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The city-owned parking lot at Oxford and Addison streets is not yet available for development, but that hasn’t stopped Berkeley’s most prolific – and perhaps most controversial – developer from spreading the word about his plans to develop housing and provide theatre space for the Shotgun Players at the site. 

Patrick Kennedy has scheduled a two-and-a-half-hour press conference at a downtown bistro late Monday afternoon to announce his plans and, Kennedy says, to pressure the city to speed up its release of a Request for Proposals for the lot. 

Kennedy, owner of Panoramic Interests, is not shy in acknowledging the something-for-everyone approach he uses to deftly guide his projects around opponents and tie up at least five votes on the City Council. 

His plans for the Oxford lot include: 

• A 75-foot, seven-story-plus-mezzanine building, with 150 to 175 apartments on the top three floors. One-fifth to one-quarter of the units would be affordable for very low-income people. 

• A 330-space, three-story parking garage. “A mom and her three kids going to the Y(MCA) can’t take public transportation,” he said in support of doubling the parking now at the surface lot. 

• A 150-space theater for the Shotgun Players, gallery space and classrooms for the Berkeley Arts Center, and another small theater for citywide performing arts groups. 

Part of the deal which Kennedy describes as “privately financed” would be for the city to turn over its land to him. 

The developer would then build the three-story parking component, which would be a benefit for the city and its downtown merchants, shoppers and theatergoers. Kennedy says the exchange is fair because building garages are always money-losing propositions. He would charge no more for parking in this garage than the city charges in its lots, he said. 

Kennedy said he thought he would not need a variance from the city to build a seven-story project. But City Planner Vivian Kahn says that, with density bonuses for housing and the cultural element, she thinks he can build only five stories and 60 feet high. 

Kennedy says he would like to submit his proposal to the city as soon as possible, but there will not be a request from the city for proposals from developers until late summer, said Economic Development Manager Bill Lambert. 

Lambert said he is waiting for preliminary results from a parking-needs study and for an assessment of the property value. He said the project the city wants is something like the one Kennedy is proposing, with cultural uses, parking and housing. 

Once the call for proposals comes from the city, Kennedy is likely to face at least two competitors – John De Clercq of Transaction Companies and the nonprofit housing developer Resources for Community Development. 

De Clercq declined to talk about the project he has in mind. Dan Sawislak, RCD executive director, said the site “offers a great opportunity to build needed affordable housing, with retail and cultural uses.” he said. Sawislak said, however, that he hasn’t done a detailed analysis of the site. 

Councilmember Dona Spring, who represents the downtown district, is no fan of Kennedy’s. She said she didn’t think the city would turn over the parking portion of the development to him, and wants to see more than the mandated 20 percent low-income housing. 

The best mix would be for the city to develop the ground floor and parking and have a nonprofit housing developer maximize the housing component, she said. 

In an attempt to get five votes from the council, Kennedy “tried to figure out what would be very sexy,” Spring said. 

Kennedy’s detractors note that the developer has used this tactic on previous projects, attracting such businesses as Anna’s and Gaia Bookstore to help generate council support. 

One of Kennedy’s strongest supporters is Patrick Dooley, artistic director of the Shotgun Players. The theater company, in its ninth year in Berkeley, has bounced around from pizza parlor basements to parking lots. Currently, the company is using space at Black Pine Circle School on Seventh Street. 

The agreement with Kennedy is that Shotgun would build its theater, which should cost them about $300,000, then rent it from Kennedy for $1 per year. 

Dooley said he has no problem with the notion that Kennedy might pick up votes because his company is in the project. 

“The arts community will get a huge benefit,” he said. 

There is another way of looking at the partnership, he said. “I’m taking advantage of Patrick Kennedy to build my theater.”