CBD Supplement in The Registry

7/29/2019 CBD Supplement in The Registry

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The Sun Rises in the EastOaklands business communityacts on an ambitious endeavor

Whole FoodsLivens the Hood

Map of Uptown& DowntownThings to do, places to seein Uptown & Downtown

Oaklands Prophets

Business leaders discussthe future of Oakland

Oakland is CookingUp SuccessRenovation of historictheaters is rejuvenatingthe restaurant industry

Lake Merritt/Uptown and Downtown Oakland District

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2/16

hose o us who live or work in the East Bay have known about Oaklands best-kept secrets or years.

But the growing street scene, great new restaurants, arts and entertainment venues, stunning new

housing and the progressive architecture o Oaklands new Lake Merritt/Uptown and Downtown

business districts are a hard secret to keep.

The word is out that this is now the chosen place to work, eat, sleep, be with riends and enjoy the urban

experience both day and night. So, welcome to The Districts.

In the pages that ollow, you will nd a snapshot o Uptown/Downtown Oaklandhow these Community

Benet Districts came to be and what special benets they provide that are integral to the transormation

o these neighborhoods. You will read the stories o business owners and investors who, by establishing

the Downtown and Uptown districts as the best places to invest, became catalysts or their remarkable

growth. And you will read about the districts great new restaurants

and the success stories o their owners.

Funding or district services commenced at the beginning o

2009, and already the transormation o the Downtown and Lake

Merritt/Uptown Districts into communities consistently soughtater as locations or business and residence, and destinations or

dining and entertainment, has reached irreversible momentum.

This publication is all about the remarkable growth o new

businesses small and largebusinesses that are radically changing

Oaklands heart into the true 24-hour living experience that the

citys leadership has been nurturing or years.

Weve included a great map, some interesting acts on places as

diverse as the surprising new lunch scene at Whole Foodsthe

Bay Place market is one o the most successul new outlets or the

retailer nationallyto the jaw-dropping majesty o our soaring

new Cathedral on Lake Merritt.

The booklet contains inormation on how to get to the districts

by car and public transit including, o course, BART. There

is location inormation or new restaurants and important

entertainment venues, including beautiully restored theaters

oering live music and perormances that bring people to the

districts rom all over the Bay Area. Youll discover that there

are lots o reasons to get o the reeway in Downtown Oakland

and come to the districts by day or night.

DISTRICT INFORMATION

Marco Li Mandri, exv Drr

(510) 452-4529

Steve Snider, Dsr Mgr

(510) 238-1122

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3/16

3 Fall 2009 OaklandsUptown | Downtown 3OaklandsUptown | Downtown

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By Rber J. Mus

Its the noon hour at downtown Oaklands Frank Ogawa Plaza, and

thousands o employees in the government buildings that surround

it are on their lunch breaks. Some dine at outdoor cas while

others stroll through the plaza observing the busy passers-by.

Marco Li Mandri considers the scene and quickly underscores

the obvious: Frank Ogawa Plaza is a great public space in downtown

Oakland, said Li Mandri, executive director o the Downtown

Oakland Association and the adjacent Lake Merritt/Uptown

District Association. The two associations are reerred to as business

improvement districts (BIDs) or community benet districts (CBDs),

and their mandate has been to revitalize the heart o Oakland.

Transorming [it] into a more desirable area is one o the goals o the

CBD, said Li Mandri.

Li Mandris company, New City America Inc., manages the

associations, which were created to improve the two adjacent areas

o downtown. Their approach is multiaceted, emphasizing not only

improved aesthetics but also visitor comort. Besides paying to help

keep the streets clean and the sidewalks maintained, the CBDs employ

a team o hired ambassadors who walk the streets daily, providing

directions when a newcomer needs help and alerting authorities when

something doesnt seem quite right. Ater less than a year in operation,

the eorts o the CBDs are already visible.

