BART Mulling 3 Proposals For New Police Headquarters
As the Bay Area Regional Transit Police Department looks for a new home, it is entertaining several proposals from property owners in Uptown Oakland.
The agency plans to exit its current location at 101 Eighth St. in Oakland now that local developer Strada and Oakland-based nonprofit the East Bay Asian Local Development Corp. have announced they will redevelop the police department's current building.
Working with JLL to solicit proposals for a new HQ location, BART is pondering three opportunities to buy parcels, all located in proximity to the 19th Street BART Station in Oakland, the San Francisco Business Times reported.
The first building, located at 415 20th St., offers about 83K SF on a 1-acre site, and is owned by Hines.
The second is a 75K SF building on a 0.6-acre parcel at 1919 Webster St., owned by San Francisco-based developer Ellis Partners.
A third proposal would see the headquarters move to a 105K SF building on a 1.4-acre Kaiser Permanente-owned parcel at 2000 Broadway.
BART has said it is seeking a minimum of 65K SF for its headquarters, along with parking spaces to accommodate 180 officers and staff, the Business Times reported, noting the budget for the building was not available.
The BART board of directors is slated to discuss the matter at its July 27 regular meeting and make a final recommendation in the fall. BART is not obligated to purchase any of the three properties offered up during the proposal process, though it is likely to buy existing office space rather than building from scratch due to cost considerations, according to the Business Times.
East Bay office vacancy is around 19.7%, according to the latest CBRE report, with the Central Business District suffering a particularly acute vacancy rate of 28.5%. The office space situation suggests potential tenants like BART will have the upper hand in negotiating leases.
