<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=windows-1252"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/25/business/another-city-by-the-bay-comes-into-its-own.html">http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/25/business/another-city-by-the-bay-comes-into-its-own.html</a><div><br></div><div>
<div class="kicker"></div>
<h1><nyt_headline version="1.0" type=" "><font size="3">Another City by the Bay Comes Into Its Own</font></nyt_headline></h1><h1><font size="3">By
<span itemprop="author creator" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person"><span itemprop="name">JOE GOSE</span></span></font></h1>
<nyt_text>
<div id="articleBody">
<nyt_correction_top>
</nyt_correction_top><p itemprop="articleBody">December 24, 2013</p><div><br></div><p itemprop="articleBody">
Long considered San Francisco’s little brother — or maybe its punk
cousin — Oakland has struggled with negative perceptions wrought by
crime, protests and a mediocre football team. </p><p itemprop="articleBody">
But from grass-roots efforts to revitalize urban neighborhoods to nearly
$2 billion in residential and commercial development forging ahead on
the waterfront, Oakland seems to be coming into its own in the Bay Area.
</p><p itemprop="articleBody">
For better or worse, the growth has earned Oakland the designation
“Brooklyn of the West,” comparing it to the New York borough with its
recent renaissance and emergence from Manhattan’s shadow. </p><p itemprop="articleBody">
“Oakland is becoming an increasingly attractive alternative to San
Francisco,” said James Ellis, managing partner of Ellis Partners of San
Francisco, which is developing <a title="More about the project." href="http://www.ellispartners.com/project_details.php?c=view&id=3&img=1&p=1&n=3">Jack London Square</a>,
a $400 million mixed-use project on the Oakland Estuary. “People can
still have a true urban environment rather than a manufactured one in
the suburbs.” </p><p itemprop="articleBody">
The underpinnings for Oakland’s improving fortunes were set last decade
through efforts to expand the urban population, and upon the renovation
and reopening of the <a title="More about the Fox Theater." href="http://www.thefoxoakland.com/">Fox Theater</a>, a long-shuttered landmark, in 2009, observers say. </p><p itemprop="articleBody">
But spillover from San Francisco’s tech boom is providing the latest
charge as companies and workers look for affordable space, said Jason
Volpe, a senior vice president with Jones Lang LaSalle, the commercial
real estate brokerage firm. </p><p itemprop="articleBody">
Downtown Oakland office landlords are asking around $29 a square foot
annually, about half the rent for similar space in San Francisco,
according to Jones Lang. And amenities nonexistent a few years ago are
attracting millennials looking to set up residence. In turn, that is
starting to attract employers. </p><p itemprop="articleBody">
“There are groups being priced out of San Francisco, and for a lot of
reasons — access to transit being one and a central location in the Bay
Area being another — Oakland is a natural fit,” said Mr. Volpe, who has
lived and worked in the Oakland area for the last six years. “The
concentration of what I would call highly desirable things to do from a
commercial and entertainment standpoint — restaurants, bars, art
galleries, live music venues — has done nothing but increase.” </p><p itemprop="articleBody">
Oakland is drawing office investors as well. This fall, Strada
Investment Group of San Francisco made its first foray into Oakland,
buying two downtown <a title="More about the properties." href="http://stradasf.com/investments/investments-1300-clay-and-505-14th-streets">City Center buildings</a> with Angelo, Gordon & Company of New York as its partner. </p><p itemprop="articleBody">
Scott Stafford, a Strada principal, cited the tech boom and the City
Center BART station as attractions — it’s an eight-minute ride to San
Francisco’s business district. Accountants, engineers and others serving
the technology industry have been among the first to seek more
affordable space in Oakland, he added, and many of their employees
already live in the East Bay. </p><p itemprop="articleBody">
Still, he expects the migration to eventually include more tech companies, which have been moving from Silicon Valley to <a title="Times article." href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/05/us/san-francisco-tech-boom-brings-jobs-and-worries.html">San Francisco</a> to be near young professionals. </p><p itemprop="articleBody">
“Longer term, we think Oakland is well-positioned for tech,” Mr. Stafford said. </p><p itemprop="articleBody">
Mr. Volpe and others are quick to point out that while perceptions about
Oakland’s bad-boy reputation are changing, it’s still early in the
process. And some developments that have been underway for a while still
face hurdles because of a sluggish economy. In Jack London Square,
filling a 62,000-square-foot market catering to entrepreneurial food
operations and shops has been challenging because of a lack of
small-business funding, Mr. Ellis said. </p><p itemprop="articleBody">
Among other blemishes, demonstrators like those associated with Occupy
Oakland, which clashed with police during its downtown encampment in
2011, continue to hold occasional <a href="http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/Occupy-Oakland-2nd-Anniversary-Protest-Planned-229243171.html">protests</a> that generate unwanted attention. </p><p itemprop="articleBody">
Crime remains a problem, too. As of mid-November, the number of violent
crimes in 2013 was up about 8 percent over the prior year, according to
the Oakland Police Department. The department remains understaffed
despite added efforts to train and hire more officers. </p><p itemprop="articleBody">
Still, the hurdles have failed to deter those with a vested interest in
Oakland. In many neighborhoods, property owners have established
community benefit districts, agreeing to pay additional assessments to
fund services and improvements that the city cannot afford to address.
