Oakland lawmaker casts doubt on proposed Home Depot

An Oakland official has hoisted a red flag about a proposed Home Depot at a prime intersection in North Oakland.

Oakland City Councilmember Dan Kalb, whose district includes the site for the proposed big-box store at the corner of Broadway and Pleasant Valley Avenue, voiced concern about the building plan, the East Bay Times reported.

“A Home Depot is not the best concept at this location,” Kalb said. “A lengthy review process is needed if this is something that is being seriously considered here.”

The store would be built on a vacant lot at 5050 Broadway, on a roughly 4-acre portion of a 15-acre site west of Claremont Country Club, according to a preliminary concept on file with Oakland city planners.

The site sits in a part of northern Oakland without any big hardware retailers.

Preliminary filings are generally floated at City Hall as a way to gauge the reaction of Oakland officials. In this case, project developers are looking for feedback on whether a Home Depot and parking structure is a good fit for that site.

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“I would like to see a retail and housing combination on the site,” Kalb said. “A well-designed retail and housing development makes sense here.”

The two nearest Home Depot stores are almost two miles away in Emeryville and almost five away in eastern Oakland on Alameda Avenue, according to the retailer’s website. The nearest Lowe’s hardware stores are just over 10 miles away in San Francisco, while East Bay stores in Concord and Union City are even further away, the Lowe’s site shows.

Smaller ACE Hardware stores — two in Oakland and one in Piedmont — are about a mile away.

[East Bay Times] — Dana Bartholomew