Uber Comes to Oakland in a Big Way

The on-demand transportation company also announced Wednesday plans for an additional campus in San Francisco’s Mission Bay area.

The company has purchased a vacant site in Oakland in California to carry out operations which were earlier limited to the headquarters.

Scott Smithers, managing principal with Lane Partners, said the realty firm is “thrilled” and would continue to work with Uber to finish the building’s $40 million renovation.

The building previously belonged to Sears Holding Co. before Lane Partners bought it in late 2014.

Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf praised the purchase, anticipating a significant economic impact from the thousands of new jobs in the city. She said, “Uber is absolutely ready to sit down and forge a partnership because they chose Oakland for its magic – for its soul – and so we are going to be working to get them to commit to make sure that we preserve that soul… and that’s affordability, that’s equity, that’s fighting against displacement and it’s also preserving the cultural vitality of that neighborhood”.

The Oakland offices will be a co-headquarters for Uber, since the company will retain all of its San Francisco facilities, even after it expands into Oakland. If Uber fills the Sears building completely, it would become Oakland’s largest employer (that isn’t a government agency or medical center) and likely prompt the construction of several luxury apartment units around the area.

Hundreds of Uber employees already live in the East Bay, the company said, and Uber predicts that a quarter of its workforce will be on Oakland’s side of the Bay Bridge in about two years.

Uber joins a growing list of technology companies that call Oakland home, including Pandora, Skytide and Even.

Schaaf said there were no tax incentives offered to the company for moving in and so far no particular charitable outreach has been arranged.

The 370,000-square-foot building is now being renovated and will feature a large food court in an open-air market downstairs and offices upstairs, according to the developers.

A number of development projects could be sparked by Uber, Colliers broker Ewing said. A long-closed entrance to the 19th Street BART station inside the building will reopen, providing a path directly into the market, according to project developers.

“Uber is like a pebble hitting still water”, Ewing said.

Those ripples, though, may trigger higher housing, office and retail rents in Oakland.

“This is fantastic that Uber is expanding into Oakland”, City Councilwoman Lynette Gibson-McElhaney said in an interview Wednesday.

Contact George Avalos at 408-859-5167.