Highrise Hotel Proposed in Heart of Berkeley

Attempts to build a highrise hotel complex at Shattuck Avenue and Center Street, Berkeley's commercial and transportation hub, go back more than a decade. Previous plans foundered, and now a new one – for a 16-story hotel with offices and ground-floor retail – was filed with the city on Friday.

The backers of the 180-foot-tall mixed-use complex – possibly named "Berkeley Place" – say it would be about the same height as the city's two existing "skyscrapers": the Wells Fargo Building completed in 1925 and the PowerBar building (formerly known as the Great Western Building) completed in 1970. Both buildings are 12 stories and are located at the Shattuck and Center intersection, on the west side of Shattuck.

Also located at that intersection is the downtown Berkeley BART station and bus stops for many AC Transit lines. The main UC Berkeley campus sits one block to the east, and Berkeley's city office building is one block west.

The proposed development would replace a one-story Bank of America branch at 2129 Shattuck. The project's title is the address, "2129 Shattuck," and a sign on the hotel complex shown in an artist's rendering identifies it as "Berkeley Place."

The project is intended "to showcase the emerging urban center Berkeley is becoming" and "provide an iconic destination for the downtown area energizing both Shattuck Ave. and Center Streets," according to a press release from the development team. It also seeks to be LEED Gold certified (the second-highest green building rating).

The team is led by the newly formed Center Street Partners, LLC, owned by James Didion, a private investor and developer from Carmel who is also a UC Berkeley graduate, according to information from the team. The team also includes  JRDV Architects, Taecker Planning & Design, Suffolk Construction, and Tipping Marr Structural Engineers.

Didion also played a key role on behalf of UC Berkeley in the previous, university-sponsored proposal to build a highrise hotel and conference center at the same location.

The newly proposed development of approximately 288,000 square feet would include a smaller building on Center, while the 180-foot structure would include the 293-room hotel on floors 5-16, office space on floors 2-4, and commercial space, including the Bank of America and meeting facilities, on the ground floor, according the "Initial Submittal" document filed with the city on Friday.

The building on Center would be the temporary home of the Bank of America branch during construction of the main building and then would be used as retail and restaurant space when the bank moves into the ground-floor of the hotel building.

The project seeks a height exemption to the 75-foot limit for the core downtown area established in Berkeley's Downtown Area Plan and in Measure R, passed by voters in 2010. The plan and Measure R said three new buildings up 180 feet could be allowed, including two for residential use and one for a hotel with conference facilities.

Issue of conference facilities

Some concern has already been raised about conference facilities, or the lack thereof, in the 2129 Shattuck proposal. With the university playing host to many meetings and conferences, and with the city seeking the economic boost that comes from having a hotel and conference center, the idea of combining the two has long been a civic goal.

"The developer and architect are considering how to expand conference meeting space, in consultation with the hoteliers who might operate the hotel," said Matt Taecker, head of Taecker Planning & Design, which is overseeing the approval or "entitlement" process for the proposal through the city's regulatory gauntlet.

Taecker, who formerly worked for the city and was the principal planner developing the city's Downtown Area Plan, told Patch that the hotel operator would be in charge of operating conference facilities "and, to date, no hotelier has wanted to construct a full-service conference hotel."

At the same time, he added in an email in response to Patch questions, "Note that the proposal does offer large meeting rooms but no ballroom."

The proposal filed with the city did not name a potential hotel operator, and Taecker said no operator will be disclosed until an agreement is reached.

"Interest among hoteliers for this location has been very strong," he said. "Demand for this type of hotel is extremely high in the area, with considerable hotel demand generated by UC Berkeley and other Berkeley destinations now going to Emeryville, San Francisco and other locations."

Former plan for hotel and conference center at the site

A UC Berkeley-sponsored proposal for a large hotel and conference center up to 12 stories at the same location was unveiled by the campus and city officials in 2003, after years on the drawing board, officials said at the time. The proposal was to be coordinated with a next door museum complex that would include the Berkeley Art Museum and the Hearst Museum of Anthropology.

The art museum plan continued to move forward and is now under construction as a separate project in a renovation and expansion of the former campus printing plant at Center and Oxford streets.

In 2004, the university announced that it was working with the development firm Carpenter & Company on the project, which percolated along for several years, becoming dubbed Berkeley Charles Hotel in reference to the Charles Hotel next to Harvard that was developed and owned by Carpenter & Company. It was reported in news accounts to have grown to 22 stories by 2007. By 2009, however, the local press reported it was dead.

Playing a prominent role in the UC proposal and negotiations with the city was Didion, owner of Center Street Partners, the lead firm for the current proposal. In the UC proposal, Didion was listed as "executive real estate advisor to UC Berkeley Chancellor Robert M. Berdahl," and was quoted in UC Berkeley press releases speaking on behalf of the university.

Asked by Patch if there is any connection between the current proposal and the one by UC Berkeley, Taecker said, "There is no connection between this proposal and prior proposals, and UC Berkeley is not a partner in this project."

Now two proposals for new 180-foot downtown buildings

The "2129 Shattuck" hotel mixed-use proposal is the second proposed highrise within the past year to seek an exemption from the 75-foot limit in the city's downtown core and to rise to 180 feet. The first one, called the Berkeley Plaza, or The Residences at Berkeley Plaza, would be a 355-unit residential mixed-use project of 18 stories at 2111 Harold Way, behind Hotel Shattuck and near the main Post Office.

The property owner named on the Berkeley Plaza application is Los Angeles-based HSR Berkeley Investments, LLC, and the applicant is Rhoades Planning Group, whose principal, Mark Rhoades, is former land use planning manager for the City of Berkeley.

Published Dec. 23, 2013, 12:49 a.m., updated 4:43 p.m.
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