City Ventures pitches 69 homes on Fremont lot long eyed for residential redevelopment

City Ventures has plans to breathe new life into a Fremont property long eyed for residential redevelopment.

The Irvine-based developer and homebuilder is moving forward with plans to raise 69 homes — 60 townhomes and nine accessory dwelling units — on a two-acre site at 37447 Fremont Blvd., according to an application filed with the city of Fremont at the end of June.

The three-parcel property was previously slated for redevelopment into more than 200 apartments by San Ramon developer SummerHill Apartment Communities, which formally submitted an application for its project in the summer of 2019. But the developer walked away from the site at the beginning of 2020, according to city records. City Ventures began eying the site for its own project in the spring of 2022.

The property, home to several existing commercial buildings that would be demolished to make way for the homes, is owned by Salwa Aboumrad, per property records. It is not clear if City Ventures, which could not be reached for comment, already has the property under contract.

The developer has been especially active in the Bay Area in recent months, moving forward with a 90-unit project in West Oakland and closing on a pair of entitled development sites in Oakland and Richmond in recent weeks. City Ventures continues to seek out development opportunities in the Bay Area despite the challenging environment for homebuilders, CEO Phil Kerr said in May.

“Oakland and San Francisco — they’re great places, long term. They are the areas that people will continue to need housing in, and there’s a giant shortage,” Kerr said.

Plans for 37447 Fremont indicate that City Ventures intends to build a solar-powered, all-electric development there, characteristics that have become standard for its portfolio.