The streets are lled with residents rom Contra Costa County,

Alameda, Emeryville, many dierent Oakland neighborhoods and San

Francisco, says Deborah Boyer, president o the Lake Merritt/Uptown

District Association and an executive or The Swig Co., a San Francisco

development company that owns property in downtown Oakland.

The Oakland City Council created the CBDs in July 2008, and

they started operation just six months later, at the beginning o 2009.

Assessments on property owners rom the 37-square block Lake

Merritt/Uptown district have raised an estimated $1.1 million so ar,

while assessments in the 19-block Downtown Oakland district raised

$904,000, said Aliza Gallo, Oaklands business development services

manager in the Community and Economic Development Agency.

Oakland is ready and doing business, she says.

Private enterprise largely drove the creation o the community

benet districts, though the city is an active partner. As the largest

property owner in the Downtown Oakland district, the city contributes

an assessment to the CBD on behal o City Hall and its other

buildings. Besides monitoring and nancially supporting the CBDs,

continued next page

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4/16

the city also promotes other programs to build upon the associations

eorts. Among other things, it shares demographic inormation about

the community to help new businesses get established and to grow the

residential population. It also oers grants to downtown businesses or

aade improvements as well as ree design advice.

The two CBDs have separate boards and dierent development

proles but oten hold joint meetings because they have common

goals, Gallo said. The Lake Merritt/Uptown district is a combination

o oce development in Lake Merritt and retail, entertainment and

housing in Uptown, while Downtown Oakland is primarily oce

space with a preponderance o government oces around Frank

Ogawa Plaza. It also includes the retail node o Old Oakland around

8th and 9th streets.

The CBDs have hired 14 saety ambassadors to be riendly eyes

on the streets, says J.C. Wallace, vice president o real estate rm SKS

Investments. Wallaces company owns an oce building and an oce

development site in downtown, and he is president o the Downtown

Oakland Association. When you are here you see downtown Oakland

or what it is: Something separate rom the problems they might be

having in other neighborhoods.

The 14 saety ambassadors, who work or Block by Block o

Louisville, Ky., a saety, cleaning and hospitality operator with a presence

in 33 U.S. cities, are intended to be noticeable, wearing easy-to-spot

bright orange and blue polo shirts and navy baseball caps. They are

trained tour guides who know local directions, mass-transit schedules

and the answers to other common visitor questions. In addition, urban

cleanup crews promptly replace any broken windows, paint over grati

and generally keep the neighborhood looking its best.

The ambassadors interact with the public all day long, says Ted

Tarver, operations manager or the saety ambassadors in Oakland.

When you give people a riendly smile and a Good

morning, it enhances their day.

They are the ones creating the sense o

order and cleanliness within the curb to

property line area, says Li Mandri.

An anchor o the Downtown

Oakland CBD is City Center, a

combination o private oce and retail

space across rom Oakland City Hall.

City Center has 1.6 million square eet

o oce space and 70,000 square eet o destination dining and retail.

City Centers owners invested in the CBD to improve the adjoining

neighborhood and, by extension, the quality o its own investment,

says John Dolby, vice president o leasing or Shorenstein Properties,

which has owned City Center since 1996.

Its just common sense, Dolby says.

Many downtown employers support the work o the CBDs

as a way to make their companies more desirable places to work.

Kaiser Permanente, the hospital and health-care company renewed

its headquarters lease in August with CIM Group in the 28-story

Ordway Building in the Lake Merritt/Uptown district.

We really want to be the employer o choice in the Bay Area, says

Michael Huaco, vice president or corporate real estate and acilities

operations at the Kaiser Foundation Health Plan. Our interests are in

preserving the value o our assets and improving the community or its

members as well as our employees.

Jeanne Myerson, president and chie executive o The Swig Co.,

says their 2005 acquisition o the 28-story Kaiser Center was a strategic

investment in the emerging Uptown/Lake Merritt district.

We saw Kaiser Center as an under-positioned opportunity that

would continue to improve over time, Myerson says.

