Abandoned & Endangered: Lamar Building (Oakland) and St. Peter & Paul School (E. Liberty)

[Moby Hick]

Originally Posted by eschaton

I dunno. I think Oakland probably has a pretty big shortage of housing at the higher end, although I don't think the Lamar building was the best located to serve the professionals who would be attracted to such places.

I don't really think anybody with higher-end housing money is going to be willing to live at that end of Oakland regardless. The location isn't great, but it is right on the main transit lines and not far from two of the hospitals. Also, what are the alternatives as far as building office space? I can't think of another vacant (or could be made vacant) plot that size in Oakland that isn't owned by UPMC.

[Impala26]

Originally Posted by LIRefugee

Fear of poor people aside, here are some general plans:

Molnar details Oakland portal plans to come

"L.W. Molnar & Associates is closing in on its plan to begin construction on the first of three new office buildings totaling more than 500,000 square feet of space amid public plazas along with a hotel, restaurants and shops on land it owns at the Oakland portal site, a key yet sloped parcel of property between Fifth and Forbes Avenues on the Oakland university district’s western edge."

Something like this would be great to see, it's truly amazing how such a large tract of land close so close to the heart of the Oakland CBD has gone un-(or under)-developed for so long. I can understand the plight of residents in West Oakland near Robinson though, having any sort of pass-through street in the site that would connect Robinson to Forbes would certainly add to increased through traffic in the neighborhood.

I just hope that a plan like this increases bike-ped connectivity in this part of Oakland. I don't know if anyone here is aware, but when the rebuilt the Boulevard of the Allies bridge over Forbes, they included a sidewalk on the north/inbound side. However, a quick jaunt across it reveals that it completely dead-ends on the one side. Does this site plan contain anything to complete this "missing link"...say between the Boulevard of the Allies and Fifth Avenue?

[eschaton]

I ran into one of my bus friends who is an architect this evening and told him about the demolition of the Lamar building. He was shocked, and a bit dismayed. It seems a few years back a developer hired his employer to come up with plans to reuse/refurbish it, and he played a role in designing those plans.

He's pretty sure it's a different developer than the current one.

[Lobick]

The PG's take on the Deutschtown property mentioned earlier in the thread:

Dilapidated Deutschtown duplex agitates advocates, developers - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette