GENERAL DESCRIPTION
Fruitvale Station is a 157,900 square foot grocery anchored community shopping center located between 29th and Fruitvale Avenues, along the I-880 Nimitz Freeway, in the City of Oakland. The center is occupied almost exclusively by national retail tenants, including Albertsons, Office Depot, MacFrugal’s, Auto Zone, Boston Market and Starbuck’s.
Fruitvale Station was, at the time of its construction, the first major retail project built in the City of Oakland within 20 years. The shopping center was developed in a joint venture with Del Monte Corporation, the original owner of the 14 acre site, which was formerly the home of a 440,000 square foot Del Monte Cannery facility owned and operated by Del Monte since 1917. At the time of the venture, the cannery plant was totally vacant and the buildings dilapidated. The venture was formed in August, 1995; construction commenced in March, 1996; and construction was completed September, 1997.
The center was developed by Dan Gray, Peter Reynolds and Dana Parry. Mr. Gray and Mr.
Reynolds managed all of the development, leasing, financing and budgeting, and governmental entitlement approvals, and Mr. Parry was principally responsible for, and oversaw, all legal and transactional aspects of the project, including negotiating and structuring agreements for the joint venture with Del Monte and the environmental approvals for the remediation of the site through “no further action” closure letters by the County Health and RWQCB.
PUBLIC ENTITY REFERENCE CONTACT
Mr. Ignacio De La Fuente
President of the City Council
City of Oakland
(510) 238-7052
DISCUSSION
In order to entitle the site for redevelopment it was necessary to obtain a mitigated negative declaration, design review approvals and a conditional use permit, a PUD, and a zoning change. There were several additional unique challenges provided by this project, all of which required creative solutions.
One challenge was the necessity to provide open parking fields in front of the prospective “in-line” retail tenants. Accordingly, it was necessary to exchange the then existing play fields of the Lazear Elementary School, which play fields were adjacent to Fruitvale Station fronting the I-880 freeway, for property owned by Del Monte located directly to the rear of the Lazear Elementary School. Working closely with the Oakland Unified School District and the City of Oakland this was accomplished and in the process the joint venture built a new play field for Lazear Elementary School, as well as re-built all new classrooms.
Because the site was used for industrial purposes for almost a century, it was necessary to perform extensive environmental remediation, including the abatement of existing asbestos and lead paint within the cannery buildings prior to their demolition, follow-up testing, characterization and remediation of the soil underlying the site, including the removal of five underground storage tanks and the acquisition of closure letters from the Alameda County Health Department and the Regional Water Quality Control Board.
Dialogue with various groups within the Jingle Town community and meetings were held with Carolyn Gettridge and Noel Gallo of the Oakland Unified School District, Councilman Ignacio De La Fuente and Arabella Martinez of the Spanish Speaking Unity Council as part of our community relations effort.
SIGNIFICANT ACHIEVEMENTS
Working closely with the City of Oakland OEDE (Office of Economic Development and Employment) and with the assistance of Mr.Mark Briggs, public finance expert, Fruitvale Station applied for and received $1.2 million of Measure C school bond funds and $1.5 million of Federal EDA (Economic Development Administration) grant monies, to construct new street improvements at Fruitvale Ave., 29th and East 9th Streets and to refurbish Lazear Elementary School. Fruitvale Station is currently 100% leased, is exceptionally maintained, and represents a shining example of a quality redevelopment of a former industrial site in a successful “public - private” partnership.