Rotunda Building

Oakland, CA | Completed: January 2001
Client: Rotunda Partners

The Rotunda Building, located at the corner of Broadway and 16th in downtown Oakland, CA, was originally built in 1913 and served as the site of several department stores before it fell into disrepair and closed in 1980. A redevelopment effort was attempted by a private investor in the late 1980s, but was curtailed by the Loma Prieta earthquake in 1989. The Beaux-arts building was later acquired by the City of Oakland as part of the Frank Ogawa Plaza property in 1993, but sat empty for a number of years.

In 1997,  the City’s Community and Economic Redevelopment Agency selected the Oakland-based Rotunda Partners development team, featuring Architectural Dimensions as Project Architect, who purchased the building in 1999 and performed the $49.6 million historical restoration via a public-private partnership (P3). Funding for the project involved four separate sources, including private equity, a private loan, $12 million in redevelopment agency funds, and federal historic preservation tax incentives, which allow federal and state government agencies to support the restoration and reuse of historic structures by encouraging private investors to purchase and manage them.

*Project designed by Architectural Dimensions, now merged with Architectural Concepts Inc.