North River Apartments | Petaluma, CA

A few blocks from Petaluma's energetic downtown in Sonoma County, two neighborhoods sat without a much-needed connection, and the river beside them offered little access to the people living nearby. AG Spanos Companies set out to change that, financing a new major street extension linking Water Street and Oak Street and flanking it with two new buildings holding 184 homes.

The program called for careful layering. One building faces Petaluma Boulevard with three floors of wood construction over a concrete podium and is entirely residential; the other, mixed-use, faces the river with four wood stories over a partially subterranean podium. Together the podiums hold 268 parking spaces, so the design wraps them with commercial, restaurant and residential amenity space that shields the garage from the public realm and activates the street. BDE Architecture guided a design that responds directly to Planning requirements and draws on Petaluma's agricultural and industrial landscape, using materials such as corrugated metal to reference local history.

Today the new street joins two neighborhoods and opens the way to river access, new green space and a bike trail. Residents enjoy landscaped internal courtyards and a kayakers' lounge with kayak storage facing a launch pad on the river.

Address: Oak St & Petaluma Blvd N, Petaluma, CA, 94952

Client: AG Spanos Companies

Number of Units: 184

Construction Type: VA / IA