Changes in Oakland

There are many plans and changes coming to Oakland in the next few years. Here are three:

1. The Broadway Valdez District Specific Plan will be a framework plan that will look at a retail enhancement strategy for the upper Broadway area. The next Public workshop will be November 5, 2009 where Project Alternatives will be presented.

2. The Kaiser Medical Center Rebuilding, which is now under construction. A history of the M/B Center that being demolished at the moment is contained in a PANIL (Piedmont Avenue Neighborhood Improvement League) newsletter. This megablock is an interesting experiment in urban planning that was always too big to be a successful place.

3. Renovations to the Pleasant Valley Safeway and Longs (a.k.a. "Big Longs"). Living in the O has a post about the community meetings. This is a big box, car-oriented shopping center. Pre-application plans show a little more intensification at the site, with the replacement of Big Longs.

Berkeley Bowl West Interior

Berkeley Bowl West Interior
Originally uploaded by gojanelin

Berkeley Bowl West is the new palace of food for the East Bay. Kava Massih Architects did a great job with the design. The daylit interior of this store is really nice. It's almost intimidating, it's so big. There is underground parking. This part of West Berkeley is starting to grow up into an urban magnet. Oh how timely, John King likes it too!