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n a recent transaction, Kaiser Permanente has sold a 21-story office tower and an adjacent parking garage in Uptown Oakland to Behring Companies for $14.35 million. The deal includes both the 450,000-square-foot office tower and the 255,000-square-foot parking garage, at a price of $20 per square foot for both properties. This acquisition is strategically located within a block of Behring’s 1900 Broadway mixed-use apartment tower, which started leasing earlier this year.

    Kaiser stated that the office building at 1950 Franklin Street had been largely unoccupied since the start of the pandemic, prompting the company to explore potential future uses for the property. The company emphasized that its national headquarters would remain at Oakland’s Ordway building near Lake Merritt.

    In 2019, Kaiser unveiled plans for a new 1.6 million-square-foot headquarters on Telegraph Avenue in Oakland, developed by Lane Partners and Strategic Urban Development Alliance. The healthcare giant had planned to sell several properties, including 1950 Franklin, 1800 Harrison, and 2000 Broadway, as part of a $900 million deal. However, COVID shutdowns led to the collapse of these plans in March 2020.

    Kaiser recently sold the 105,000-square-foot 2000 Broadway to BART for its new police headquarters for $26.5 million, or $252 per square foot. The company expressed satisfaction in selling 1950 Franklin and the adjacent eight-level parking garage at 1901 Franklin to Behring Companies, given the EB-5 developer’s strong ties to Oakland.

    EB-5 developer Colin Behring believes that the funding program will accelerate development projects in San Francisco and other parts of California. Behring Companies plans to transform the acquired properties into a dynamic urban campus that can reshape downtown Oakland. The office tower offers adaptable office space, event and conference venues, media production studios, a commercial-grade cafeteria, and indoor/outdoor lifestyle amenities. The majority of the building’s space will undergo redevelopment and integration into Behring’s “full-stack” of amenities at 1900 Broadway, which combines apartments, office and coworking spaces, a fitness facility, and access to a Tesla fleet. The parking structure already has EV chargers in place.