Retail Complex In the Works At Landmark Downtown Building

Two Oakland, Calif., men plan to give new life to the landmark J.J. Newberry building near the heart of the city’s downtown.

Shawn Granberry and Omar Krashna hope to open the Oakland Millennium Village retail complex in mid-October. Located on Broadway near the 19th Street Bay Area Rapid Transit station, the 18,000-sf project will house several merchants and a computer-center “cyber lounge.”

Tenants include Bradley’s Hair Design, Sawa Coffee, Wendy’s Cheesecake, Rainbow Flowers and music store Phat Beatz. The computer center will have five iMac computers, plus kiosks with direct links to merchants such as Southwest Airlines, online grocer Peapod and several auto dealers on local Broadway Auto Row.

Granberry and Krashna are renting the building from its owner, the Center for Creation Spirituality. The center bought the property from BART, which had hoped to tear it down to build new headquarters.