Tenants in the Kaiser Center, which was built in the mid-1950s by

prominent American industrialist Henry J. Kaiser, include the Kaiser

Foundation Health Plan, Bay Area Rapid Transit system, Caliornia

Bank and Trust, the oce o the president o the

University o Caliornia system and the law rm Wulsberg

Reese Colvig & Firstman PC.

By cleaning up that area, we are making it seamless or workers,

residents and visitors to eel comortable sitting at an outdoor ca,

drinking a latt and checking their iPhones and BlackBerries,

Li Mandri says.

You have to stabilize an area rst, he says, then begin to build.

Added the Lake Merritt/Uptown CBDs Boyer: It seems to

many that Oakland has been orever on the verge o a great transition.

This time there is more than just a eeling that weve nally ound

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6/16

The Uptown/Lake Merritt District Association and Downtown

Oakland Association are Community Beneft Districtspublic private

partnershipsenabled by local legislation and created to provide

special enhanced services to their respective areas o Oakland. Marco

Li Mandri, president o San Diego-based New City America Inc.,

worked with business owners in both districts to orm the CBDs in

the summer o 2008 and now helps manage the associations as their

executive director. Li Mandri has been involved in business-district

revitalization since 1993 and his company has established 54 business

improvement districts and community beneft districts in citiesthroughout the United States.

We asked Li Mandri to discuss the current trend in the United States

toward creation o CBDs and other improvement districts and what

makes them work.

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What is a community beneft district? What is the dierence

between a community beneft district and a business

improvement district?

A community benet district is a public-private partnership ormed under

the same principles and legislation as a business improvement district,

but whereas a BID ocuses mostly on business within a district, a CBD

acknowledges that all land uses, not simply businesses, benet rom

the revenue fow generated by the assessment district. This is important

today because more o our downtown neighborhoods are populated by

residential buildings. In Oakland, the two CBDs represent many public

entities and non-prots as well as or-prot businesses, so the CBD

concept was particularly appropriate.

When did community beneft districts start appearing in the

United States? Why?

Community benet districts were rst developed in Maryland in

the 1980s, but BIDs date back to the early 1970s in Toronto. Local

merchants banded together to orm an association dedicated to revivingbusiness along a ading

commercial corridor known as

Bloor Street West. New Orleans

established the rst American

BID in 1974, but the U.S. really

experienced tremendous growth

in BIDs in the 1990s, when

almost 60 percent o the BIDs

now in existence were ormed.

Can several CBDs exist

within a single city?Yes. There are nearly 1,000 BIDs

in the United States including

one covering Capitol Hill in

Washington DC. Toronto now

has 65 such districts in its city

limits, one more than New

York City. Certainly, several

community benet districts can

co-exist within a single city, as

Oakland has shown. The Lake

Merritt/Uptown and Downtown

Oakland associations are a

tremendous example o two CBDs with shared goals working together

to benet a broad swath o downtown Oakland. Oakland has six BIDs

and three CBDs. San Francisco has eight CBDs, one BID and a tourism

improvement district (TID). CBDs are really the BIDs o the 21st century

because our downtowns are becoming more residential.

What kinds o services can or should the CBD supply?

Residents, property owners and businesses in the district must have

a clear need or services that are over and above the general benet

services provided by the city. That said, there are a vast variety o

services that can legally be unded by CBDs. As a property assessment

district, a CBD must coner special benet to real property owners,

according to Caliornia law. Normally, these services represent special

benets geared toward order and cleanliness in the district such as

daily sidewalk cleaning, removal o trash and teams to remove grati.

Other services that CBDs could provide include security, beautication,

marketing and promotion, special events, business attraction, district

identity and administrative oversight.

Arent CBDs taking over services that cities traditionally

provide through taxes?

