Panoramic defaults on loan for 1,000-unit apartment tower in Oakland

Panoramic Development has skidded into loan default for a proposed highrise to contain more than 1,000 homes in West Oakland.

The San Francisco-based developer defaulted on a $6.25 million debt for CitySpaces at 500 Kirkham Street, the East Bay Times reported.

The development was to include 1,032 apartments and 35,000 square feet of shops and restaurants, offices and a grocery store, including an estimated 85 affordable units. It would replace a vacant lot.

The proposed workforce housing development is among several projects expected to transform a neighborhood between Interstate 880 and 7th Street, next to the West Oakland BART station.

Now the property faces loan delinquency, default and possible foreclosure.

In 2017, a Panoramic Development affiliate paid just over $8 million for the development site. Media reports also listed the buyer and developer as Panoramic Interests, owned by Patrick Kennedy.

In 2021, the same Panoramic affiliate secured the $6.25 million loan from CPIF California, an entity controlled by Columbia Pacific Advisors, based in Seattle.

That loan is now in default. The amount owed, including principal, interest, late fees and penalties, has ballooned to more than $13 million, according to the East Bay Times.

Panoramic, however, has yet to obtain a construction loan to build the project, slated to rise in three phases.

Last June, Panoramic put the site up for sale after failing to find an equity partner for a project estimated in 2019 to cost $300 million, according to the San Francisco Business Times.

West Oakland’s Prescott neighborhood has attracted a wave of development interest after almost 50 years of underinvestment. In January, Tidewater Capital filed preliminary plans for 289 apartments and 3,000 square feet of shops at 533 Kirkham Street, a block from the same West Oakland BART Station, the area slated to become a transit-oriented, live-work hub.

In addition, a trio of developers has proposed Mandela Station@West Oakland, to turn the BART-owned parking lots surrounding the station into 766 apartments and 380,000 square feet of offices, labs, shops and restaurants.

— Dana Bartholomew