Oakland Provides Jobs Near Employee Residences
The 750,000-square-foot office building at 2201 Valley will include 10,000 square feet of retail and arts spaces, occupying a full city block between Telegraph Avenue, Valley, West Grand Avenue and 22nd Street.
OAKLAND, CA—A proposed office development at 2201 Valley will occupy a full city block between Telegraph Avenue, Valley Street, West Grand Avenue and 22nd Street. This 750,000-square-foot office building will include approximately 10,000 square feet of ground floor retail and arts spaces. TMG Partners recently received unanimous approval from the Oakland planning commission for the project.
“2201 Valley brings balance to the greater Bay Area’s traditional regional job centers and adds to Oakland’s still-burgeoning identity as the center of dynamism and diversity,” said Michael Covarrubias, TMG CEO and Oakland native. “The proposed building’s large open floors, high ceilings and column-free spaces, made possible by the engineering required to span the BART tunnel that runs beneath the site, form the kind of creative work space ideal to growing companies.”
Located only a block from the 19th Street BART station, 2201 Valley is designed to achieve a LEED Gold designation. The building, designed by Solomon Cordwell Buenz, has proposed fanned vertical steps that embrace the structural requirements of the BART span, and evolve into a stepped vertical tower broken by outdoor terraces and landscaped decks. The building lobby faces towards Broadway and the Hive development along West Grand, and the 10,000 square feet of ground floor spaces include 30-foot ceiling spaces.
“Our project includes a variety of indoor and outdoor spaces for people to work and gather, supporting Oakland’s distinctive identity as a new mecca for technology and talent within the broader landscape of the Bay Area,” said Denise Pinkston, partner with TMG Partners. “Over the past year, we have worked with the public and community representatives to develop our project and believe the result is an Oakland-inspired design that makes a lasting architectural contribution to the city’s skyline.”
Benefits to the community include replacing a surface parking lot and contaminated gas station with a sustainable and uniquely Oakland workplace. In addition, ground-floor retail and permanent arts spaces/installations connect the building to the Uptown Arts community, and a design solution that addresses the significant constraints of constructing a modern building that spans the BART tunnel.
The development will produce high-quality jobs and significant revenues for Oakland including $8 million in one-time fees, $7.9 million in estimated annual revenues and more than $13 million in nearby restaurant/retail sales, as estimated by Hausrath Economics.
“What TMG Partners recognized early on was that employers must be near where their employees want to live, and increasingly in the Bay Area that is Oakland and the East Bay. San Francisco’s tightened office market supports increased interest in Oakland as not only a viable alternative to San Francisco, but a highly desirable urban setting in the Bay Area,” Pinkston tells GlobeSt.com. “Demand for Oakland office space and corresponding rents are at an all-time high, tenants from a variety of industries including finance, law and tech are signing leases in Oakland and sales prices have achieved record levels. New investors, including institutional, now enjoy a robust new submarket.”
TMG currently owns and is renovating two other Oakland properties at 1330 and 2201 Broadway.