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An affordable housing development in downtown Livermore recently closed a $94.3 million funding gap to begin construction, but the long-debated and litigated project has once again seen an oppositional group rear its head with an alternative vision.
The 130-unit Downtown Livermore Apartments – known commonly in the community as the Eden Housing project after its nonprofit housing developer – was initially greenlit by the Livermore City Council in 2021 for construction at the southeast corner of the Railroad Avenue and L Street intersection.
In July 2025, after years of legal challenges, the project was ultimately permitted to move forward.
The housing development is slated to break ground early next year, but contention has continued with a new group dubbed the Community Coalition, which recently put forward an alternative proposal for the downtown center.
The group itself also became the subject of controversy in recent weeks with Mayor John Marchand publicly claiming it as the “Group of Many Names” under the leadership of The Independent publisher Joan Seppala. This group of entities
— including one of the project’s legal challengers, Move Eden Housing — has aimed since at least 2011 to block the city’s planned development in downtown.
All coalition members declined to comment on the record. However, group officials denied shared membership with “previous ad hoc groups” and all individuals.
“Financial, parking and legal issues related to the projects have been carefully studied. They all support the development of the Downtown Center proposed by the Community Coalition,” officials wrote on its website.
“It’s a drawing. There is no plan. It’s never had any public hearings. It’s never had any independent financial review,” Marchand told Livermore Vine. “You’ve got a handful of people that aren’t getting their way, that are trying to make themselves look like a much bigger organization.”
As currently laid out, the Downtown Livermore Apartments will be composed of two four-story buildings fronting Railroad Avenue and Veterans Way.
The units will be reserved for extremely low, very low, and lower-income households, which is considered 20% to 60% of the Alameda County area median income.
Veterans Park, which is no longer part of the project because of a lawsuit filed by Move Eden Housing, is slated for development generally between the buildings.
Adjacent to the park, the city has planned for a SPARC TheaterLab and Quest Science Center. A site neighboring the Bankhead Theater is eyed for development by hotelier Presidio Companies, doing business as 2205 Railroad Avenue LLC.
The city has already approved development agreements for the theater, science center and hotel, according to Livermore city spokesperson Sonia Lee. The council recently created a downtown development ad hoc subcommittee to direct staff on implementing the agreements.
“The city went through an extensive process of public hearings and financial review and in the course of that whole public process, we developed the approved downtown plan,” Marchand said.
Excavation for the residential project began in May with a groundbreaking ceremony and an expected opening by October 2028.
A few months after the ceremony, the city and Eden Housing secured a win in Alameda County Superior Court July 31 in which Move Eden Housing aimed to recoup over $775,000 it has spent in attorneys fees associated with litigating the project. Move Eden Housing has since filed an appeal.
Also this year, the Community Coalition published a website with its proposed Downtown Center site plan.
The plan was created by a group of Livermore citizens with “many elected leaders” and the help of “eight professionals”, according to the coalition website.
“The City’s plan for the downtown has a number of major flaws,” Community Coalition officials told Livermore Vine.
They suggest constructing the majority of the affordable residences (130 units) north of Railroad Avenue with one building (18 units) adjacent to Stockmen’s Park, according to the website.
Replacing the “institutional” four-story buildings with clusters might save money for Eden Housing, Community Coalition officials said.
The housing shifts would call for relocating and demolishing the Tri-Valley Haven thrift store and a towing business, according to documents on the coalition website.
The suggested site plan also proposes relocating the planned hotel to the southeast corner of Railroad Avenue and L Street.
A hotel is not viable next to the Bankhead, which is clear because planning has lasted about a decade, the Community Coalition officials said.
The suggested lodging would be a “larger, nicer, more upscale hotel” with more space around it near the L Street Garage for self-parking, they added.
Reconfiguring the area allows a continuous park space spanning Veterans Park to Stockmen’s Park, as opposed to the two smaller parks currently planned for development, according to Community Coalition officials.
The suggested plan also features an Arts & Science Center, something that would be especially important if the Bothwell Arts Center is repurposed, they said. It could also feature Las Positas College classes, Livermore Area Recreation and Park District classes, a theater hall, science gallery and space for organizations such as the Livermore Heritage Guild and the Livermore Historical Society.
The Community Coalition suggested using tax dollars to help fund construction of the hotel, affordable housing, an Arts & Science Center and Veterans Park.
More specifically, this could mean establishing an enhanced infrastructure financing district in which all or a portion of the increase in annual property tax revenue, above a base year, would be used for project funding.
“I can assure you that that’s not going to happen,” Marchand said.
The Community Coalition’s proposal made news in The Independent with an unattributed story last month outlining the suggested developments and accompanying imagery.
No one has submitted the Community Coalition’s suggestions to the city, Marchand said.
Marchand added, the majority of Livermore residents have supported the city’s plans for downtown, including the hotel project. During 2020, about 66% of voters expressed their support of the hotel project through Measure P.
The hotel project was stalled amid the pandemic, Marchand said.
“The hotelier is still working with the city to fine tune the longstanding vision for a hotel next to the Bankhead,” Marchand wrote in one of his letters to The Independent.
The hotelier and Eden Housing already own the project sites, Marchand added.
“It’s a done deal. The land has been sold and to keep putting forth drawings as if they are real, it’s not even a fantasy, it’s beyond disingenuous,” he said.
Members of the Community Coalition have not made their names public, but Marchand contends Seppala leads the organization.
He added, the Community Coalition is a rebranding of Citizens for a Livermore Central Park, Vibrant Downtown Livermore, Save Livermore Downtown, Move Eden Housing and the Friends of Livermore.
As reported in 2022, Seppala, her relatives and Livermore Valley Arts director Jean King were found to be the majority contributors to a Friends of Livermore committee, Citizens for a Livermore Central Park and Protect the Central Park Vote, No on P and other groups.
Seppala did not respond for comment, but coalition officials denied her membership as well as King’s.
The Community Coalition officials denied knowledge of members’ identities in groups such as Move Eden Housing.
“The fact that there’s no spokesperson just tells me that this isn’t real,” Marchand said.
The Community Coalition website identifies Safia Hasan as the group’s point of contact. Hasan is an alumna of the University of California, Berkeley, according to her Linkedin profile.
The Community Coalition officials allege Marchand has made disparaging remarks about Seppala and King.
“The members of the Community Coalition decline to give their names due to fear of retribution from the City and specifically the Mayor,” officials said. “Look at his statements regarding Joan Seppala, Jean King and others – he is not at all adverse to calling names and using his influence to financially harm people.”
Marchand accused The Independent of lacking journalistic integrity, given the unattributed articles and unidentified sources published on the publication’s front page Sept. 10 regarding funding for Eden Housing and the Community Coalition proposal.
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