Two districts in particular, the <a title="The districts website." href="http://downtownoakland.org/">Downtown Oakland Association</a> and <a title="The districts website." href="http://lakemerritt-uptown.org/">Lake Merritt/Uptown Association</a>, were founded in 2009 to clean up graffiti and enhance the neighborhoods. </p><p itemprop="articleBody">
The adjacent districts straddle Broadway and span roughly 35 square
blocks from Eighth Street to 25th Street. Together they have fostered a
cluster of art galleries, restaurants, shops and other businesses in
hip, walkable neighborhoods. Managed jointly with a combined budget that
was about <a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/155752941/CBD-Annual-Report-2013">$2 million</a>
in 2012, the districts have paid for security, landscaping,
solar-powered trash and recycling stations, and a temporary pedestrian
plaza, among other services and improvements. </p><p itemprop="articleBody">
By the end of this year, nearly <a href="http://www.gallen.com/releases/130624-Oak.pdf">120 businesses</a> will have moved into the districts over the last five years. Recent <a href="http://www.gallen.com/releases/131021-Oakland.pdf">additions</a>,
like a law firm, Gordon & Rees, and a graphic designer, Minted.com,
represent relocations or expansions from San Francisco. </p><p itemprop="articleBody">
Among other events, <a title="Website." href="http://oaklandartmurmur.org/">Oakland Art Murmur</a>
on the first Friday of each month draws thousands of patrons from
around the Bay Area via the 19th Street BART station stop, said Deborah
Boyer, president of the Lake Merritt/Uptown board. </p><p itemprop="articleBody">
Investors are focused on the districts, too. Signature Development Group
of Oakland is undertaking a $50 million project uptown, converting six
90-year-old industrial buildings into <a title="More about the project." href="http://www.signaturedevelopment.com/project/the-hive/">The Hive</a>.
It will comprise 104 apartments and 100,000 square feet of incubator
space, offices, retail space and restaurants surrounding a courtyard,
said Paul Nieto, senior vice president for development with Signature.
</p><p itemprop="articleBody">
Signature developed an eight-story condominium and retail building nearby at Broadway and Grand Avenue in 2008. </p><p itemprop="articleBody">
“Broadway and Grand is the hub of this area, and we’re smack in the
middle of it,” Mr. Nieto said. “We’ve started to get restaurants and
retail, and residents are patronizing them. It’s an environment where
there is finally a ‘there’ there in Oakland.” </p><p itemprop="articleBody">
Farther south on the Oakland Estuary, Signature and its development
partner, Reynolds & Brown of Concord, Calif., are about to begin
work on Brooklyn Basin, a <a href="http://www.portofoakland.com/newsroom/pressReleases/2013/pr_306.aspx">$1.5 billion</a> development on 65 acres. <a href="http://www.signaturedevelopment.com/project/brooklyn-basin/">Plans</a>
call for 3,100 residential units, 200,000 square feet of commercial
space, marinas, and 30 acres of recreational space and parkland. </p><p itemprop="articleBody">
In planning for more than a decade, Brooklyn Basin was delayed by legal
challenges and the recession. In June, however, the developers teamed
with Zarsion Holdings of Beijing and bought the land for $18 million.
Mr. Nieto said that construction on the first buildings would very
likely begin in early 2015 after several months of site preparation.
</p><p itemprop="articleBody">
Directly to the northwest, Ellis Partners in November proposed to build
665 housing units in two towers in Jack London Square, which is on the
author’s boyhood stomping ground. Economic turbulence has also slowed
that development. To date, Ellis Partners and its partner, Divco West of
San Francisco, have completed nearly half of the project — some 430,000
square feet of office, retailing, lodging and entertainment space, said
Mr. Ellis of Ellis Partners. </p><p itemprop="articleBody">
Jack London Square has attracted cutting edge companies like Sungevity, a
lessor of solar energy panels to households, which has helped absorb
more than 90 percent of the development’s office space. While leasing
retail space remains tough, Mr. Ellis wants to avoid settling for
national chains and is comfortable taking the time to get the “right
mix” of tenants, a strategy that he has employed throughout the project.
</p><p itemprop="articleBody">
“Our focus has always been to avoid making Jack London Square just
another mall with the usual suspects for tenants,” he said. “We want to
make it a unique, only-in-Oakland experience.” </p></div></nyt_text></div></body></html>