Please send news tips to: oaklandnorthstaff@gmail.com. You may also refer to the City's List of Major Development Projects and our Interactive Map of Major Development Projects. When you build market rate, which is very high-end compared to most peoples incomes, youre basically driving up property values and creating displacement pressures.. So what are they really getting out of this other than potentially killing the project?. The development, dubbed 7th and Campbell, is now one level closer to having 79 apartments with community space above a new restaurant and grocery store. After brief jazz heydays in the post-war period, both neighborhoods fell victim to eminent domain and regional and city projects that gave little recognition to the African American communities that lived there and how those projects would impact them. In 2012, Mouton lived in a two-bedroom apartment bordering West Oakland for $1,200 a month. The reporters and editors on The Oaklandside are dedicated to sharing the mic, reporting on systems, not symptoms, and providing you with the information you need to be an informed resident of our city. It includes horizontal improvements for a Class 4 Bike lane and Bus lane on 7th St, Road Diet on 5th and Union Streets, public pedestrian pathways and accessible playground and dog park. After the Planning Commission unanimously approved it in March 2021, it was brought before City Council in September when East Bay Residents for Responsible Development, a coalition of labor organizations, filed an appeal stating that an earlier environmental impact report on the site was inadequate and that a second one should be done. The Oakland Planning Commission approved a huge housing project at the West Oakland BART station last week, part of a push for more affordable housing near public transportation. Comments from the same user posted under multiple aliases may be deleted. Project. Thats a pigs eye of filth. Comments post automatically without review from our staff, but we reserve the right to delete material that is libelous, a personal attack, or spam. But if not well-managed, the project could displace residents in adjacent West Oakland and . It received the green light from the Oakland Planning Commission on March 3. Only 1% of rents are below $1,000. The project also includes plazas, pedestrian walkways connecting to the BART station, as well as streetscape improvements on 7th St, 5th St, Mandela Pkwy, and Chester St. A huge new residential development encompassing an entire city block in West Oakland was unanimously approved by Oakland's Planning Commission on Thursday, with plenty of community support. All Access Digital offer for just 99 cents! Mandela Station aerial view with Downtown Oakland in the background, rendering by JRDV Urban International, on "Detailed Rendering for Mandela Station at West Oakland", Construction At 2359 Harrison Street in Northgate-Waverly, Oakland, BayTech Charter School Revitalizing Palace Theater in Fruitvale, Oakland, Application Filed for Jewish Community Hub at 5901 College Avenue, Rockridge, Oakland, Concrete Rising for Affordable Housing at 1666 7th Street, West Oakland, New Renderings, Meeting Thursday for 2190 Shattuck Avenue in Downtown Berkeley, YIMBY Exclusive: First Builders Remedy Plan For Bay Area Revealed in Los Altos Hills, YIMBY Tours 300 Kansas Street For Official Topping-Out in San Francisco, Development Permits Filed for Town Tower, Oaklands Tallest Residential Proposal. Developers have assembled land and proposed many projects recent years, including: 500 Kirkham, a 1,032-unit project set from Panoramic Interests set to replace a vacant parking lot a block. Then, in 2011, the Michaels Organization broke ground on a119-unit senior housingcomplex called the Red Star Senior Apartments, in partnership with the nonprofit LINC Housing of Long Beach. This section of the 2013 West Oakland Specific Plan presents strategies for empowering existing residents and businesses to participate in and benefit from the new development and economic activity planned for West Oakland, by building on and connecting existing governmental and community-based equitable economic development programs. Two buildings totaling 118,847 SF on 16.84 acres of land available for sale via public auction. Jay C. Barmann is a fiction writer and web editor who's lived in San Francisco for 20+ years. The City of Oakland Planning Commission is reviewing proposed revisions for the multi-structure plans' affordable housing component at 801 Pine Street, West Oakland. A donation to The Oaklandside goes beyond the newsroom. The existing site features a long and thin warehouse with loading docks that totals 19,500 square feet, information posted in the LoopNet commercial property database shows. Usable private