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San Francisco

Three Oakland office buildings haven’t broken ground two years after approval

Developer TMG optimistic, though it won’t say when construction will start

Matt Field, president, TMG Partners, in front of renderings of the three planned Oakland towers (TMG Partners, iStock/Illustration by Steven Dilakian for The Real Deal)
Matt Field, president, TMG Partners, in front of renderings of the three planned Oakland towers (TMG Partners, iStock/Illustration by Steven Dilakian for The Real Deal)

Three Oakland office towers that were approved by the city two years ago are still little more than proposals.

Developers haven’t so much as broken ground on Telegraph Tower, Eastline and Oakland Tower, the San Francisco Business Times reported. The projects at 2201 Valley Street, 2100 Telegraph Avenue and 415 Thomas L. Berkeley Way would bring more than 3.3 million square feet of Class A offices to uptown Oakland.

Blame the pandemic. Businesses are still trying to figure out what a return to the office will look like, leaving office projects like the ones in Oakland in limbo.

It’s a stark contrast the heady days before the virus sent office workers home — sometimes for good. Back then, Oakland’s office market was heating up, in part because San Francisco’s vacancy rate had dropped to just 5 percent, and the city managed to attract tenants such as Square and Credit Karma.

“It used to be considered a secondary market,” Matt Field, president of Telegraph Tower developer TMG Partners told the Business Times. “But I really think it is a primary market and has its own inertia at this point.”

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More than a third of the Bay Area’s workforce lives in the East Bay, according to data from JLL. “If there were contemporary office space available, we’re big believers there’d be demand,” Field said.

Companies including PG&E, Twitter and Fivetran have leased more than 600,000 square feet across the city and some plan to expand. Those deals suggest the market would be receptive to new tenants, he said.

TMG is still “very optimistic” about Telegraph Tower, Field said. He declined to say when the developer plans to start construction.

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[SFBT] — Victoria Pruitt

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Commercial Real EstateOaklandSF Office Market