Tupac Shakur’s historic Bay Area teenage home gets critical renovations

By Miquéla V Thornton, Bloomberg

Tupac Shakur’s former home, a historic public housing complex in Marin County, is undergoing a massive rehabilitation to usher its 20th century buildings into the modern era.

The California Municipal Finance Authority sold about $31.8 million of municipal bonds last week, as phase one of a larger $266.6 million revamp of the Golden Gate Village complex in Marin City. The first phase of renovations will cover 14 buildings, comprising 88 of the property’s 296 apartment units, and is expected to take two years.

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Late rapper Tupac Shakur is perhaps Golden Gate’s most famous former resident. In 1988, Shakur moved into the complex from Baltimore with his family, though they would move again soon after to nearby Oakland. While in Marin City, Shakur formed the One Nation Emcees rap group and went on to perform live for the first time at the city’s 1989 music festival.

Years later, he would reference the town in his 1995 track “My Block,” rapping “In the jungle of Marin City, that’s my block, that’s right.” Shakur was fatally shot the following year, and his long-awaited murder trial began just this week.

Built in 1961 to house shipyard workers after World War II, many of whom were African American, Golden Gate Village received a spot on the National Register of Historic Places in 2017.

The first phase of its revamp is expected to cost about $97.6 million. Apart from the recently issued muni bonds, the remainder of the funds are expected to come mostly from federal low-income housing tax-credit equity, as at least 40% of the units will be rented to households earning under 60% of the area’s median income. Marin County consistently ranks among the wealthiest counties in the US, with a median household income of about $149,000, according to US Census data.

Additionally, 87 of the project’s 88 units in phase one are covered by a 20-year Section 8 Housing Assistance Payment contract. The federal assistance helps subsidize rents for low-income tenants.

Phase one will cover improvements to common areas as well as unit amenities, according to the bond documents. The long timeline will require resident relocation, which has stirred concerns among Golden Gate residents about possible permanent displacement.

Today, the complex houses nearly 300 low-income families, according to the Marin Housing Authority. Two-thirds of Golden Gate’s residents are Black, per the MHA. Black residents make up less than 3% of the Marin County population and about a third of the Marin City demographic, where the complex is located, US census data shows.

Golden Gate’s residents have grappled with issues around the complex’s living conditions for years, including mold, rodents and obsolete electrical systems, leading them to file suit in 2020. Renovations began earlier this summer.

The bonds carry a Aa1 rating from Moody’s.

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