Since early in the decade, developers haven’t been able to resist Oakland’s available bargains and the Jerry Brown administration’s streamlined procedures for getting things built. Initially lofts went up near the Oakland/Alameda estuary, followed by the Essex condo conversion by Lake Merritt. Signature Properties’ Broadway & Grand condos were unveiled in August 2007 featuring condos, townhomes, restaurants and a Starbucks…then Eight Orchids, a “postmodern European” condo development, recently popped up on the outskirts of Chinatown. Lower income families can actually afford to buy condos and townhouses here. With prices starting in the $200,000s to above $1 million, Oakland suddenly has a sensational assortment of new urban housing in the hopper, the biggest projects yet to come.

Visionary developer Rick Holliday has plans to renovate a cannery in West Oakland and to support the project of West Oakland’s Visionary poet and community activist Marcel Diallo, which is to create a whole new “African-American town” in one of the Bay Area’s most neglected environment.

Marcel Diallo, a resident from the Bottoms-a neighborhood in West Oakland said to San Francisco Magazine “We wanted to make sure the black population wouldn’t be excluded”. Diallo is creating a cultural district close to Central Station with a social club, a health-food store, and a gallery. He and others brainstormed with Holliday about creative financing strategies for neighborhood people who want to move in. “We’re all down here together,” said Diallo to SFgate. “Local people plan to be some of the first buyers at Central Station.” Diallo is racing against the gentrification clock to create an enclave of all things African American — black homeowners, black-owned cafes, galleries, boutiques and mom-and-pop shops. He’s even got a name for this vision — the Village Bottoms Cultural District.”The Chinese got Chinatown, the Latinos got the Fruitvale and the Mission. We want our equivalent,” said Diallo. “The only way that black people are going to be all right and not on the brink of revolution and wanting to burn this shit down is if we have our own place that we feel like is ours,” he said.

It’s not just for blacks, said Diallo. “Everybody needs a black cultural district. Just like everybody needs a Chinatown.”

Upcoming projects in Oakland as noted by San Francisco Magazine:

Oak Knoll Little city on the hill

East of 580 in the hills and several miles from downtown, SunCal’s project includes 960 market-rate units ranging from entry-level to estate homes, plus 82,000 square feet of retail. The stores matter to neighboring communities, whose residents currently have to hit the freeway to visit retail, but 50 acres of open space and the largest creek restoration in Oakland also make the development more appealing. Construction is set to begin next year.

Oak to Ninth Life on the waterfront

This enormous project, by Signature Properties and Reynolds & Brown, will create a whole new community in a forlorn area along the long underused Oakland-Alameda estuary. It will include 3,100 flats, townhouses, and lofts priced at $400,000 and up, plus 200,000 square feet of retail and commercial space and 30 acres of public open space. It’s scheduled for completion by 2025.

Uptown Development Project Anchor of the entertainment district

Near the city center, this project is divided into two phases. The first will take up four full city blocks with about 600 units of new housing—much of it designated “affordable”—framing a park. And it will bring 9,000 square feet of retail to the area by 2009. If phase two pans out (and there’s some question about that), it will mean another 300 housing units and 20,000 square feet of retail.

Temescal Cool condos in North Oakland

Developer Roy Alper has been quietly planning and building Mediterranean, Craftsman-style, and modern condos on the Temescal district’s main drag—Telegraph Avenue—priced from the high $200,000s to the high $600,000s. While Temescal might seem an unlikely spot for condos, it makes sense by smart-growth standards: the district is served by buses and two BART stations, and its commercial strip grows more vibrant every year.

Central Station The city within a city

This pioneering project sits next to 880, eight blocks from West Oakland’s BART station. It will include a mix of market-rate housing (lofts now start at $350,000, townhouses at $451,000) and affordable rentals ($400–1,000 a month). Also in the works are parks, retail space, and a potential rehab of the historic train station as a commercial center. Property taxes on the project should reap $100 million over the next 20 years, much of which will go to improving this beleaguered part of town.