open spaces (courtyards and roof terraces), new street trees around the project site. I absolutely do not trust a developer to be upfront about environmental concerns or have our environmental justice in mind, Wheeler said. In 2008, West Oakland was hit hard again, with roughly 5,000 foreclosures that further displaced its population. Starter Bakery opens in Oakland | County eviction moratorium expiring in April | Get tickets to Culture Makers, {{#label}}{{label}}: {{/label}}{{message}}. OAKLAND Elaine Brown is back. The 156-foot tall structure will also include 23,000 square feet of retail and parking space. The complex would provide apartments to lower-income seniors, along with retail space. Now West Oakland is looking to apply this same formula and experience the rebirth that other areas of the city have experienced from a comprehensive development strategy. Please dont delay this project any longer.. A new multi-year paving plan to guide investments for Oakland's streets, adopted December 21, 2021. The facility will create 522 market-rate homes with over 14,000 square feet of ground-level retail and parking for 125 vehicles. infrastructure projects were built to serve the broader region, but also severely disrupted the area's community fabric. Several non-emergency systems including phone lines within the City of Oakland are currently impacted or offline. Born and raised in Oakland, Harper lost her housing after losing her job at a non-profit during the 2008 financial crisis. Its a failure to our city, its a failure to our planet, its a symbol of the ineffectiveness of our government to lead and to represent our interests in the neighborhood. Were journalists for Oakland. Sights like "Camp CalTrans" are common in W. Oakland. [] project has already been delayed for over a year. BART is the property owner. West Oakland Specific Plan Design Guidelines, West Oakland Specific Plan Environmental Impact Report, Document Archive for the West Oakland Specific Plan, Past Meetings Archive of the West Oakland Specific Plan. According toRent Cafe, a nationwide apartment listing service, 81% of Oakland renters pay more than $2,000 a month in rent, with $2,830 being average. Members of East Bay Residents for Responsible Development say the project violates the California Environmental Quality Act because the site was approved for use as a vacant lot rather than a residential one. Something went wrong. 500 Kirkham Street Development Agreement Community Meetings. WOAQ is a partnership with the nonprofit West Oakland Environmental Indicators Project, designed to power WOEIP's citizen science program. This chapter is about improving the physical, social, and economic development of Oakland. Since then, Michaels has been working on its current plan: the Golden West project, named after the Golden West Brewing Co., Oaklandslongest-runningbrewery, which shuttered in West Oakland in 1959. According to a 2019 report by the environmental justice group West Oakland Environmental Indicators Project, people in West Oakland experience higher rates of asthma, cardiovascular disease, and premature death compared with other parts of Alameda County. A West Oakland development, planned for the site of a now-defunct sausage factory, would offer an unusual blend of more than 100 live-work residences, along with ground floor spaces for business op Oakland Mixed-Use. A mixed-use development with 1,032 residential units, including 85 affordable units, and nearly 35,000 square feet of ground-floor retail and commercial space. The first two virtual community meetings occurred on Wednesday, December 2, 2020 5-6 pm; Saturday, December 5, 2020 10-11 am; and Monday, December 14, 2020 5:30-6:30pm. * NOTE: Please note that this list does not necessarily include complete residential unit count data for each project listed. The project, known as Golden West, received Planning Commission approval in March 2021. The narrow 20,900 square foot decorated Art Alley pedestrian walkway performs a similar task, uniting Chester Street and Mandela Parkway to BART. The project is planned in three phases, and is located one block east of the West Oakland BART Station. Among many successes over the years, Hensel Phelps and SUDA jointly undertook the development of Thomas Berkley Square at 2000 San Pablo Ave., Oakland, CA. The Michaels Organization, a New Jersey-based developer that creates housing across all markets, from affordable units to luxury apartments, has been trying to develop the site for more than a decade. The Food Oriented Development (F.O.D.) Landlords and other people will take it as their cue to raise prices on everybody, Mouton said. They want more density and they want more neighbors. But its good to see that its future form is something that the community can rally around and get their stamp on it.". The purpose of the West Oakland Specific Plan is to develop comprehensive, multi-faceted strategies for facilitating the development of selected vacant and/or underutilized commercial and industrial properties within the West Oakland community. Proponents of the Michaels project note that 16 units would be designated as very low-income housing. Semantha Norris and Ayla Burnett on December 13, 2021. "To save money, the [BART] line was built overhead unlike the underground lines in Berkeley and downtown Oakland right down the middle of Seventh. But he said thats not what the appeal is about. George Avalos is a business reporter for the Bay Area News Group who covers the economy, jobs, consumer prices, commercial real estate, airlines and airports and PG&E for The Mercury News and East Bay Times. West Oakland Development isnt involved in developing the project. Thats a strategy for resegregation, said Tony Roshan Samara, a program director at Urban Habitat, which advocates for affordable housing in the Bay Area. Around Mandela Station, other developers are helping to cultivate the urban fabric. Official Website for the City of Oakland | Mayor Sheng Thao. On May 7, 2019, the Oakland City Council adopted the 2019 3-Year Paving Plan. They were original three housing units, Acorn 1, Acorn 2, and Acorn 3. But market-rate housing isnt what the city needs, and building that would create a ripple effect,said Dominique Mouton, writer and creator of The Lower Bottoms, a fictional podcast about the tensions in a gentrifying West Oakland neighborhood. 500 Kirkham by Panoramic Interests is expected to create 1,032 new units and a 32-story apartment tower. West Oakland Development had previously proposed a 572-unit residential complex at 500 Kirkham St., a site thats about a block or two away. We want to see all that come back, if possible. Project Proposal The Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) is located at the West Oakland Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) station at 1451 7th St (PLN18490). Fearn may have been referring to the 35 people who appeared at the meeting to give public comment on the project, none of whom had any objections, only support. The area is set to undergo even more changes in the next few years. PROJECT NAME APPLICANT CONTACT LOCATION (ADDRESS OR APN) COUNCIL DISTRICT DESCRIPTION CITY PLANNER/ CONTACT STATUS MIXED-USE PROJECTS - APPROVED AND/OR UNDER CONSTRUCTION 25. Below youll find a summary of what OakDOT heard from Oaklanders about the paving plan proposal, what changes staff recommended for the final plan, and frequently asked questions and answers. Dalrymple responded, saying that EBRRD never offered to drop the appeal and that if it did, there would have to be a settlement that involved mitigation of the contaminants on the site. A $650 million,1,032-unit apartment complex paying homage to the west side's vibrant jazz and blues scene of the 1940s and '50s is on track to break ground near the West Oakland BART st The project includes affordable units as mandated under city law, and 85 of those units will be designated for the "very low" income bracket. A view of the Golden West plot near the BART station at 1396 5th St. in West Oakland. The Acorn or Acorn Projects are a series of housing projects in the Acorn Redevelopment Project Area of West Oakland. The West Oakland Specific Plan, which was initiated in 2010, was funded by a $2MM federal grant. Labor unions and residents opposed to development in their neighborhoods have tried to use the California Environmental Quality Act to kill projects through excessive delays, said Rafa Sonnenfeld, a paralegal at YIMBY Law, a San Francisco nonprofit focused on development. Thats not an anti-displacement strategy. The former Black Panther Party chairwoman, Elaine Brown, is planning a 79-unit affordable housing development at 1666 7th Street, dubbed 7th & Campbell. Facing continued pushback from Oakland's Planning Department with respect to the "monotonous and bulky massing," the lack of a "rich public-private interface" and a lackluster tower design for the proposed 1,032-unit "Hub" development to rise upon . How to realize the economic potential of Oakland and equitably create jobs for Pittsburghers; Were hemorrhaging our Black population, were hemorrhaging our low-income population. Where a potential significant effect of the environment on the project is . But the vote to reject the appeal came with conditions that Michaels provide air filtration and work with the county to ensure soil, ground and water contamination be remediated tasks normally required of all developers in the county. The block is bounded by Seventh, Fifth, Kirkham, and Union Streets, and it is one block east of the West