Brookside Rd, Orinda

The Castlegate neighborhood is the site of what might one day be another Orinda neighborhood. As far as I can tell, at the moment it is nothing but empty lots awaiting the go ahead to start building. Nestled up in the hills near where Highway 24 feeds into the Caldecott Tunnel, all I can see is tracks and cleared away land. If you search for it on real estate sites, you will see that they are offering to build multi-million dollar homes up in this area, but you will only find actual pictures of one historic building dating back to 1894. (It is for sale by the way for about $300,000 though the Orinda Historical Society will most likely try to keep it from being torn down and redeveloped given its age.)

You can also find some statistical information on the supposed near 800 residents that live here, but a careful look reveals they are actually including the Knickerbocker neighborhood as part of Castlegate. I really don’t think anyone has actually finished building a home up on these empty streets with parceled land spaces.

When and if this neighborhood is actually born, it will probably be quite successful so long as Orinda continues to grow. The location is really wonderful, having its own freeway exit and staring out over the green woody hill where the California Shakespeare company puts on its summer programs, the area could not be more secluded. If the weather is anything like that of Cal Shakes, you will get a cold fog that cools you in the summer and the usual hillside problems—although it looks like they have flattened out the area for the neighborhood.

Developers are looking to name the area Wilder, after the main street that runs up the Cal Shakes gates. Of course, as theater fans know, this is a reference to Thornton Wilder, the Our Town author. For now however, the due date for this neighborhood, given the current real estate market uncertainties, remains vague. We will have to wait and see.