OAKLAND: $1.5 billion Brooklyn Basin Project breaks ground today

[Obamadon1]

Originally Posted by CirclingLogan

I'm curious to see how this will connect to East Lake (Clinton, Merrit) and Jack London. If it doesn't, it will be oddly isolated and not urban in any real sense. It'll just be a bunch of people driving in and out of their job in SF on the freeway. Might as well be Emeryville.

Well unfortunately the freeway isn't moving so there's going to be a certain level of disconnect. It is going to be connected by bike lanes and trails and as much else as is possible. I would assume they'd extend the shuttle once there's demand, which will connect it to BART and the rest of downtown.

[OaktownAndy]

Originally Posted by Stephen1110

i wonder what the prospective demographics of Brooklyn Basin will be: race, income, age, educational attainment

and what kind of retail would be drawn to the area..

I'm betting it will be Emeryville 2.0 in terms of demographics. For all its knocks, Emeryville attracts a young singles and couples professional set that provides a huge tax base for Emeryville. They also require less in terms of city resources like schooling and policing. Emeryville is one of the few East Bay cities to weather the recession with little negative impact.

I highly doubt a developer is willing to spend $1.5 billion dollars to make a measly return. The vast majority of retail and housing will be sold at whatever the market will bear. There will be a few hundred "affordable" units reserved.

If this development was all that Oakland envisioned for itself, I would not favor it. But I am in favor of a vibrant, safe downtown and JLS area for the young professionals, tourists, retail and hip restaurants while preserving the more suburban feel in other areas like the hills. A city as large as Oakland needs to appeal to all types of persons (except criminals) to continue to grow.

[ketch89]

Originally Posted by CirclingLogan

I'm curious to see how this will connect to East Lake (Clinton, Merrit) and Jack London. If it doesn't, it will be oddly isolated and not urban in any real sense. It'll just be a bunch of people driving in and out of their job in SF on the freeway. Might as well be Emeryville.

The only planned connection to Clinton/Merritt, aside from 5th avenue, will be a bicycle path along the water connecting it to Lake Merritt. It'll be a strangely isolated 'hood until we get a 2nd transbay tube built, at which time we might have the political will to demolish 880 and 980 through downtown. I think the ideal route would be merging 880 with 8th street somewhere between 7th and 5th. The less complicated, less expensive option would be merging 880 with Embarcadero and widening it though, I suppose.

[jade408]

Originally Posted by sonarrat

I'll be watching this closely. I'm 30 and work in the East Bay, so a new waterfront community like this makes a lot of sense for me. Easy financing, strong first-time homebuyer incentives, good long-term investment. Hopefully it won't get priced into the stratosphere.

Same here! But the Macarthur Transit Village might win too.