Oakland BART Station. Oakland is experiencing a network outage that is affecting key services such as Oak311, permitting and business tax. The development of 500 Kirkham St . Stay up to date! It also includes off-street parking and secured bike storage for its residents. The Mitigation Fee Act (Government Code Sections 66000 66025) requires a local agency to conduct an analysis and make findings every five years for each impact fee that the agency imposes on development projects. This report was produced in collaboration withOakland North. Nightclubs like Esther's Orbit Room, the Lincoln Theater and Slim Jenkins Supper Club on Seventh Street played host to the likes of Aretha Franklin, Ike and Tina Turner, Billie Holiday, B.B. Id rather they echo expand on the community garden and do like Richmond did and make a be park, a pathway,and a trailway lined with real vegetables an and fruits for the community to freely plant and eat. Several non-emergency systems including phone lines within the City of Oakland are currently impacted or offline. The project has already been delayed for over a year. The Preliminary Development Plan (PDP) for the Planned Unit Development was initially approved by Planning Commission on February 6, 2019, and the Revised PDP was approved on November 4, 2020. We amplify community voices, share the power of real information, and investigate systems, not just symptoms. Click below to download our current citywide list of major development projects or view them on our interactive map. Project Support & Funding The projected $65 million project is supported by the Bay Area Toll Authority, Alameda County Transportation Commission, the City of Oakland and Caltrans. West Oakland megaproject on BART land moves forward Enlarge Mandela Station will feature 762 residential units, 75,000 square feet of neighborhood-serving retail and 300,000 square feet of. The council entertaining this appeal has really put the project in a very precarious place, Scott Cooper, vice president of development for Michaels, told the newspaper. stupid. Cooper said paying union wages for mechanical, electrical, plumbing and fire sprinkler tradespeople would add $55,000 to per-unit costs for a project that is barely financially feasible.. According to Rent Cafe, a nationwide apartment listing service, the average rent for an apartment in Oakland is $2,772 a month for a 778 square foot unit. Patrick Kennedy, Panoramic Interestspck@panoramic.com, (415) 701-7001, Design Review Committee supported project, Request for Development Agreement Submitted, 500 Kirkham Street Mixed-Use Development Project. In 2019 the Planning Commission also approved preliminary plans to develop what is currently the BART parking lot into theMandela Station, a transit-oriented development that includes 762 residential units, 382,460 square feet of office space, and 75,000 square feet of ground-floor retail. Children watch as a house is bulldozed in West Oakland, June 12, 1968. So they wanna take away a 440 car parking lot (that fills up every day) to build tens of thousands of square feet of new residential and retail and they only have 125 new parking spots planned? Cooper said that his attorney tried to reach out to the East Bay Residents coalitions counsel on a number of occasions to settle the environmental matters. That price is more the norm today. The projects developer, Scott Cooper, said the lot was zoned for residential use under the West Oakland Specific Planan initiative launched by the city in 2014 to bring housing, retail, and workspace to the neighborhood. The issue is now expected to return to the council in late January or early February for another public hearing. Even so, it took the Oakland City Council three public hearings to hold a deciding vote on the appeal. The Oakland City Council on Tuesday voted to allow a 222-unit housing project near West Oakland's BART Station to move forward after a 10-month delay that prompted a state investigation.. 460 24th St. (Pigozzi Project) 500 Kirkham Street Mixed-Use Development Project. The neighborhood surrounding the West Oakland BART station could be described as a microcosm of the citys growing housing inequality: Unhoused residents live in camps alongside new apartments and condos that cater primarily to transplants and commuters. Official Website for the City of Oakland | Mayor Sheng Thao. Bay Area real estate investors Keith Kim and Jabari Herbert are principal executives in West Oakland Development Group. Bikeways within two miles of the MacArthur BART station improve east-west bicycle access between MacArthur BART, the Piedmont Ave neighborhood, Kaiser Hospital and Emeryville, and connect to the bicycle and pedestrian path across the eastern span of the San Francisco Bay Bridge. The coalition