Nonprofit for Seniors Leases Offices on Oakland’s Pill Hill

Center for Elders’ Independence has inked a lease for a 23,000-square-foot office at a newly revamped medical building in Oakland.

The locally based nonprofit medical provider leased part of the three-story building at 3901 Broadway, in Pill Hill, a neighborhood named for its cluster of hospitals and health care centers, the San Francisco Business Times reported.

Terms of the lease with landlord Meridian Property were not disclosed. Broker Sid Ewing of Colliers represented Meridian in the deal, while brokers Douglas Hubert and Steve Polito of Sabre Real Estate Group represented the Center for Elders’ Independence.

The Walnut Creek-based developer bought the 60,000-square-foot assembly hall in 2022 for $13.5 million, or $225 per square foot, then redeveloped it into medical offices near the medical campuses for UC San Francisco, Sutter Health and Kaiser Permanente.

A flight to quality by office tenants after the pandemic has led landlords and developers to upgrade their workplaces, according to the Business Times.

To lure such tenants, Meridian replaced most of the concrete around the building with walls of glass, while installing two elevators and a better heating and air conditioning system.

“As soon as we toured this building, we knew it had the bones to repurpose for medical space,” Mike Conn, CEO of Meridian, told the Business Times. “It had great zoning and infrastructure, including the ability to house an ambulatory surgery center as well as the footprint to construct a 220-stall parking garage.

“We recently wrapped up construction of the shell and are eager to complete the CEI buildout.”

The Center for Elders’ Independence will take up 38 percent of the offices, with 37,000 square feet still up for lease, including a full floor. The nonprofit is expected to move in this spring, following tenant improvements.

“We are thrilled to be expanding our services into the Pill Hill area, and the newly renovated Broadway Medical Plaza is the perfect fit for us,” Maria Zamora, CEO of the center, said in a statement. “This will be our sixth location in the Bay Area, and we cannot wait for construction to get underway.”

Meridian Property, founded in 1999, specializes in healthcare and life science properties, with offices in Walnut Creek, Newport Beach, Phoenix and Dallas. The unit of Calabasas-based Marcus & Millichap has built more than 15 campuses and 150 buildings, according to its website.

— Dana Bartholomew