Nonprofit Proposes Oakland's First New Office Building In Years

SupplyBank.org, an Oakland nonprofit, is moving forward on the first major office proposal in the aftermath of the pandemic.

SupplyBank will seek to develop multiple buildings on a parcel owned by the East Bay Municipal Utility District, according to the San Francisco Business Times. 

The project proposal calls for the construction of a 160K SF office building, with SupplyBank occupying about 10K of the building as its new headquarters. The project will also feature a 120K SF warehouse, all of which will be situated at 5601 Oakport St., about a mile north of the Oakland Coliseum. 

The project further includes a 10K SF workshop and 40K SF of materials storage for the utility district. 

Oakland's office market was on a hot streak before the pandemic, driven by overflow from brimming San Francisco, but the pandemic and its ripple effects put an end to that, with developers and tenants hitting the brakes on projects.

Office markets in San Francisco and the Bay Area are struggling with few, if any, developers seeking to put up new office product. Oakland is considered an affordable alternative to its neighbors.

SupplyBank is a charitable organization that works to distribute school supplies and other materials to those in need in the East Bay and beyond. It envisions the proposed campus as a hub for Bay Area nonprofits. 

Oakland, like much of the Bay Area, has been plagued by high vacancy rates in the office market. The vacancy rate in the region, including Alameda, Berkeley and Richmond, was 19.7%, while the rate in Oakland was 17.3% in Q1 2023, according to CBRE. 

“With market conditions favoring tenants, landlords are offering more flexible lease terms,” CBRE reported. 

SupplyBank Executive Director Benito Delgado-Olson told the Business Times he hopes to secure entitlements to the projects by the end of the calendar year and will hire a project management firm if and when it secures government approval.

“Our goal for the nonprofit community is really to provide a space that can give them long-term stability, very affordable rents that will not change over time and to design leases in a way that protects them so they have that assurance, alongside all of the amenities,” he said. 

The Oakland Planning Commission will first consider the project proposal at its July 12 regular meeting.