Mitch Kapor takes first step to building Berkeley home

May 2, 2011 9:15 am by Tracey Taylor

Jason Strauss sent in this photo of the demolition under way of the abandoned home on 2707 Rose Street, a property owned by Mitch Kapor

Fifteen months after Mitch Kapor received permission from the city of Berkeley to build a home at 2707 Rose Street, the Lotus founder and philanthropist has begun to dismantle the abandoned 2-story, 2,477 sq ft 1925 house on the property, in readiness, one assumes, for construction to begin on his new abode.

The 1925 home at 2707 Rose Street which was bought by Mitch Kapor for $725,000 in 2008. Photo: Tracey Taylor

Regular Berkeleyside readers know we have been following this saga since the very beginning. Fourteen articles and 375 reader comments later — and after appeals from a group calling itself the Berkeley Hills Preservation group, a City Council revisitation and a court case — it appears it’s all systems go for Mr Kapor and his wife, Freada Kapor Klein, to come live among us.

Read the full details of the run-up to this moment in our extensive coverage which kicked off on January 25, 2010.

38 Comments

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  • The Sharkey

    I hope they made an effort to at least salvage some of the architectural details for resale!

    Don’t forget to mention that they’re replacing the abandoned 2-story, 2,477 sq ft 1925 hillside home with a 6,478 sq ft modernist building with a subterranean 10-car garage.

  • Jean-Marie

    “I hope they made an effort to at least salvage some of the architectural details for resale!”

    It’s their choice and not really anyone else’s business. In fact, so long as their development plans are on the up-and-up, I don’t see how any of this perceived saga or drama is anyone else’s business.

  • Bruce Love

    Berkeley Hills Preservation group is continuing the legal fight, at least as of a few days ago.

    The window that opened here is that they lost their case in superior court and then the appeals court declined to suspend the lower court’s order while hearing the appeal. That was 6 days ago. There is at least a theoretic possibility of the City still losing its case.

  • The Sharkey

    When did anyone say it wasn’t their choice?

    But I would hope that they aren’t the kind of people who would choose to be willfully wasteful and destructive.

  • The Sharkey

    Not much left to preserve now.

  • http://profiles.google.com/david.desjardins David desJardins

    The “preservation” group isn’t fighting for preservation. They want to prevent construction of the new house.

  • The Sharkey

    Or maybe preserve the quality of the neighborhood.

  • DC

    The neighbors do not care about this. They are supportive of it. It’s other random people who are making a fuss.

  • http://profiles.google.com/david.desjardins David desJardins

    Based on my reading of the legal documents that have been posted online, the purpose of the lawsuit is to prevent construction of the house as designed, by overturning its approval by the city.

    Is there some other remedy that you have in mind to “preserve the quality of the neighborhood”?

  • Digit Master Inc

    I’m one of the neighbors of this project. As far as I know all of us are in support of this project. The former building was a source of much undesirable activity for the neighborhood. The people who oppose this project don’t even live on the same street! The new home, regardless of it’s architectural flaws/merits will not even be visible from these people’s home. —Get over it! I’d rather have a rich dude who takes care of his trees than some free-loaders shooting drugs, up the hill from my children.

  • The Sharkey

    What were a bunch of “free loaders” who were “shooting up drugs” doing in a three-quarters-of-a-million-dollar house in the North Berkeley hills?

  • The Sharkey

    I am not a member of the “preservation” group, Mr. desJardins.

    But if they are attempting to preserve the quality of the neighborhood, they might be fighting to keep the home built on the property to be a similar size to the one it is replacing.

    If built according to the plans, the Kapor house is significantly larger than the home that used to occupy the property.

  • http://profiles.google.com/david.desjardins David desJardins

    Sure, but that’s the same as what I said. They are trying to prevent construction of the house. That isn’t endorsement or opposition, it’s just a statement of fact.

  • Anonymous

    If there was a “Berkeley Hills Preservation Group” worthy of the name, they’d forget the Kapors and start clearing the brush and trimming the trees around their own houses.

    The rains have given us a record crop of potential fire hazard. Two years from next October 19th they could be looking out the window at another “saxophone” house. Mitch’s place will seem pretty tame by comparison.

  • The Sharkey

    From what I’ve read about the hill people, I think they actually like the look of the unkempt underbrush that fills so many of the lots in that part of town.

  • Digit Master Inc

    Umm, free-loading. The house was abandoned and not habitable.

  • Rose St. neighbor

    I live on Rose Street and I think it’s great that they’re building a fine new building there. A large garage will keep cars off the street for bikers and pedestrians when they have guests. Sounds like a good plan, and a big improvement over what was there.

  • Just Wondering

    I wonder if the City of Berkeley will approve variances for everyone so that non-millionaires can build 10-car garages in their homes and use them as conference halls.

  • EBGuy

    I’m eagerly awaiting the arrival of the plinth. Please publish pictures once construction commences.

  • DC

    I’m sure any non-millionaire who a) has a lot that size, b) with siting that keeps the garage substantially below grade and mostly out view, and c) the $$$ to build a 10-car garage can probably get a variance to do so now that there is precedent.

    In fact – if you want to do so, and yours will be much the same configuration as this – I fully support you. Go for it!

  • InfiniteNull

    No variance was required as the project complies with all zoning laws without need for any variance. There is no conference hall. The garage is provided in acquiescence with the immediate neighbors wish that no additional street parking would needed by visitors. Just wondering how you got so talented in the art of false implications and slanderous innuendo.

