Oakland officials green-light plan for Coliseum transit village

A rendering of the Coliseum transit village that a nonprofit has planned to build at the Coliseum BART Station parking lot. But despite spending hundreds of thousands of dollars in public funds, the projects is stalled. less A rendering of the Coliseum transit village that a nonprofit has planned to build at the Coliseum BART Station parking lot. But despite spending hundreds of thousands of dollars in public funds, the projects is ... more Photo: Courtesy, Pyatok Architects Photo: Courtesy, Pyatok Architects Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Oakland officials green-light plan for Coliseum transit village 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

Oakland officials voted to move forward Tuesday with plans to spend $11.6 million on a long-dormant transit village project near the Coliseum BART Station in a deal that will require the city to partner with a nonprofit group that has no real estate portfolio.

Modeled after similar projects that created housing and retail hubs by the Fruitvale and MacArthur BART stations, the original Coliseum Transit Village called for hundreds of apartments and 10,000 square feet of retail at its genesis in 2003. It’s since been scaled down to 110 units of housing on a 1.3-acre lot.

According to the terms of the deal, the development team — comprising real estate firm UrbanCore and a loose-knit group called the Oakland Economic Development Corp. — is required to commit $1.25 million to the project, which is expected to cost more than $30 million to build.

Oakland officials hope to cover the rest with taxpayer money from the city, state and county.

The $11.6 million loan approved Tuesday derives from a 2006 series of bonds issued by the city’s now-defunct Redevelopment Agency. The terms absolve UrbanCore and Oakland Economic Development Corp. from having to pay it back, so long as half of the transit village apartments remain affordable.

Though Oakland Economic Development Corp. has no real estate portfolio or website and a transient cast of board members, it’s earned support from City Hall.

Councilman Larry Reid, who helped start the group along with other businessmen and power brokers in 2003, has been a staunch advocate for the transit village project. He chairs the council’s Community and Economic Development Committee, which voted Tuesday to move the project forward.

“For me as an African American elected official, it was about showing that we, too, could change a part of Oakland that had always been known as the ‘killing fields,’” Reid said at the meeting Tuesday, calling the Coliseum BART Station “an incredible jewel.”

Oakland Economic Development Corp. lost its tax-exempt status in May 2013, two months before the city granted it a $400,000 forgivable loan. It got its tax status reinstated in September, two months after a Chronicle report documented its tax status problems and dealings with the city.

Rachel Swan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: rswan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @rachelswan