The City of Oakland and Strada Investment Group are closing on a deal for leasing 520 11th Street in Downtown Oakland, Alameda County. The 0.86-acre property is entitled to become the future ten-story addition to Samuel Merritt University. The project was approved this summer.
The progress between the developer and the city was first reported by Sarah Klearman for the San Francisco Business Times. The two are expected to sign the agreement before the end of the year.
Lobby entrance from 11th Street into 520 11th Street, rendering by Perkins&Will
520 11th Street, image via Google Satellite
The 167-foot tall project will create 225,000 square feet above a below-grade 21-car garage and a 1,900-square-foot cafe. The interiors will include traditional classrooms, specialty laboratories, workspaces, and collaboration rooms.
Samuel Merritt University is an Oakland-based private university founded in 1909 and currently has 1,600 enrolled students. According to the project application, “The proposed tower at Oakland City Center is designed to be the home and new main campus of Samuel Merritt University, a health sciences university educating highly skilled healthcare practitioners to positively transform the experience of care in diverse communities.” SMU is headquartered at 3100 Telegraph Avenue and is affiliated with Sutter Health Network and Alta Bates Summit Medical center.
520 11th Street programming schematic, elevation by Perkins&Will
520 11th Street plaza, rendering by Einwiller Kuehl
Perkins+Will is the project architect. The exterior design is oriented around its curtain-wall-wrapped facade, with terraces splitting the massing and articulating the overall scale. The glass system will be accented with wood composite panels, cast-in-place concrete, and metal panels.
EinwillerKuehl, an Oakland-based firm, is the landscape architect. The involvement includes an arrival plaza facing 12th Street, which will use durable urban greenery and medicinal plants to highlight the links between people and the ecosystem.
Luk & Associates is responsible for civil engineering, with Tipping Structural Engineers as the structural engineering firm.
520 11th Street frontal view from across 12th Street, rendering by Perkins&Will
The project will be between the 1111 Broadway office building’s public open plaza and the residential building at 1150 Clay Street. The 12th Street BART Station and BRT line is two blocks away on Broadway.
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Meh, it appropriately looks hospitalish… just what is needed on a prime downtown site.
Why do they want to move from their current campus next to Alta Bates Summit Medical Center? It definitely needs some love but being adjacent to a medical center seems like a better location.
I agree it does look like a hospital. We need some developers from Portland to come down and teach Oakland developers some style sense.
I expect this will be really positive for downtown, adding more in-person activity at a wider range of hours instead of just office workers (like me) who only come in a couple days a week from 9-5.
I like it. It took me a minute to figure out where it was but I agree that it would be a positive for that area. The building itself sort of has a 3-dimensional vive to it. I don’t think it looks like a hospital but the signage is ugly, hopefully, they can come up with something better.
This is an excellent addition to the city center in Oakland. As a nearby resident in Old Oakland it has been sad to see the lack of foot traffic in the area and restaurants are suffering and retail is now non existent in the area. This project will hopefully bring needed vitality to the area once again.
This project is also adjacent to BART 12th st station and is very transit friendly for students taking BART or AC transit. For that matter it is also only blocks from the Oakland ferry or the AMTRACK station at Jack London for other commuters.
Don’t be down on Downtown!
This is going to great for this part of downtown! SMU runs classes seven days a week and in the evenings. Huge influx of students and workers to the area. Will be great to have that activity, and hopefully some of the nearby small businesses will benefit. Nice public plaza too.