“The best kind of recreation is not necessarily the kind you watch, but the kind you take part in. My idea is to have as many affairs at this auditorium in which people actually take part as possible. That will give them a sense of unity and responsibility, as feeling that the auditorium is theirs to use for the best recreation and pleasure”

Louis W. Buckley
first manager of the Oakland Municipal Auditorium

In a joint venture of Creative Development Partners, Harbinger Development and Equinox Hospitality, the historic Oakland Auditorium (Henry J. Kaiser Convention Center) will be completely renovated into a state-of-the-art convention, event and arts center, along with the addition of a 4-star, arts-integrated hotel, creating the highest value for the city of Oakland, and connecting the Oakland Museum and Laney College with an economic engine that never sleeps. Once the doors of One Lake Merritt Hotel open- they'll never close. One Lake Merritt also complements the recent improvements of Lake Merritt and provides an impetus for future developments in the area including the adjacent Lake Merritt BART and Oakland Unified School District sites. One Lake Merritt will ignite the entire lake, providing lakefront access to the facility, including a new highly visible façade for the Oakland Museum.

One Lake Merritt is a $150 million dollar development project- not the biggest project by scale, but certainly the most significant and impactful community and economic development project that Oakland has ever seen. 1LM is what Oakland needs and wants- jobs, hotel rooms, meeting facilities and a world-class cultural arts center. 

The Auditorium in Pictures

THE HISTORY OF THE OAKLAND AUDITORIUM

The redevelopment of the Oakland Auditorium by Creative Development Partners will draw upon the rich historical legacy of the building. James Brown and the Famous Flames made epic performances at the Auditorium; the Auditorium hosted the Oakland Symphony Orchestra until 1972; for almost 70 years until 1987, the arena was home to the annual Christmas Pageant (Oakland Children’s Holiday Pageant) involving at least 1,700 youngsters from 70 city schools; the roller derby played at the auditorium hundreds of times; from 1980 to 1989, the Grateful Dead performed at the Convention Center 34 times; on December 28, 1962, Martin Luther King Jr. spoke to an audience of 7,000 at the Auditorium to mark the 100 year anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation; Elvis Presley performed at the Arena in June of 1956 and again in 1957; Carlos Santana organized and performed at the Blues for Salvador Benefit with a host of big name stars; Bob Marley stirred the audience up in 1979; Joe Louis fought at the Oakland Auditorium; the Oakland Oaks ran the basketball court in the arena.  

WHY A NEW HOTEL?

Oakland is perfectly poised to take advantage of the region's  position in one of the world's top tourism markets. In addition to the patrons of Oakland's international airport, Oakland will also benefit by capturing regional and intra-state meetings and conventions that currently bypass Oakland because of the lack of rooms and amenities- and it's the Oakland Auditorium that makes this all possible! The existing meeting, convention and event space greatly decreases the cost of development of a new headquarter hotel, making this an extremely efficient development. Oakland's proximity to San Francisco, tremendous natural setting and easy access to leisure activities are also of great benefit to this project. Finally, the economic impact, number of permanent career pathway jobs, community partnerships and inclusion of a cultural and performing arts center makes this the perfect project at the most opportune time.

Listen to what the industry is saying:

A path to the middle class, via hotel work (May 12, 2015)
Boston Globe

Oakland tourism smashes records as industry considers new hotel fee (May 5, 2015)
But with just 4,000 hotel rooms throughout the city, Oakland lacks tourist accommodations. Best said at last year’s tourism breakfast that the city “should have 8,000 to 10,000 rooms to be comparable with other cities of our demographic size.”
SF BizTimes

Here's where 1,600 hotel rooms are planned in San Francisco (Slideshow) (April 30, 2015)
SF BizTimes

Art hotels seeing payoff from galleries (April 25, 2015)
IBJ.com

Stars Aligned for Bay Area Hotels  (April 21, 2015)
The Registry- Bay Area Real Estate

Oakland Hotel Room Shortage Could Lead To Construction Boom... Oakland currently has about 5,000 hotel rooms but could use 1,000 more. (March 2, 2015)
CBS SF Bay Area

Hoteliers seek expansion into convention-friendly secondary markets (April 1, 2015)
Hotel Management online 

STR: Hotel demand, revenue reach record levels amid supply slowdown (April 1, 2015) 
Skift 

Lenders say it's a good time to be in hotel financing  (April 1, 2015) 
HotelNewsNow.com

Oakland primed to seize on demand for hotels (September 4, 2014)
SF Gate

While the national average is close to 4% increase in RevPar, Oakland is seeing growth of 13% and leads the State in demand for hotel rooms.  (2014/2015 Visit Oakland Strategic Plan)