  • Biz

    I wonder if the new developed property might bring some additional property tax to the city, which might benefit all of us. And wouldn’t it be nice if everyone provided off-street parking for all their cars, and those of their guests? Doing so would enhance the safety of any neighbor needing an ambulance or a fire truck.

    It’s Berkeley’s good fortune to have a new, generous neighbor who has been willing to put up with the Berkeley’s tyrannical minority.

  • Cliff Magnes

    UPDATE:  The clock has been stopped for Mr. Kapor, and his wife Freada Kapor Klein to “come and live among us.”  The court of appeals has sided with “a group calling itself the Berkeley Hills Preservation Group” who were upset at the way the Kapors tried to ram their project through (which really was a cynical and mendacious abuse of process).

    Let this be a warning to others who want to McMansion the Berkeley hills. The Kapors will now be paying for the entire cost of this legal battle incurred by the BHPG (which have been considerable), they will be also forced to pay for an EIR.  If only the City of Berkeley had done its job in the first place, and not simply ignored the concerns of the neighborhood! 

    The Kapors might be forgiven for misrepresenting their project so they could get everything they wanted, but for the city, our elected representatives and those who are tasked to enforce the law to turn a blind eye to all manner of mischief and misrepresentation is deeply troubling.  There are legitimate concerns that have been neatly swept under the rug, which won’t be so easy to hide with the rigor of an EIR.

  • Cliff Magnes

    No longer theoretic.  It happened.  I hate to think of it as the city losing its case, more like being ordered to do the jobs they were elected to do, and are paid to perform on behalf of a trusting citizenry. 

  • Cliff Magnes

    I’m also one of the neighbors of this project, so let me disabuse you of the idea that “all of us are in support of this project.”  The former building was a source of much undesirable activity in the neighborhood, and the Kapors exacerbated and exploited that situation.  If you really are a neighbor, what kind of stewards have they been to this land?  Do you prefer the top picture or the bottom picture?  You are mistaken that the people who oppose this project don’t live on this street.  Opponents live on Rose and Shasta, as well as many other streets with views of this proposed monstrosity.  If you want “a rich dude who takes care of his trees,” just take a good look at what he has done so far.  Mr. Kapor, has been a very poor steward thus far.

  • Cliff Magnes

    If you think they’re building a fine new building, then you have been duped.  At least now we will have some objectivity in an EIR.

  • Cliff Magnes

    Wrong.  I mean, not even close to right.  Even the Kapors would acknowledge that they need variances, as the voluminous public record clearly shows.  As far as false implications and slanderous innuendo, well, we’re learning from the masters, but not what you think we’re learning.

  • Cliff Magnes

    Speaking of precedents, read the decision that was just certified for publication by the Court of Appeal on this matter.  The neighborhood group prevailed, the Kapors have to do an EIR for this monster project. 

  • Cliff Magnes

    What were the neighbors who got swept off their feet by the Kapors doing about these “free loaders” who were “shooting up drugs?”   Are they so powerless that the only way to solve the problem was to hope that Mr. Kapor would show up one day, buy the property, and tear down the house?  We had to destroy the village to save it?  The Kapors were the slumlords who were allowing this happen!  Wake up and smell the meth!  The more of a nuisance this house was, the more need for the Kapors to tear it down to build their Xanadu.

  • Cliff Magnes

    I was fighting to preserve the house.  It was perfectly serviceable, and houses in much worse condition have been brought back to life on this very street.

  • Cliff Magnes

    It’s so much more than preventing the construction of the house, at least the one that has been proposed.  It’s about preventing the destruction of the hillside, of that lot, of the neighborhood.  It’s about a level playing field where everyone is held to the same standard, irrespective of how much money they can throw at the system to corrupt it.

  • Cliff Magnes

    If the neighbors do not care about this, then why have the neighbors gone to so much trouble to fight it?  We are hardly “random people,” we are neighbors, too.

  • Cliff Magnes

    Yes, one of the neighbors who is supporting the Kapors was allowed to turn a tidy profit on the deal with architectural salvage.  Now who could that be?  One of the neighbors in the architectural salvage business maybe?

  • Cliff Magnes

    That’s exactly the point, their development plans are NOT on the up and up!  The Kapors have misrepresented their true plans, the City has NOT done their job, and the court of appeals has reprimanded the city and ordered them to do an EIR. 

  • Cliff Magnes

    Why not preserve the open space, now that the Kapors tore down the most appropriate house that could have been built on that lot? 

    We already have a foundation set up dedicated to preserving open space in the neighborhood,  That foundation owns the property. . . .RIGHT ACROSS THE STREET! 

    Feel free to admire it next time you drive up Shasta, it’s getting rarer and rarer.

  • Cliff Mages

    Are you one of the neighbors who signed off on the plans prior to submission?  One of the neighbors who joined the conspiracy of silence with the Kapors? 

    That same “rich dude” was responsible for the problem you support, did you know that?  Are you so powerless that the only way you know how to deal with “undesirable activity in the neighborhood” is to tear down the house?  Did they really have to destroy the village to save it? 

    What a mindset!

    I am also a neighbor, and I oppose this project, so please stop misrepresenting the opposition.

  • Cliff Magnes

    So, logically, it had to be torn down?

  • Cliff Magnes

    Are you one of the neighbors who signed off on the plans prior to
    submission?  One of the neighbors who joined the conspiracy of silence
    with the Kapors? 

    The Kapors were responsible for the problems that many neighbors seem to cite when they advance the rationale for their support, did
    you know that? 

    Still, let’s be fair and wait to see what kind of environmental impact there would be from building this McMansion, or even whether the Kapors want to continue this folly.