City-unded services are known as general benet services and are

supposed to be provided proportionally throughout the city. At times,

a city may provide enhanced general benets or a downtown or key

commercial area, but those are unded on a year-to-year basis. Oakland

is really just a microcosm o what is happening throughout the United

States. Cities are reducing general benet services due to local and

state budget cuts, declining revenue, growing pension obligations and

deteriorating inrastructure, and this historic decline in city services is

eeding the demand or special benets in order to maintain the value ocommercial and residential properties.

Whats the most critical issue in orming a CBD?

Without doubt, timing. In Downtown Oakland and Lake Merritt/Uptown,

the timing was perect. Property owners and businesses were ready to

come together and unite in a common goal. Having that energy in place

was critical. Id also say that execution is another key actor. Forming the

district is one thing; management is something else completely. In my

experience, the ailure o most existing BIDs and CBDs is that they are

not managed properly or results-oriented. Despite the history behind

CBDs, this is still pretty much a new eld, so training is mostly on the job

or sta running these districts. l



7/16

Even though she lives just a stones throw rom the Berkeley

Whole Foods grocery store, Rockridge resident Jennie Hearing

chooses to pack up her 2-year-old daughter Sienna and drive

the 10 minutes its takes to get to Oaklands Whole Foods. Both stores

eature the same natural and organic selections. Both stores oer

prepared oods, pristine produce, high-quality meats, seaood and abakery. Yet its the great parking and a spacious and well-designed

market that give Hearing enough reason to make the Oakland store

her daily grocer.

Located at 230 Bay Place at the corner o 27th and Harrison

streets, Whole Foods opened its doors in September 2007 with

much anare. The area, comprised o mainly car dealerships, oce

and residential pockets, was a section o the city that simply wasnt

drawing in people.

The area was just therenot much happening there, so there

was really no reason to go there. I have lived here a while and beore

Whole Foods, I didnt even know it was sort o a gateway to Lake

Merritt; its a great spot, Hearing said.The area certainly caught the attention o store developersenough

or the Whole Foods team to take an entirely dierent approach to its

development, creating a rst-o-a-kind store layout with the Oakland

community in mind.

The store was designed specically or the progressive,

ood-sophisticated, dynamic and diverse culture o Oakland and

the surrounding communities, Anthony Gilmore, president o

Whole Foods Market Northern Caliornia, said during the stores

grand opening.

The store layout does not resemble a typical supermarket or other

Whole Foods stores around the country. A Market Hall design allows

shoppers to access all departments and venues in a single loop, making

the shopping experience both quick and easy, with its separate stalls

ull o dierent goods. This design was inspired by several international

market halls rom around the globe including ones in Berlin and

Granville Island, Vancouver, according to Whole Foods.

On any given day, the store bustles with a diverse mix o shoppersand proessionals who walked to take advantage o its dine-in Market

Bistro or made-to-order salads, soups, sandwiches, pizzas and light

entrees. Its a sign o a huge stride, o great growth or an area that was

teetering on the edge o neglect.

The stores arrival has had a dramatic eect on the area, said Paul

Stein, managing partner with SKS Investments, the rm responsible

or developing the nearby 1100 Broadway, a 20-foor high-rise tower

that incorporates the restored aade o the Key Systems Building at

the lower eight foors. SKS is one o a number o companies making

a big bet on Oakland, and a store like Whole Foods brings a real,

tangible improvement to the neighborhood.

No one was walking the block beore the stores existence, and nowits slammed with people. The issue on retail is i you have good retail,

people will use it. Whole Foods delivers a product people are interested

in, and its really no huge surprise that its a huge success, added Stein.

For Hearing, that is a sign o whats to come or Oakland.

Its just a couple blocks rom Uptown over on Broadway, its near

Lake Merritt, it is changing the area, she said.

Aside rom sprouting lie in an area considered dead to many,

Hearing is proud that her city has a store dedicated to bringing local,

healthy and more natural oods to a larger population.

