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Downtown Oakland tower project focuses on homes, jettisons offices

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OAKLAND — A downtown Oakland tower is becoming solely a housing highrise after its developer scuttled plans to include offices in the project amid uncertainties over workplaces in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

The 18-story tower, located at 1510 Webster St. downtown, will now primarily consist of 222 residences and no office space, according to the project’s developer, real estate firm oWow.

Especially in the Bay Area, the coronavirus sparked a significant shift to remote work, with many employees still working from home more than two years into the pandemic.

Evening street-level view of 1510 Webster St. housing highrise in downtown Oakland, concept. (oWow)

“Office is struggling,” said Danny Haber, co-founder and chief executive officer of oWow, a real estate firm that is focusing on developing new housing. “Office is probably going to struggle for the next two to five years.”

Downtown Oakland’s office market is facing widening woes partly because San Francisco’s office market has lurched into a steep decline, property experts say.

Vacancies are soaring in San Francisco, which might also reduce the appetite for brand-new offices across the bay.

“San Francisco is struggling badly and Oakland is a secondary office market,” Haber said.

These forbidding realities in the Oakland office sector prompted a shift in how oWow envisions the tower’s primary mission.

Retail spaces in a housing tower at 1510 Webster St. in downtown Oakland, concept. (oWow)
Retail spaces in a housing tower at 1510 Webster St. in downtown Oakland, concept. (oWow)

“This building should be a mixed-use residential development and cater to the tenants and the public in the neighborhood,” Haber said.

The next step, in Haber’s view, is to craft a way for the building, located at the corner of Webster Street and 15th Street, to achieve that goal.

“How do you become a great mixed-use building? You provide the coolest restaurants, coolest bars, coolest retail in the area,” Haber said.

To help achieve this, oWow ditched the lobby of the building and instead fashioned plans for an open-air courtyard that’s accessible from the street.

“Think of a piazza in Italy,” Haber said. “Instead of a lobby, we will have a central open-air plaza with retail components in the plaza.”

Gathering areas and courtyard at 1510 Webster St. in downtown Oakland, concept.(oWow)
Gathering areas and courtyard at 1510 Webster St. in downtown Oakland, concept. (oWow)

The retail, a bar and other spaces will have sliding doors to allow them to be open to the plaza.

“The plaza will become a destination, unique and fun,” Haber said.

The tower is also expected to include a rooftop bar and lounge that would total 5,000 square feet. Including the rooftop bar and the ground-floor spaces, the retail in the tower will total about 15,000 square feet.

Haber acknowledged making the retail open to adjacent streets might cause a property owner to pause because of the possibility of crime.

“We are taking a risk that we can make this safe and secure, and still make it inviting and fun,” Haber said.


OAKLAND — A downtown Oakland tower is becoming solely a housing highrise after its developer scuttled plans to include offices in the project amid uncertainties over workplaces in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

The 18-story tower, located at 1510 Webster St. downtown, will now primarily consist of 222 residences and no office space, according to the project’s developer, real estate firm oWow.

Especially in the Bay Area, the coronavirus sparked a significant shift to remote work, with many employees still working from home more than two years into the pandemic.

Evening street-level view of 1510 Webster St. housing highrise in downtown Oakland, concept.(oWow)
Evening street-level view of 1510 Webster St. housing highrise in downtown Oakland, concept. (oWow)

“Office is struggling,” said Danny Haber, co-founder and chief executive officer of oWow, a real estate firm that is focusing on developing new housing. “Office is probably going to struggle for the next two to five years.”

Downtown Oakland’s office market is facing widening woes partly because San Francisco’s office market has lurched into a steep decline, property experts say.

Vacancies are soaring in San Francisco, which might also reduce the appetite for brand-new offices across the bay.

“San Francisco is struggling badly and Oakland is a secondary office market,” Haber said.

These forbidding realities in the Oakland office sector prompted a shift in how oWow envisions the tower’s primary mission.

Retail spaces in a housing tower at 1510 Webster St. in downtown Oakland, concept. (oWow)
Retail spaces in a housing tower at 1510 Webster St. in downtown Oakland, concept. (oWow)

“This building should be a mixed-use residential development and cater to the tenants and the public in the neighborhood,” Haber said.

The next step, in Haber’s view, is to craft a way for the building, located at the corner of Webster Street and 15th Street, to achieve that goal.

“How do you become a great mixed-use building? You provide the coolest restaurants, coolest bars, coolest retail in the area,” Haber said.

To help achieve this, oWow ditched the lobby of the building and instead fashioned plans for an open-air courtyard that’s accessible from the street.

“Think of a piazza in Italy,” Haber said. “Instead of a lobby, we will have a central open-air plaza with retail components in the plaza.”

Gathering areas and courtyard at 1510 Webster St. in downtown Oakland, concept.(oWow)
Gathering areas and courtyard at 1510 Webster St. in downtown Oakland, concept. (oWow)

The retail, a bar and other spaces will have sliding doors to allow them to be open to the plaza.

“The plaza will become a destination, unique and fun,” Haber said.

The tower is also expected to include a rooftop bar and lounge that would total 5,000 square feet. Including the rooftop bar and the ground-floor spaces, the retail in the tower will total about 15,000 square feet.

Haber acknowledged making the retail open to adjacent streets might cause a property owner to pause because of the possibility of crime.

“We are taking a risk that we can make this safe and secure, and still make it inviting and fun,” Haber said.

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