The same developer that is looking to redevelop four Safeway properties in San Francisco is proposing a massive new senior living development on the site of the Rockridge Trader Joe's in Oakland.

Align Real Estate is on a tear across the Bay Area, betting big on redeveloping grocery store sites in urban areas with surface parking lots. We learned in the fall about the developer's plans for Safeway stores in San Francisco's Fillmore, Bernal Heights, Outer Sunset, and Marina neighborhoods — the latter plan being by far the most controversial so far. Last month we learned that Align also has its sights on a San Mateo Safeway that could become 396 housing units. And now comes a sixth proposed development which is quite huge in scale, and which may also come with some controversy.

As the Chronicle reports today, Align has just filed a proposal for a pair of senior housing towers on the site of the Trader Joe's at 5727 College Avenue in Rockridge — a site that also happens to be owned by Safeway parent company Albertson's. (Area residents may recall this was once an Albertson's store, and Trader Joe's moved in in 2007.)

The proposed development would include a 31-story tower and a 25-story tower, the likes of which do not exist anywhere in this part of Oakland — which is dominated by two- and three-story buildings and quiet, tree-lined streets. And given that it's barely a block away from the Rockridge BART station, this would count as transit-oriented development.

The 1.5-acre site would become home to 415 senior-living units under the proposal — consisting of 371 independent-living apartments, 18 assisted-living units, and 26 memory-care rooms. The developer says it is working with a nonprofit on the project who they are not yet naming, but who is a "leading Bay Area nonprofit senior living organization with more than 65 years of experience serving older adults."

Not included in the plan is a replacement store space for Trader Joe's, or any other grocer.

"This project is about helping seniors stay in the neighborhoods they call home," says Align's David Balducci in a statement to the Chronicle. "By placing senior housing near transit, services and shops, we’re giving older adults the opportunity to age in place with dignity and independence, while also freeing up family homes for the next generation. In turn, this will reduce pressure on families and the healthcare system while strengthening the long-term vitality of the Rockridge corridor."

That is all well and good, but given the size and scale of the project, it is no doubt going to inspire pushback, much like the fairly massive, modern, 25-story complex Align is proposing at the Marina Safeway site.

In the case of both proposals, though, the law may end up being on the developer's side, and they seem to be betting big that it will be. The state's Density Bonus Law, as well as AB 130, make it easier for big residential projects to get built and for qualifying projects to get through the environmental-review process — which is usually where NIMBY efforts tend to slow such projects down.

As the Chronicle notes, while wealthy Rockridge residents may put up a stink, Oakland at large has gotten used to tall and dense developments next to BART stations, with a 24-story tower that's already been built just one BART stop away at MacArthur Station.

We should expect to hear a lot of noise about this project, and the Marina Safeway project, in the months to come. But if Align wins out on all of its proposals, the company will have potentially built around 4,500 new housing units when all is said and done.

Which grocery store with a surface parking lot is next?

Related: Marina Safeway Also on the Redevelopment Docket With Plans For 790 Units In 25-Story Complex