https://www.siliconvalley.com/2024/12/31/update-a-look-at-the-progress-of-construction-behind-the-wall-of-containers-at-peoples-park/

After years of protests, pushback and delays, construction began this year on a UC Berkeley student housing project that will house 1,100 undergraduate students and 100 formerly homeless Berkeley residents. Construction began this June and has moved along as planned, university officials said in November. From the street view, all one may see is a towering wall made of shipping containers surrounding the 2.8-acre lot known as People’s Park, with a crane looming overhead.

On the inside, concrete covers much of what was once a hub for political activism. Pockets of landscaping and trees line the portion of the lot along Dwight Way, but much of the former park’s trees and greenery are gone. Site grading, debris removal, utility work and landscaping began this summer as part of Phase 1 of construction. UC Berkeley was permitted to move forward with its student housing plans after the state Supreme Court ruled against two groups who alleged the environmental review of the university’s proposal failed to adequately analyze noise impacts from future residents or alternative sites for the proposal.