Oakland Waterfront Plan Approved

SFgate had an article today saying that..

The Oakland City Council early this morning approved the controversial Oak to Ninth development south of Jack London Square, a 64-acre project that will help transform the waterfront as the city's largest housing development since World War II.

The council's 6-to-0 vote supporting the project came a day after a coalition of affordable housing, open space and local hiring advocates -- working with Councilwoman Pat Kernighan, whose district includes the project -- gave the project their blessing.

The groups, the city and Ghielmetti agreed to have 465 of the 3,100 housing units on the project be made affordable to families earning between $25,000 and $50,000 a year, as well as hiring 300 Oakland residents as apprentices in the building trades.

Ghielmetti said he expects to break ground in late 2007 after a series of approvals from other government agencies. The project will include 200,000-square feet of retail and 30 acres of parks and trails, a 170-slip marina, and restored wetlands accessible by the public.

It will take 15 years to develop, although Ghielmetti said he expects the first residents to move there in 2010.

I spent most of the day yesterday in San Francisco with Mark Choey checking out what's going on in the world of new developments. There's some great stuff happening down there and I'm glad to see that it's not confined to that side of the bay.

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