Whole Foods is a great addition to the area, and people are really

using it, Hearing said. l


Wol Foods Lvsis ngborood


8/16


9/16


10/16

There is perhaps no better way to showcase the success o a certain region than to hear directly rom the people who have a

vested interest in it. Considering all that is good with Oakland, these business leaders acted on their best intuition and inormation

to fnd their actions extremely prudent. We sat down with these prophets to fnd out how Oakland has helped them in achieving

their goals and how the creation o the districts has improved the outlook o their investments.

OaklandsPro

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O OkldhUaco: Oakland is very undervalued. The CIM [Corp.] just recently

bought the Ordway Building. They saw the value o Oakland as a

long-term asset. Oaklands a major transportation hub on the West

Coast; theres great public transportation [and] access to the rest o the

Bay Area. I really see the true potential with the recent building o the

residential space. That true potential hasnt reached its goals yet, but itprobably will get there over the next decade.

MyERSon:We see Oakland as being something about to happen. A

lot o the investments that came about as the result o the Fox Theater

[renovation], our purchase o Kaiser Center and CIM Groups

purchases in Oakland have really begun to be elt in a positive way.

Oakland is also a less volatile market than some o the more prominent

oce markets. We like that stability actor.

StEin:Oakland has spectacular transit, everybody can get to Oakland;

it has better access than any other city. Our rm has always been

interested in development that benets rom transit and housing. It is

now called smart growth and green development, i you will.

haRt: We believe that Oaklands [geographic] superiorityit is

essentially at the center o the Bay Areas major growth patterns

lends itsel to attract more than its air share o oce users.

StaffoRd: Oaklands central East Bay location and easy access

to inrastructure are benets oten cited, but people tend to under-

appreciate the importance. Oaklands central business district has10 million square eet o Class A oce space and is served by

two BART stops. By comparison, San Franciscos central business

district has 40 million square eet o Class A oce product and two

BART stations. The oundation is in place or Oakland to experience

tremendous growth.

Busss dsrcs mk posv mpc o lfallEn: Its been a positive infuence on prospective tenants who

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11/16


have toured the market and have looked at the dierent options in

town. All the landlords and brokers are describing to these companies

what has changed and what is going on here, and thats had a reallypositive impact.

StEin: There has been pretty signicant on-the-street dierence

already, and its just getting started. The appearance o streets,

trash collection, street sweeping, security, they are very helpul

The estivals and street airs, armers markets, music estivals, it s all

good stu.

MyERSon:With the wine bars and restaurants, people hang around

ater hours now and do things in the area. The plaza around the new

Cathedral [o Christ the Light] is a delightul place to sit and have

lunch. There are more places to go, and there is beginning to be more

street activity. Its more o a 24-hour community.StaffoRd:The energy downtown has changed dramatically in just

the last 18 months with the opening o each new retailer or restaurant

urthering the momentum and enticing others to the market.

hUaco: In just the last ew months, weve seen a slew o new

restaurants opening and some o that inrastructure coming in. While I

cant directly tie it to the improvement district, I think that goes a long

way in acilitating the cleanup o the area. One o the big pushes in

Oakland in October is the opening o Bakesale Bettys, which is right

across the street rom Lukas, Ozumo and Picn [restaurants], all o

which have opened in the last year. It is creating a great entertainment

district in the area, which just makes it a more attractive area to live.

Workg cyStEin:It has been tremendously easy working with the city. I thinkthat its been a true partnership. Beore we bought the site, we spent

time with city and business people to hear what their goals were in

terms o development and jobs, and what we attempted to do was in

concert with what was happening there. Getting entitlements went

very well, the principal planner was great, and the project was received

very well. We didnt jump into a contentious situation; the interaction

with the city was extremely well-managed, organized, and it went

through a smooth process. It was a very positive experience.

