearings,” said Aaron Fenton, development manager at Boston Properties.

A slightly revised proposal, submitted Oct. 19, was forwarded to the Planning Commission, but has not been scheduled, he said.

If the Planning Commission and City Council approve the plans, construction would take about two years, Fenton said.

Fenton said 45 of the building’s apartments would be affordable. Of the overall total, 14 percent would be studios, 38 percent one-bedroom, 45 percent two-bedroom and 1 percent three-bedroom apartments.

The sites Hines is developing include 383 apartments total, “a small component of them affordable,” Fenton said.

Ten years ago, the city first stated its intention to develop the area around the BART station, from 40th and MacArthur east to Telegraph.

To date, the BART parking structure and an affordable complex with 90 apartments have been completed. The complex, known as Mural, opened in March. The building, managed by Bridge Housing, received more than 100 applications for every apartment.

Contact Mark Hedin at 510-293-2452, 408-759-2132 or mhedin@bayareanewsgroup.com.