S.F. loft builder’s plan for Oakland waterfront has locals worried
San Francisco loft seller James Nunemacher has entered the Oakland market with a nine-story waterfront tower, one in a series of buildings residents fear could form a shoreline-blocking “canyon.”
An LLC registered to Nunemacher is proposing a nine-story tower at 370 Embarcadero. Preliminary plans circulated by architect Ian Birchall and Associates show the project would include 95 condominiums and 5,000 square feet of ground-floor retail.
The 84-foot project is the fifth Embarcadero project expected to rise five stories or more. A vocal collection of community residents argue that, taken together, the projects will create a “canyon” or “wall” of highrise buildings that cut the neighborhood off from the waterfront.
Their ire has been raised most of all by a proposed 26-story, 257-unit tower at what is now the Jack London Inn, at 444 Embarcadero. Hotel owner Bill Harris has said the plans, first floated almost a year ago, are exploratory and the project is in the midst of a preliminary environmental review.
Then there is a collection of buildings on Embarcadero planned as part of the redevelopment of Jack London Square. One is the five-story “Harvest Hall” food and retail center, another a seven-story office building to be built at the site of a former TGI Friday’s. The third building would be a parking structure.
“Embarcadero is going to be a wall by the time they build all of Jack London Square,” said Joanna Adler, a board member of the Jack London District Association and a publisher of the Jack London News community newspaper.
Adler said a meeting between community members and architects over the initial design revealed widespread concern among residents about the height. Another meeting brought forth design changes that pulled the building back from the street and, Adler said, smartly addressed other concerns.
Some board members said at the meeting they would support the project, which is due before the planning commission October 16.
Community support for the project may be bolstered by the fact that it would replace what is now Mingles nightclub, which has had a rocky relationship with some neighbors. The club has been the epicenter of a series of shootings and assaults.
Ryan Tate covers East Bay real estate for the San Francisco Business Times.
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