A group of real estate developers and investors are working to revive Oakland, California, a city that has faced significant challenges in recent years. With a population of 435,000 and favorable weather compared to neighboring San Francisco, Oakland was once seen as an attractive destination for investment. However, the city has struggled with rising crime rates since 2020, the departure of three major sports teams, increased homelessness following COVID-19 shutdowns, and political turmoil including federal corruption charges against its former mayor.
“If you just had to pinpoint on a map, where’s the greatest place to be in the Bay Area, you’d say Oakland,” said Mark McGranahan, principal at Avison Young and long-time Oakland resident. “Until you live in Oakland and then you go, ‘Who would want to live in Oakland?’”
Riaz Taplin, who has invested in Oakland apartments since the early 1990s and owns a portfolio of 2,000 units in the city, attributed many of these issues to local government decisions. “This was a government-created disaster by a group of people not thinking about what it takes to run a city and deprioritizing safety in the name of equity,” he said.
Despite these setbacks—including office vacancy rates over 38 percent downtown according to Avison Young data—some developers see opportunity. Colin Behring’s Behring Companies purchased a 21-story office building near its mixed-use tower last fall for $14.4 million or $20 per square foot. Isaac Abid left his previous firm to focus on investments in Oakland through his new company Lakeside Group. He also led efforts such as recalling the district attorney and starting neighborhood improvement initiatives.
“It’s too early if you want everybody else to do the work for you,” Behring said. “The easiest way to predict the future is to build it yourself.”
Abid explained his motivation: “I wanted to get out of bed every morning and try and figure out how to invest in high-quality assets in Oakland because by doing so then I could more credibly and capably involve myself in the community.”
Longtime investors like John Protopappas recall better times for Oakland real estate but acknowledge recent difficulties have created rare buying opportunities. Office sales now average just $60 per square foot—about one-fifth their pre-pandemic value.
“That’s a pretty big discount. But of course, there’s the saying ‘Don’t catch a falling knife,’” said Howard Huang from Avison Young. “We don’t know if the knife is done falling.”
Newer projects have adjusted expectations due to market changes; developer Danny Haber reduced plans for an apartment tower from 28 stories down to 11 stories with an affordable housing focus after rents failed to recover post-pandemic.
Institutional investors remain wary—Taplin described Oakland as a “no-fly zone”—but family offices and smaller funds are leading current activity because they can afford longer holding periods while waiting for conditions to improve.
Behring emphasized action over hesitation: “Like any good developer, we’re impatient. We don’t want to wait,” he said. “A pause is the worst thing you can do. If you don’t like something, then do something about it.”
Developers are engaging with local leaders on basic issues such as public safety improvements and streamlined permitting processes. Abid expressed cautious optimism about working with newly elected Mayor Barbara Lee: he noted her engagement with business leaders but declined comment on her election opponent Loren Taylor or her policies until more time has passed.
Protopappas believes solving public safety problems is essential for recovery: “It’s been a tough five years, but I see our buildings,” he said. “They’re filling up.”
Oakland’s future remains uncertain; while some believe institutional capital will eventually return once risks subside and prices stabilize—as seen during San Francisco’s recovery—others warn that delays may mean missing out on today’s discounted values.
“We can see the future coming before anybody else because we are where it starts,” Behring stated.
McGranahan concluded that although getting conditions right remains elusive so far: “There’s enough of the other ingredients in place: cost, location, BART access…if the switch is flipped great things can happen.”
