"Celebration Plaza" coming to 35th & MacArthur

by Lori Hope

Imagine taking a leisurely walk from your home to your favorite Vietnamese restaurant. Before entering, you breathe in the fragrance from the flower cart outside. After dinner, you savor a double scoop of chocolate mocha swirl at the ice cream shop next door.

That could become a Laurel district reality next year if all goes according to a plan approved by the Oakland City Council March 11. [Final approval, which is normally automatic, is slated for March 25, after the Metro goes to press.] The Council gave its full consent to a mixed-use development at the corner of 35th Ave. and MacArthur Blvd. that would include two restaurants, two retail shops, and seven townhomes. The proposed development, named "Celebration Plaza" by architect and developer Paul Wang, includes more than 4,500 square feet of commercial and retail space.

"I'm very excited about this," said Wang. "We've been working on this project for a very long time and now we can finally get going."

Fronting the street, the preliminary study of the design features not only shops and restaurants but also a plaza with a trellis-designed outdoor dining area. A small lot behind the building will provide parking for tenants and business owners. Wang says there should be plenty of street parking, and he hopes to share parking lots of nearby businesses.

"At meetings of the Laurel Community Action Project, where I shared my plans, the neighborhood wanted more of an architectural presence," explained Wang. "The idea is to make it pedestrian-friendly, so we didn't want parking in the front."

"This is great news for several reasons," said Richard Cowan, Chief of Staff for City Councilmember Jean Quan. Cowan, who is also the former president of the Redwood Heights Improvement Association, says he has been advocating for the development of 35th & MacArthur for years.

"There has been such a blight on that corner, and this sounds like a beautiful development," said Cowan. "Nature abhors a vacuum, and students who catch buses at the corner have traditionally hung out there. This should help that problem."

Wang agrees. "If you have a nice building, kids will respect it. I know these kids, and they're just typical teenagers. There will be a period of adjustment, I'm sure, but we'll all work together and find our way."

"Councilmember Jean Quan will do her best to make this project happen on schedule," said Cowan, who says she is actively working on other ways to foster business development in the Laurel area. "We want not only to attract good anchor tenants, but also to increase foot traffic and add green spaces."

Wang, who in 1983 designed and built the 30 affordable housing units on 35th Avenue between MacArthur and Wisconsin, will refine the Celebration Plaza design before applying for the necessary design and construction permits. Wang is seeking community input regarding restaurants and shops and asks that residents e-mail their ideas to ptfwang\@bigplanet.com.