City Government

City Council Approves Kaiser Permanente Thrive Center To Centralize W orkforce in Downtown Oakland

Published

7 years ago

July 20, 2019

The Oakland City Council voted unanimously to authorize a DDA (Disposition and Development Agreement) with W/L Telegraph Owner, LLC or a related entity for the sale of 2100 Telegraph Avenue.

Alan Dones, Developer

“It’s not the Kaiser Project, it’s the 2100 Project,” said developer Alan Dones, speaking at the July 9 City Council meeting. “lt’s between my company and Lane Partners, and we’ve been working on the project for 10 years. This project is one that is going to contribute to the well-being and betterment of people to earn a good living, have good housing, as well as a great office project,” he said.

The project will house the new Kaiser Permanente Thrive Center headquarters in Oakland. The new building is scheduled to break ground in 2020.

Kaiser Chairman and CEO Bernard J. Tyson previously had announced that the new building will accommodate the 7,200 national and Northern California Regional employees and physicians who currently work in seven different locations, and will enhance collaboration and provide more modern workplace technology.

Tyson said the design will emphasize green construction, and will include a health clinic, community meeting spaces, a showplace for locally inspired art and other benefits for the community which will include an increase of local tax revenues and help to create jobs in Oakland.

Bernard J. Tyson, CEO

This new downtown Oakland building will reduce operational costs by more than $60 million annually, addressing facilities maintenance, inefficient utility expenses and rising commercial real estate leases. Reinvesting these savings will advance Kaiser Permanente’s mission of providing high-quality, affordable care for its members and communities.

The new offices will include modern, environmentally sustainable, efficient working space with improved access to public transportation, all of which will support employee collaboration, productivity and Kaiser Permanente’s goal to be carbon net positive by 2025.

Kaiser Permanente’s 7,200 national and Northern California Regional employees currently work in seven separate sites, primarily in Oakland. Once construction of the Kaiser Permanente Thrive Center is complete in 2023, existing buildings currently owned by Kaiser Permanente will be acquired by local developer Lane Partners for renovation and commercial use.

Kaiser Permanente is the largest employer in Oakland and delivers significant economic impact to the city and the region. This new building is estimated to generate a one-time $23 million in economic benefit in addition to more than $15 million annually in local tax revenues for the city, according to site developer Lane Partners.

Over the coming months, Kaiser Permanente announced that it will engage its employees and the Oakland community in the planning and development of its new location, as well as best uses for public spaces in the building to foster collaboration and wellness.

Click HERE for more information on Kaiser Permanente’s future home.

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Oakland Post: Week of July 1 – 7, 2026

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of July 1 – 7, 2026

Published

5 days ago

July 5, 2026

Oakland Post

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Inaugural Juneteenth Awards Ceremony Celebrates the Fillmore’s Black History, Leadership and Resilience

Addressing more than 100 Black and Asian attendees, San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie stated “San Francisco is reliant on the Black community, and we must invest in this community.”

Published

2 weeks ago

June 26, 2026

Oakland Post

District 5 Supervisor Bilal Mahmood, Rev. Dr. Amos Brown, Pastor Emeritus of Third Baptist Church, SF Mayor Daniel Lurie. Photo by Linda Parker Pennington.

By Linda Parker Pennington

The Fillmore Community Ambassadors held its first annual Juneteenth Wesley Johnson White Horse Awards ceremony on June 19 inside the newly reopened Fillmore Heritage Center.

The event featured awards for former San Francisco mayors London Breed and Willie Brown, along with Third Baptist Church Pastor Emeritus, Rev. Dr. Amos Brown.

The Koret Heritage lobby at the newly reopened center at 1330 Fillmore St. held a standing-room-only, culturally diverse and multi-generational audience while the art gallery featured photos of Fillmore community members in action, red Japanese lanterns, art and calligraphy, and Chinese artwork, giving the space a multicultural feel.

Addressing more than 100 Black and Asian attendees, San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie stated “San Francisco is reliant on the Black community, and we must invest in this community.”

District 5 Supervisor Bilal Mahmood acknowledged that “the Fillmore community has had a difficult history. Thanks to Rev. Amos Brown’s continuous focus on accountability and resistance, you hold us accountable and continue to inspire us.”

Mahmoud is referring to the Fillmore’s Japanese residents who were forced from their homes and sent to concentration camps during World War II. Black people occupied those homes until the return of their Japanese neighbors and then gave them back, while homes that had been unoccupied were lost. The presence of the Asian community on Juneteenth is a testament to that shared history.

In receiving his honor, Amos Brown elicited a powerful spontaneous call-and-response, where members of San Francisco’s many Black churches proudly shouted out the names: “Bethel AME! Providence Baptist! Jones Memorial! Glide!”

Awards program Master of Ceremonies Shawn Richards of Brothers Against Guns warmly introduced Breed, highlighting her many accomplishments, particularly on “March 16, 2020, when she became the first mayor to shut down a major U.S. city due to COVID-19, saving thousands of lives.”

The audience was captivated by Breed’s emotional speech touching on past traumas, present conditions, and future hopes for the neighborhood where she grew up.

She recalled another trauma of the neighborhood during the City’s redevelopment era in the 1960s, where Black residents were forced to move with a promise of being able to return that was largely unfulfilled.

“We remember when this land was just a field because they bulldozed hundreds of Victorian homes that Black people owned. They built the Fillmore Center, where most Black people can’t afford to live or start their own business. But we are still here.”