Hotel Remodel Joins Jack London Square Plan

A partnership of Ellis Partners LLC, Jim Falaschi's Transbay Holdings and a CarVal Investors' managed account acquired four existing Jack London Buildings and seven development parcels from the Port of Oakland in 2001. Between then and now, it has rehabbed the existing buildings, obtained entitlements for the development parcels and begun construction on one of them.

Last month, the developers recapitalized the project by selling everything to a new entity that includes all of the original partners plus the National Electrical Benefit Fund. The total value of the transaction was $200 million and included the cost of leasing up the existing buildings. Bank of America provided the debt financing.

Ellis Partners' principal Melinda Ellis Evers tells GlobeSt.com the acquisition gives the partnership control over "a very central asset in the Square." The property will undergo a full renovation in 2008 that will include a new street-level restaurant, a new exterior, a renovated lobby and new room finishes and furnishings. The hotel will remain open during the process but the restaurant will close and then re-open under a new name and concept.

The first phase of new construction at Jack London Square will include 250,000 sf of speculative space in four mixed-use buildings, including a 31,200-sf retail and office building adjacent to Oakland's ferry terminus; a 170,000-sf mid-rise building with 100,000 sf of class A waterfront office space and 70,000 sf of restaurants and food related uses, including a public market; a 1,086-car parking garage; and a 10,000-sf retail building adjacent to the existing Barnes and Noble store for smaller shops.

Evers says the 31,200-sf building is under construction next to the Waterfront Plaza Hotel and site work is under way for the 170,000-sf building. Work on the parking garage will begin later this year and be completed along with work on the 170,000-sf building in late 2008 or early 2009. Work on the 31,200-sf building will be wrapped up by the end of the year, Evers says. The second phase of construction will total another 500,000 sf and include two additional mid-rise office and retail buildings and a four-star, 250-room hotel.