Is a Concord housing boom just around the corner?

CONCORD, CA (Mar. 28, 2025) — The interactive map for housing projects around the city mostly shows approved developments that are awaiting their kickoff. If built, they could collectively chip away at the more than 5,000 units that California officials hope the municipality can achieve to address its long-term housing needs.

In 2021, the state’s Department of Housing and Community Development identified 5,073 housing units as the target for Concord – to plan for, not necessarily build, said Aaron Sage, planning manager with Concord’s Community Development Department. The city achieved about 10 percent of the desired objective between July 2022 and the close of 2024.

“The more we get through the process, the more likely we are able to achieve that goal,” Sage said of those that undergo department review.

Heckmann complete, Judd on its way

Projects that crossed the city’s Planning Department’s finish line last year include the Heckmann along Whitman Road. The $17 million, 14-unit subdivision, with one designated as affordable, sold out.

Joining it this year is the nearly complete 62-unit Rick Judd Commons, formerly Galindo Terrace. Its units, which are starting to be occupied, are all designated affordable for those earning 30% to 60% of the average median income (AMI). The breakdown is 14 apartments at 30% AMI, 40 at 50% AMI and 7 at 60% AMI.

With proximity to the BART station and access to Todos Santos Plaza, the $64 million development will include a large, outdoor terrace, multipurpose community room with full kitchen, indoor bicycle storage area, on-site property management and supportive services programming.

Next up: Blue Oak, RMG

Bit by bit, badly needed units serving a cross section of the housing market are becoming available. And still more are well under construction – changing the face of the downtown with the promise of hundreds of units inching toward completion.

The city’s development website shows six projects under construction, including the 100% affordable,181-unit Blue Oak Square, formerly the Argent, on Willow Pass Road. The land is between Port Chicago Highway and East Street in the heart of downtown Concord.

The Meta Housing Corp. behind Blue Oak Square hopes the roughly $116 million construction project wraps up early in the fourth quarter of 2025. Apartment leasing is slated to start in the next couple of months for the units, broken down as 22 designated for those earning 30% AMI, 22 for those earning 50% AMI, 47 for 60% AMI and 88 for those making 70% AMI.

Units will range from 646 sq. ft. with one bedroom to four-bedroom units averaging 1,575 sq. ft. Amenities include a computer room, fitness center with yoga and spin studio, bike storage facilities, and a courtyard lounge and BBQ area. The facility will have 182 parking spaces, a significant reduction from the 350 slots included in the original 2016 proposal.

Meta officials acknowledge the project will add some traffic but believe it’s far from a major disruption. They see the development’s proximity to public transit as a viable option many residents will use.

Going up nearby is RMG’s 75 apartments along Galindo Street for special needs residents. At least 40% of the units will be affordable to households of Low and Very Low AMI levels.

Another project that will add to the available housing stock is the Villas at Walters Place, a subdivision of 17, three-story townhomes. Upon completion, it will offer a few designated as affordable.

More in the pipeline

The city is flush with even more projects that have been approved but have yet to break ground, including two behemoths in the immediate downtown corridor.

The Asbury Apartments will have 183 affordable units, amended to 100% affordable for households at or below 80% AMI. The patchwork development dubbed the Concord Village Apartments totals 230 multi-family units – all market rate – bordered by Salvio and East streets, Willow Pass Road and Port Chicago Highway.

Another approved project is the Walnut Grove subdivision with 14 single-family homes, including two designated affordable for low-income households, on a 1.41-acre parcel tucked in between Bancroft Road, Oak Grove Road and David Avenue.

Still others are just starting a long journey. The Bird subdivision, a 40-home, market rate small lot development, recently completed its application for planners to start reviewing the project. It’s set on an approximately 5-acre parcel along Concord Boulevard.

Meanwhile, the Planning Department is reviewing a Builders’ Remedy Application to rehabilitate 206 multi-family rentals at Concord Crossing, part of the Coast Guard site.

“We have a variety of projects that are at different stages,” said Sage. “A project can be on the books for two or three years, but it can be a few years before it gets permitted.

“Typically, when someone gets a permit, that is a good indicator they are ready to move forward,” he added.

Roadblocks that thwart progress

Sage pointed to the economy and interest rates as key factors driving development.

“When the economy is going well and interest rates are low, you see a lot of housing being built,” he said.

Still, there can be inconsistencies year to year in terms of how much new development begins.

Affordable housing advocates haven’t been shy about criticizing the city for what they see as inadequate stock for those living on the margins. But Megan Nguyen, East Bay Housing Organization’s policy manager, acknowledged that Concord is trying to take steps to incentivize development and streamlining affordable housing production.

“Unfortunately, due to both non-governmental constraints (including land and construction costs) and governmental constraints (such as zoning, land use controls, permit procedures, etc.), it is a difficult time for projects, especially affordable, to be getting started,” she said.

Long-awaited weapons station project

The former Concord Naval Weapons Station is an example of a site that has twisted like a kite over the years and been at the mercy of the ebbs and flows of development winds. It’s currently on its third master developer since 2016.

Guy Bjerke, director of Economic Development and Base Reuse, noted that Brookfield Properties estimates five years before development could commence.

“They are optimistic by the early 2030s that something goes,” Bjerke said, citing a presentation to the City Council in January.

The specific plan accommodates 12,272 units, of which 25% would be affordable for those with incomes 85% AMI or below. Total buildout could reach fruition over the next 30 to 40 years. The grandiose plans for the site harken back to what the city had hoped to commence two decades ago.

Bjerke noted that before any housing gets built, infrastructure is among the first of several steps that must be completed. He cited cleanup and environmental permits as among the goals they are actively working toward achieving in the short term for a site that just sits begging to be developed and finally make a serious dent in the state’s desire for thousands of new affordable homes in the fledgling Concord housing market.