In 1999, a group of Oakland’s citizens organized to prepare a plan for enhancing and expanding a park along the southern end of Oakland’s Lake Merritt, and to reconfigure adjacent roads to be more pedestrian-friendly. The proposal was included in a bond initiative for new parks and was successfully passed by the voters. Included in the park proposal was the creation of a new parcel for housing, zoned for a high-rise tower. The city invited a small group of developers and their architects to enter a competition to create the new housing as mixed income.

PYATOK, working with UrbanCore Development and East Bay Asian Local Development Corporation, won the competition by designing a tower and a mid-rise that respected the existing neighborhood and surrounding local streets, as well as the new lakeside park and tidal estuary connecting San Francisco Bay with Lake Merritt. The tower is shaped to take advantage of views to San Francisco and the Bay to the west, and the Oakland hills to the east. The lower building with more affordable units relates to the neighborhood. Ground floor uses line the surrounding streets with a shared performance and exhibition space programmed seasonally to celebrate Oakland’s cultural diversity. Residents of both buildings share all amenities.