Rent control protections for 150 units in Alameda have been secured following the city’s successful appeal in court, which city officials said will have far ranging impacts on certain housing across the state.  

Admirals Cove is a community of renovated townhomes between Alameda Landing and the Main Street Alameda Ferry Terminal that were originally created to house naval personnel and their families in 1969. The property was auctioned off by the federal government in 2017 and purchased for $38 million by a developer that turned them into leased units in 2019, the city said.  

According to court documents, the developer Carmel Partners argued that the units were not subject to rent control due to the Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act, which exempts units that have a certificate of occupancy after Feb. 1, 1995. 

The city of Alameda disagreed, arguing that the property had been used for rental housing long before that date and the units were therefore subject to rent control. The city’s rent program director Bill Chapin found that the units had merely been converted from one form of residential use to another and did not create an expansion of new housing. 

Carmel Partners did indeed do quite a bit to update the units, spending about $48 million to upgrade sewer, water and electrical systems on the property, court documents show. Both the interior and exterior of the apartments were extensively renovated as well.  

Initially, Carmel Partners prevailed in the trial court, where a judge ruled that the units did indeed constitute new “housing stock” in Alameda. The City Council and Chapin appealed that decision and won. 

According to the city, Carmel Partners imposed double-digit rent increases during the COVID-19 pandemic.  

“Carmel Partners regularly increased rents on Admirals Cove residents that far exceeded what is permitted by law under Alameda’s Rent Control Ordinance, leading to many unfortunate tenant displacements,” the city said in a statement. 

Chapin ordered Carmel Partners to halt rent increases and refund allegedly excessive rents, which is how everything ended up in court, the city said.  

Attempts to reach Carmel Partners were unsuccessful.  

Alameda officials said in a news release Wednesday that this decision sets a “powerful legal precedent,” assuring that institutional housing of all types across the state that are converted to public use will be subject to rent control where such laws apply.  

Katy St. Clair got her start in journalism by working in the classifieds department at the East Bay Express during the height of alt weeklies, then sweet talked her way into becoming staff writer, submissions editor, and music editor. She has been a columnist in the East Bay Express, SF Weekly, and the San Francisco Examiner. Starting in 2015, she begrudgingly scaled the inverted pyramid at dailies such as the Vallejo Times-Herald, The Vacaville Reporter, and the Daily Republic. She has her own independent news site and blog that covers the delightfully dysfunctional town of Vallejo, California, where she also collaborates with the investigative team at Open Vallejo. A passionate advocate for people with developmental disabilities, she serves on both the Board of the Arc of Solano and the Arc of California. She lives in Vallejo.