Challenge:

Assist the City of Oakland in stabilizing its downtown core and providing an anchor for a downtown renaissance – encouraging growth without gentrification. Focus on redeveloping nonresidential sites while ensuring no existing residents are relocated.

• Oakland had rebuilt City Hall and government buildings but was still surrounded by urban decay and blight.
• The challenge was how to revitalize the surrounding community. The city considered options like a new retail center or a ballpark.
• We proposed a community anchored by residential development.
• Planned a 12-block area to upzone parcels to mixed-use, accommodating both commercial and residential growth.
• Formed the basis of Mayor Brown’s 10K Plan to bring 10,000 residents to downtown Oakland.
• Re-tenanted over 200,000 square feet of underutilized street-front retail and revitalized several abandoned theaters.
• Focused on creating a safe, secure neighborhood to support the return of retail and restaurant activity.

Solution:

• Create a new redevelopment area to capture the project’s tax increment.
• Consolidate land holdings to create parcels capable of accommodating 1,000 housing units and a public park.
• Relocate the Oakland School for the Arts to the abandoned Fox Theater, breathing new life into the historic landmark.
• Launch a merchant program to attract new retail and restaurant concepts to underutilized street-front retail spaces.
• Address nuisance tenants through strategic eviction or relocation to enhance neighborhood safety and appeal.
• Create and brand a new neighborhood, “Oakland Uptown,” marketing it as a vibrant urban living environment.
• Develop an anchor project featuring 800 mixed-income multifamily units across four adjacent blocks, plus 200 additional units of affordable housing.

Outcome:

• Oakland Uptown expanded, attracting over 10,000 residents and workers to the revitalized area.
• Street-front retail spaces were reoccupied by restaurants, bars, and innovative retail concepts, transforming the neighborhood into an 18-hour destination.
• The property tax base grew significantly, generating essential capital to support the city’s growth needs.