Oakland Projects and Business Development (Los Angeles, San Jose: to live, wealthy, parking)

[18Montclair]

Originally Posted by rbehs

There is a development proposed for Foothill and Seminary with a Walgreens and a "non fast food" cafe with a drive through--so that could mean Starbucks. I saw that in an email blast from Desley Brooks a while back.

Excellent info-thanks!

[18Montclair]

Signature Properties is resuming Condo sales for units in 2 of its Downtown Oakland properties.

288 Third Street in the Jack London Square area.
1-2bd units in the $300K-$400K range


Broadway Grand near Uptown
1-3 bd units in the $300K-$500K range
http://www.mbharch.com/portfolio/mixeduse/broadwaygrand/image1.jpg (broken link)

Signature Properties restarts condo sales in 288 Third and Broadway Grand - San Francisco Business Times

[jade408]

Originally Posted by 18Montclair

Signature Properties is resuming Condo sales for units in 2 of its Downtown Oakland properties.

288 Third Street in the Jack London Square area.
1-2bd units in the $300K-$400K range


Broadway Grand near Uptown
1-3 bd units in the $300K-$500K range


Signature Properties restarts condo sales in 288 Third and Broadway Grand - San Francisco Business Times

They still don't think these are 20-30% overpriced?

[Nineties Flava]

Originally Posted by jade408

They still don't think these are 20-30% overpriced?

Seriously... you can get a house for that price in a safer part of town. These condos should be more in the range of 200-300 K if not 100-300 K.

[18Montclair]

Unfortunately they are targeting a specific demographic which does not include middle class families or persons--but rather wealthy empty nesters, single professionals and/or high income couples.

Id love to see a sea of mid and high rise condos all over Oakland where a family can get a 3-4bd condo unit for $200,000 or less.

[Nineties Flava]

Originally Posted by 18Montclair

Unfortunately they are targeting a specific demographic which does not include middle class families or persons--but rather wealthy empty nesters, single professionals and/or high income couples.

Id love to see a sea of mid and high rise condos all over Oakland where a family can get a 3-4bd condo unit for $200,000 or less.

Clearly. Not that it's a bad thing, but it is when that's the only new development being created. I've always wondered why the overwhelming majority of new housing is either for people who are really broke (projects) or people who are really rich (these condos) and a tiny sliver is for people in the middle. The middle is the heart of the city... you'd think Oakland would have a vested interest in keeping it here instead of allowing itself to turn into another SF where the residents are for the most part either really wealthy or really broke.

[jade408]

I am just about in the target demo (single professional) and I would absolutely love to live downtown. There is no way I'd that much for those. It is a good thing there are a few more buildings in the vicinity with logical prices. I.E. between 200-250K for the 1 bedroom.

I mean let's put it this way, the competition for these condos is people who wanna live in SF. You can get a small condo in a reasonable location for around $350k. If it is the same price to live in Uptown -- which isn't a 7 day a week neighborhood....are you going to pay that?

If I recall, Broadway Grand had crappy layouts, no views, and average finishes. I forget if 288 Third was better or not. The Pacific Cannery Lofts (those ones in West Oakland by the freeway in Timbuktu) were even worse. They didn't even have remotely high-end finishes: think plywood cabinets and corian counters. Why on earth were these 299K for a 1 bedroom? Really?

The Oakland condo market is screwed up. I possibly would considering living in Lakeshore/GrandLake/Piedmont Ave, but you can't get modern amenities in these buildings. For example: in unit washer dryer is pretty difficult. Come buildings that have HOAs that won't approve them without outside venting. And in other cases, you'd have to use the footprint of the existing plumbing so that would mean putting it in your bathroom or losing valuable closet space. And some HOAs are really expensive since they have been underfunded for too long.

I'd love to see newer (and cheaper) condos in other parts of town, but pretty much downtown is it.

I remember a new building opened up on Piedmont Ave a couple of years ago. Terrible and overpriced condos. The only ones that were decent were the 3-4 bedroom ones. The 2 or 4 of that configuration they had sold within maybe a month or 6 weeks. The rest of thos crappy 1 bedrooms (that were the same size as my current studio) converted to rentals after about a year on the market. Hmmmm.........

[04kL4nD]

Seriously... you can get a house for that price in a safer part of town

Ding! Ding! Ding!

[ssmaster]

i am not in the condo demographic but i would say the uptown area is becoming increasingly desirable because of it's proximity to bart and growing dining scene these are the same qualities that make rockridge/college avenue popular. i think it 's a 12-15 minute bart ride to downtown sf and the housing cost is $250,000 -$400,000 cheaper than SOMA and i think uptown is safer than SOMA

[jade408]

Originally Posted by ssmaster

i am not in the condo demographic but i would say the uptown area is becoming increasingly desirable because of it's proximity to bart and growing dining scene these are the same qualities that make rockridge/college avenue popular. i think it 's a 12-15 minute bart ride to downtown sf and the housing cost is $250,000 -$400,000 cheaper than SOMA and i think uptown is safer than SOMA

Definitely safer than SOMA. But those SOMA condos were also 30% overpriced.

Personally, at my current life stage, a house is pointless. Much rather have a condo. Apparently people think this is a cuckoo decision. Even if the same house was available, for the same price, I'd stick with the condo.