TMG Partners Proposes A 420-Foot Office Tower In Uptown Oakland

Another office could be headed to Uptown Oakland. TMG Partners submitted a pre-application Tuesday to build a 760K SF office tower at 2201 Valley St. The development will cover a full city block between Telegraph Avenue, Valley Street, West Grand Avenue and 22nd Street. 

The 27-story tower is expected to reach 420 feet and have floors averaging 32K SF and 15-foot ceilings, according to the San Francisco Business Times. The office project will have 10K SF of ground-floor retail and arts space. Approvals are expected to run through 2018.

The building is about a block away from a proposed mixed-use project from Lane Partners and Strategic Urban Development Alliance that could have over 1.5M SF of office and is blocks away from Uptown Station, which CIM Group bought from Uber in late 2017.

The building was designed with high ceilings, open floors and column-free spaces not only due to the popularity of creative workspaces, but also due to engineering requirements from a BART tunnel running below the site, TMG Partners CEO Michael Covarrubias said.

The tower, which is a block from 19th Street BART station, is designed to achieve LEED Gold designation. Designer Solomon Cordwell Buenz has proposed fanned vertical steps, which satisfy the structural requirements of the BART tunnel, and results in a stepped vertical tower broken by outdoor terraces and landscaped decks. TMG also plans to improve the Valley Street edge of the building to create a space for events, pop-ups and outdoor dining.

The building will use automated car stackers to minimize the need for parking. The stackers can be converted to active land uses if the need for parking diminishes over time. The developer plans to remove the existing gas station and fuel tanks at the site in a partnership with Alameda County Environmental Health.

TMG also owns and is renovating two other Oakland properties at 1330 and 2201 Broadway.