El Cerrito Multifamily Housing

LPA worked with Family Health Centers of San Diego to develop five-stories of multi-family mixed-use supportive housing using customized shipping containers. The 119,000 square-foot building on an unusually shaped 33,846 square-foot site includes up to 170 apartments on top of a podium with parking, clinic and retail space. There will be two-levels of parking above ground level and two levels of parking underground.

The apartments are a mix of studio, one-bedroom and two-bedroom apartments, created from a range of two to five shipping containers. The modular units arrived from the factory with floor-to-ceiling windows and fully finished, including paint cabinetry and electrical outlets, with completed state inspections. The apartments are grouped around interior spaces that provide spaces for engagement and play. Amenities include a dog park, gardens and a children’s play area.

Throughout the complex, outdoor walkways and decks help connect residents to the outdoors. To cut operation costs and cut fossil fuel use, the building has photovoltaic and thermal solar arrays on the roof to generate electricity and provide hot water.

The clinic consists of several behavioral health clinics to better serve the local community’s needs. The clinics include: family and group counseling, couples counseling, drug abuse counseling and teen counseling. The clinics are designed with separate entries off the street, to allow increased patient privacy, rather than entering into one central waiting area. The clinics share common staff and support areas.

El Cerrito Family Counseling Center 22,000 sf clinic divided into three suites to serve Veteran/SUD and Immigrant/Refugee communities and as a Youth Behavioral Health clinic. Intent of the location was to integrate with the existing healthcare and laboratory clinic across the street. Spaces include exam rooms, physician and private offices, (3) three central lobby/waiting areas, registration, community rooms, common area break room, conference rooms and miscellaneous support spaces. The design objective was to achieve economies of scale, expand operational efficiencies and further develop FHCSD branding in the clinics. The project was completed in a single phase of design as part of the ground up construction of the podium of a building which is the base support for an affordable housing component.