StaffoRd: Oakland has accessible and engaged elected ocials

and government agencies that are ocused on maintaining positive

momentum in downtown Oakland. They have a vision or the uture that

builds on the areas central location, accessibility and attractive, walkable

environment that will continue to draw new businesses and residents

to downtown. They recognize that the CBDs are positive orces that

can supplement the existing public inrastructure and are learning how

best to leverage our resources. The creation o the community benet

districts or City Center and Lake Merritt has brought increased

security as well as sidewalk and street-maintenance services that have

already visibly improved the neighborhoods. Retail and restaurants are

sprouting up all over Oakland making it a better place to live and work,

which improves the quality o lie or all o our tenants and hotel guests.

We are still in our rst year, and I have been very impressed with how

well things are meshing at this stage in our evolution. l

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12/16

Ten miles east o San Francisco, an emerging entertainment

district is garnering attention with its hip atmosphere and

tantalizing restaurants. Nestled adjacent to the newly renovated

Fox Theater and surrounding art galleries, Oaklands Uptown is ast

becoming a Bay Area destination.

Uptown is in the heart o downtown Oaklands central business

district. The area has become a much sought-ater locale, complementing

the already popular old historic Oakland, which with its restored

Victorian buildings has been a local draw or years. The Art Deco-

themed urban retail and entertainment neighborhood is becoming

a hot spot or Oakland residents, as well as the bridge and tunnel

crowd, according to Michael LeBlanc, managing partner and owner

o Picn, a restaurant that opened in Uptown eight months ago.

With its resh new restaurants, theaters, shops and galleries,

the Uptown District is a shining example o lie springing up in

an area that was only a ew years ago considered a blighted and

declining neighborhood.

The historic Paramount and Fox theaters spill out hundreds oguests ollowing their shows. Together the two venues, which have

been extensively restored and renovated, orm a strong basis or the

districts renewal and are the core o its gravitational pull.

Even restaurants in the nearby Old Oakland, an area just

southwest o the City Center, also benet rom the entertainment

districts activity.

According to Chuck Stilphen, owner o The Trappist Belgian and

specialty beer bar at 460 Eighth St., people are drawn to its unique

oering o more than 20 rotating beer taps eaturing an array o specialty

micro brews. He says the beer bar captures a sizable ater-work crowd,

as well as the one ollowing a show at one o the theaters.

According to Nicole Erny, a bartender and beer educator at The

Trappist since its inception in December 2007, the area really lends

itsel to success.

The buildings are beautiul, and there are lots o great spots to

dine, Erny said. People come here beore and ater a show or dinner

at one o the great restaurants Tamarindo is a ew doors down, and

they are popping all the time.

Tamarindo, which serves upscale Mexican cuisine, has been so

successul in its Eighth Street location a ew doors down rom Trappist,

that it opened La Calle, a new taqueria, one block up rom Tamarindo

at 1000 Broadway.

As the theaters have prospered and other private investment has

come in, the Uptown area has clinched several white-table cloth

restaurants, each exhibiting its own fare and uniqueness.

Owners say it is not just their cuisine that is driving prosperity.

The city has embraced their arrival and allowed business to fourish

through a welcoming process.

The city athers, business associations and council members have

been phenomenalthey truly welcomed us with open arms, saidOzumo ounder and managing partner Jeremy Umland.

With its widely respected Ozumo in San Franciscos SOMA

district, Umland ound the experience opening his doors in Oakland

to be a comparative walk in the park.

People kept telling me that Oakland is the place where you can do

really well. They were right, said Umland.

Ozumo oers contemporary Japanese cuisine and robata grill, sushi

and sashimi, as well as an extensive selection o premium, imported

sake, wine and unique blended drinks.

I have had patrons take me aside and express their support or us.

These people really are eager to see Oakland come into its own, and

they truly appreciate what is happening here, Umland says.

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13/16

Ca 817 owner Lilian Massarweh

says she was a regular at Ca 817 beore

she took it over. We used to requent the

ca and loved the location o it and the people

who eat here. When we were told it was up or

sale in 2005, we took it over, Massarweh said. The

restaurant, which has been in its namesake spot at 817

Washington St. since 1993, oers a Mediterranean-style breakast

and lunch. The ca also hosts wine events and is a community art

loyalist, eaturing exhibits by local artists on the restaurant walls.

