Uptown Station

Oakland, California

Reimagining A Historic Property in the Bay Area

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The Roaring Twenties brought an explosion of economic growth in cities across the United States, and Oakland was no exception. Harris Cebert “H.C.” Capwell, a businessman and leader in Oakland at the time, saw an opportunity to support the new demand for consumer goods while providing new jobs. He opened one of the first department stores in the area, the H.C. Capwell store, in 1929 at Broadway and 20th Street in downtown Oakland.

Uptown Station Case Study

Learn how we transformed a historic department store into a fully leased Class A creative office space.

The H.C. Capwell store remained a landmark shopping destination in the East Bay area for decades until its sale and closure in 2014. CIM acquired the property in 2017 from Uber Technologies Inc. (NYSE:UBER), which was in process of redeveloping the building into an urban office campus under the name Uptown Station.

We were drawn to the project in part because the supply of new creative office space in the Bay area was limited and we understood the value the property could offer to tenants. While maintaining the building’s historic integrity, our vertically integrated team transformed Uptown Station into a 356,000-square-foot, eight story Class A creative office building with soaring loft ceilings, exposed steel trusses and a multi-story atrium lobby topped with a glass skylight. We also completed the ground floor retail space and added bay windows to invite abundant natural light into the space.

During the redevelopment, we worked with potential tenants interested in the East Bay market that we believed could add value to the community. We signed a lease agreement with Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) in 2018 for the entire office space and a portion of the retail space. Shake Shack and One Medical leased the remaining retail spaces.

We announced the sale of Uptown Station in March 2021, having fully realized our business plan. Uptown Station continues to enhance the Oakland community by bringing new jobs to the area and expanding the city’s limited supply of Class A creative office space.

Disclaimer:

There can be no assurance that CIM will replicate past results or meet its objectives in the future.

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