and the council expressed concern about benzene, lead, diesel and toxic substances that could harm workers and nearby residents. Aerial renderings have been provided for the West Oakland Mandela BART Station development, spanning 5.58 acres around 1451 7th Street.The development hopes to create new homes, a life science laboratory, thriving retail, and a network of public open spaces to reshape former surface parking into a new urban heart for the burgeoning area. The development team is a collaboration between Oakland-based Strategic Urban Development Alliance LLC (SUDA), Hensel Phelps Construction/Development, and China Harbor Engineering Company (CHEC). Official Website for the City of Oakland | Mayor Sheng Thao. "It is clear that redevelopment over the past 45 years has shattered much of the life blood of the neighborhood." Mandela Station view from 5th Street, rendering by JRDV Urban International, Mandela Station market cafe along 7th Street, rendering by JRDV Urban International, West Oakland BART development T1 Building seen along 7th Street, rendering courtesy JRDV, West Oakland BART development T3 Building, rendering courtesy JRDV, West Oakland BART public plaza, rendering courtesy JRDV, Mandela Station 7th Street and Mandela Parkway view, rendering by JRDV Urban International. At Fifes request, the council agreed to take more time to review the project. Acorn Housing Project model, April 7, 1966. by Ayla Burnett April 21, 2022 A view of the Golden West plot near the BART station at 1396 5th St. in West Oakland. West Oakland BART site map, map courtesy JRDV. Massive New West Oakland Development With 32-Story Tower Moves Forward A huge new residential development encompassing an entire city block in West Oakland was unanimously approved by. The same tactic was allegedly used by a labor group that appealed a project linked to a Los Angeles corruption scandal. (In Alameda County, very low income is defined as $47,950 for a single person and $68,500 for a family of four). Housing advocates contend Golden West was exempt from CEQA because it falls under an umbrella environmental review conducted for the West Oakland Specific Plan. The Oaklandside relies on reader support to remain free for everyone in our community. In the case of the Fillmore, it was a massive redevelopment project now seen as racist that razed hundreds of homes and businesses and displaced thousands. A decade-old development across Seventh from the BART station made some impact, but it did not bring any retail activity or foot traffic to the street level, and this project will include 35,000 square feet of retail and commercial space, including a restaurant and bar across from the Crucible called 7th West. Delaying projects like this one are keeping us from building the housing we need to support the growth of our city.. And your AirPods and fancy business laptops. That work is expected to take place over the next two to three months and will determine whether or not the project will need to undergo an additional EIR, which could take up to a year. Theyre trying to make it so that the cost to the developer is so great that they just have to abandon their project and sell it to someone else, Sonnenfeld said. Census data shows the average per-capita income is $47,783, meaning the typical Oakland renter would have to spend 71% of their monthly income on rent, making them financially unstable. ga('send', 'event', 'SF YIMBY', 'Impression', 'https://sfyimby.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/sf-yimby-dot-com-graphic.jpg', { nonInteraction: true }); YIMBY News delivers the days top new development stories to your inbox every weekday morning. Construction is expected to cost as much as $700 million. We will still steal your catalytic converters. Every neighbor I know wants to see this building built. San Jose apartment project site faces loan default The project, bounded by 14th, Wood and 16th streets and Frontage Road, is the first major. Thank you for your patience while we work to restore services. Proudly powered by Newspack by Automattic. The purpose of the West Oakland Specific Plan is to develop comprehensive, multi-faceted strategies for facilitating the development of selected vacant and/or underutilized commercial and industrial properties within the West Oakland community (see map for Key Sites). People are being forced out.. I want housing developed near transit, said Councilmember Carroll Fife, who led the motion and represents District 3, where the project is located. Golden West is just one of the major projects planned around the West Oakland BART station. Council members voted unanimously Tuesday to continue the appeal and conduct furtherenvironmental analyses of impacts that may not have been accounted for in the initial EIR.