Picns LeBlanc says he also is foored by the reception he has

received rom his avorite city in the world. Open since March, Picn

oers a tasty Caliornia-inused fare to traditional Southern cuisine.

Diners can enjoy a variety o small plate selections to sample the

oerings, or individual entrees such as duck, choice o meat, seaood

and a wide selection o sides.

Its doing outstanding; pretty short o spectacular Dinners

popularity is so high that on a Friday or Saturday at prime time wereabout two weeks out in terms o reservations, LeBlanc said.

One o the newer restaurateurs in the area, LeBlanc says he is

continuously surprised by how pro-business the City has been with a

desire to create such a positive image or itsel.

They are willing to help us. They say, Whatever the obstacles,

lets do whatever we can to help people through it to make it a better

place, LeBlanc said.

Flora restaurant, located in the beautiully ornate Oakland Floral

Depot building directly across the street rom the Fox Theater, oers

a menu o reinvented American classics with a cocktail program that

diers rom most bars with its extensive wine list and an array o stirred

and shaken cocktails, Thomas Schnetz, its owner, said.

Flora is the second restaurant that

Schnetz and Dona Savitsky have opened

in Oakland; the rst is Doa Toms

urther north on Telegraph Avenue.

We had the rst restaurant and were

playing around with the idea or Flora when we

came upon the [Uptown] area, which oered such

beautiul buildings we thought it was a good nd or us,

Schnetz said.

In Old Oakland, B Restaurant at Washington and Ninth Street

with its impressive foor-to-ceiling windows and uniquely designed

interiors is another such spot known or its signature house cocktails

and its 1870s remodeled buildings architectural perection. Although

it pulls a cornucopia o local diners, many go the distance to enjoy

antastic are in a distinctively Oakland setting.

In the last ve years, there has been a huge movement to get the

most creative and best restaurants to commit to Oakland, Schnetz says.

With that collective push has come a strong sense o community thatmakes it nice or customers and the business owners.

Ozumos Umland agreed: We are pioneers here in Oakland; we

are not competitors. We support each other, send each other business.

It is rare to have, but we respect each other and realize that were all in

this together, and i all o us are going to make it, then individually we

have to make it.

Oakland or its own part is doing its best to preserve this attitude.

Its as good as any place in San Franciscoto have walking trac

in a six-block area, you have up to 10 choices o things you want to do,

Picns LeBlanc said. You can have appetizers at Ozumo, go to a show

at the Fox, dinner at Picn, champagne at Mimosas, dance at Mua,

have a night-cap at Flora or LukasId say thats a good night! l


Dinners

popurity is so high

tht on Fridy or

Sturdy t prime time

were bout two weeks out

in terms of reservtions.

Michael LeBlancwr d mgg rr

rsr p

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www.cimgroup.comwww.ymcaeastbay.org

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WHERE DEADLINES AND EXPECTATIONSARE BOTH MET.

Make the most out of your meetings when you meet at Oakland

Marriott CIty Center. From large rooms to small rooms, weve got

fully functional spaces to fit your event and your budget.

To reserve your meeting space, call 1-510-466-6455 or visit

Marriott.com/oakdt.

OAKLAND MARRIOTT CITY CENTER1001 BroadwayOakland, CA 94607

THE

Downtown Oakland

Association

ANDTHE

Lake Merritt/Uptown

District Association

COMMUNITY BENEFIT DISTRICTS

F A B I S P R O U D TO S U P P O R T

Elizabeth A. Clark, Chair, Real Estate Practice Group510-451-3300 [email protected] www.fablaw.com

FITZGERALD ABBOTT & BEARDSLEY LLP

ATTORNEYS AT LAW


15/16

OaklandLife beckons in the heart of the Bay Area.

Franklin Square Wine Bar in Lake Merritt/Uptown District.

www.sksinvestments.comwww.oaklandcitycenter.comwww.swigco.com


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