For months now, I’ve had the same thought every morning on my bus ride into downtown – “Damn – I really should bring my camera down here and take some pictures.” I knew it would be too much of a tease to just write about Uptown’s transformation without sharing some photos.
Luckily, I don’t have to curse myself anymore because Eric over at Transbay Blog has visually documented the loads of construction happening in Uptown and a bit deeper into Downtown. Here are a couple of my favorite photos:
That’s the Uptown project, which will in January bring 665 apartments to Oakland. And here’s Browadway Grand, which is already selling condos:
And the favorite part of my bus ride is passing the Fox Theater, which is looking more and more beautiful every week. I don’t know why, but it started feeling much more complete when they installed the window glass last month:
Eric has a lot more photos and great analysis of downtown Oakland construction on his blog, so go check it out.
The DTO also posted an update recently about Uptown facades, and V Smoothe posted a review of Flora, an Uptown restaurant brought to you by the owners of Dona Tomas.
I think the three of them have pretty much covered it all. I’m really excited about the rapid transformation of Uptown (and much of the rest of downtown Oakland). We’re starting to see a solid night life and a very walkable neighborhood develop and I think that will only get better as more residents move in. Now I just need to find some time to get off the bus and explore Uptown. And when I do, I’ll write all about it here.
Filed under: Oakland, Urban Planning | Tagged: Broadway Grand, downtown Oakland, Flora, Fox Theater, Uptown Oakland
I’m glad you enjoyed the report! It has been exciting to watch the area transform in the past few years, after so many years at a standstill. It seems like it could become a really cool neighborhood. I also cannot wait until the Fox reopens. Wouldn’t it be awesome to see people at night streaming out of dual shows at the Fox and Paramount, and more people coming in and out of various bars and restaurants? Maybe one day they’ll be stepping out onto BRT platforms to get home after the show. I can’t wait to see the active street life. That’s when we’ll know Uptown has arrived.