Appeal Dropped, Tidewater to Build Oakland Apartment Tower

Last year, San Francisco-based developer Tidewater Capital received approvals from the city for either a 40-story apartment tower or a 27-story office building on a downtown Oakland site at 1431 Franklin Street.

The decision on which project to build has been on hold for several months after the owner of a neighboring restaurant filed appeals against both of them.

Geoffrey Pete, owner of Geoffrey’s Inner Circle restaurant and jazz club, appealed to the Oakland City Council, telling them that either of the high-rise buildings would disrupt his business and eliminate parking for his patrons.

In December, the council produced a tie vote on the appeal, which was then scheduled to be decided by Mayor Sheng Thao at a meeting this month. But before Thao needed to make that decision, the parties and the council got together and produced a resolution that will allow the project to move forward.

According to a report in the San Francisco Business Times, Pete agreed to withdraw his appeal after the council agreed to strengthen the Black Arts Movement and Business District, which was established in 2016 and includes Geoffrey’s Inner Circle.

The city council also agreed to consider initiatives including improvements to the streetscape along 14th Street, funding art installations and helping tenants in the district pay for façade improvements.

In the wake of the agreement, Tidewater announced that it will move forward with the 40-story residential tower on the site, which is currently a parking lot.

The residential tower will have 380 units, including 38 affordable apartments reserved for very-low-income households, as well as a five-level parking garage. Tidewater’s project already has received conditional use permits and has completed a design review.

Tidewater also is developing an eight-story mixed use building at 533 Kirkham Street that according to original plans will encompass 289 apartments and 3,000 SF of ground-floor retail.

In October, Tidewater announced it secured more than $200M in equity commitments for its third discretionary fund from investors including university endowments, charitable foundations and family offices. Tidewater will deploy the fund to develop real estate projects in the Bay Area.

Oakland is awaiting delivery this year on three large apartment projects encompassing 1,000 units, including a 39-story tower at 1900 Broadway being developed by Behring Cos.