Lenders have taken over property ownership of 500 Kirkham Street in West Oakland, Alameda County. Back in 2019, the city approved plans by Panoramic Interests for a mixed-use complex with 1,032 units plus retail across a 32-story tower and two mid-rises. However, the developer struggled to get financing for the project during the pandemic and defaulted on its $6.25 million loan for the city earlier this year.
Panoramic originally purchased the site in 2017 for $7.1 million. CPIF California, an affiliate of Columbia Pacific Advisors, now controls the property after it foreclosed on the defaulted loan. The transaction was reported by George Avalos for the Bay Area News Group yesterday morning, adding that lenders rarely pursue plans that require them to “develop or own on a long-term basis properties they have seized through foreclosure.”
In an email to YIMBY, the owner of Panoramic Interests, Patrick Kennedy, shared with YIMBY that the firm is “still working with them to ensure the entitlements and development agreement remain in place and are available for another potential developer.” Kennedy describes the foreclosure and change of ownership as an ‘amicable and unchallenged reconveyance.’
500 Kirkham Street, rendering by BDE Architecture and SiteLab Urban Studio
500 Kirkham Street mid-rise view with the tower in the background, rendering by BDE Architecture and SiteLab Urban Studio
The proposal for 500 Kirkham Street would span three buildings constructed during three phases, including 85 affordable units. The first phase would include a nine-story building with 311 units, 16,960 square feet of retail, and improvements to the adjacent streets. The plan includes a Class 4 bike lane and bus lane along 7th Street, Road Diet on 5th and Union Streets, and an inner-block pedestrian pathway. Phase Two would create an eight-story building with 265 units and retail.
The most significant and final phase would create a 32-story tower with 456 units, retail, and parking. Rising 340 feet tall, it would have been the ninth-tallest building in Oakland. BDE Architecture and SiteLab Urban Studio are responsible for the master plan design and architecture.
The plan was considered a potential catalyst for development around the West Oakland BART Station, making the foreclosure of the initial loan a potential setback for the neighborhood’s development prospects. Other proposals in the neighborhood include 1396 5th Street, 533 Kirkham Street, and the Mandela Station at West Oakland proposal surrounding the BART Station.
500 Kirkham Street pedestrian view from across the BART rail overpass, rendering by BDE Architecture and SiteLab Urban Studio
500 Kirkham Street outlined approximately by YIMBY, image by Google Satellite
Near 500 Kirkham, Greystar is managing The Union, an 85-unit prefabricated apartment designed by David Baker Architects. Further west from the station, crews are making progress on the future affordable housing complex by Elaine Brown at 1666 7th Street.
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With the current economy, vacancy rates very high, and demand low, I doubt we see any more significant towers built in SF/Oakland for some time.
As a West Oaklander, very frustrated that we couldn’t get any of the big 7th street corridor projects started in construction prior to the pandemic and subsequent collapse of SF downtown as a workplace. Worried we may need to wait another 20 years for SF to got hot enough that money spills over to West Oakland again.