OAKLAND, CA-With an equity partner in hand, ShorensteinProperties LLC this week submitted designs to the city for a500,000-sf addition to its Downtown City Center development.Tentatively scheduled to get under way next spring and open twoyears later, the 23-story building will be the first new buildingin Oakland City Center since Shorenstein completed the 20-storytower at 555 City Center in 2002.

Located directly above the 12th Street BART station, City Centeris a 3.5-million-sf mixed-use development with office space, 18eateries, a dozen retail shops and services, an athletic club andparking for 2,840 vehicles. The new building will replace afull-block parking lot bounded by Martin Luther King Jr. Way and11th, 12th and Jefferson streets.

Shorenstein EVP Tom Hart tells GlobeSt.com that the company'simpetus includes the growth needs of its existing tenants as wellas some interest from large users not already in the market. “Ourexperience has been that some San Francisco tenants will look atthe Oakland marker for economic rents and to locate more centrallyin the Bay Area from a transportation standpoint,” he says. “Whilewe always look for some kind of anchor tenant, right now we arecontemplating building this project on spec.”