Overview
The formerly abandoned lot in East Oakland was reclaimed and rehabilitated by the Black Cultural Zone Collaborative and Community Development Corporation into today’s Liberation Park.
Once the site of a JCPenney Auto Center in the 1980s, the lot was converted into a police depot during the crack epidemic until it was deserted for nearly two decades.
The project includes a 31,000-square-foot Market Hall and Cultural Hub co-developed by BCZ and CAST and designed by AE3 Partners, and Liberation Park Residences, which are being developed by BCZ and Eden Housing with Y.A. studio architects. The LP Residences—a range of studios up to three-bedroom units—will serve the needs of home-based businesses, veterans, and other special populations.
Both strive to foster Black empowerment, economic opportunity, and cultural expression while enhancing infrastructure, transit-oriented development, and sustainability in the area.
Our Approach
Beginning in November 2020, Black Cultural Zone (BCZ) and CAST have partnered to develop Liberation Park, a community-controlled space that reflects over 10 years of organizing and visioning by East Oakland residents. In support of BCZ, CAST provided pre-development funding and partnership to assist with the development proposal to the City of Oakland.
CAST has provided ongoing partnership, resources, and expertise in real estate development.
In 2023, CAST and BCZ invited Eden Housing to step into CAST’s role as co-developer for Liberation Park Residence, allowing CAST to focus on its role as co-developer with BCZ for the Liberation Park Market Hall and Cultural Hub.
In March 2024, Oakland’s City Council unanimously approved the project’s two buildings: Liberation Park Market Hall & Cultural Hub and Liberation Park Residence. Both will rise at the 1.22 acre property at Foothill Boulevard and 73rd Ave, currently Liberation Park.
Impact
The Market Hall and Cultural Hub intends to build upon the legacy of Liberation Park by providing affordable space to Oakland-based small businesses, artists and cultural workers, and neighborhood services. The project is being developed with the goal of supporting local businesses and artists, and creating a stable economic hub for East Oaklanders.
The Market Hall will contain a food hall, cultural center, outdoor courtyard, pop-up vendor spaces inspired by BCZ’s Akoma Market, and an outdoor roller skating rink for all ages based on the Liberation Park Community Skate events at the existing skatepark. The third floor will have a performance venue and flexible dining/event space, with its second floor offering coworking and office space envisioned to provide small business resources.
The Liberation Park Residences will be a six-story affordable-housing building with 119 apartments rented to tenants making between 20-60% of the area median income.
Visit blackculturalzone.org to learn more about ongoing events at Liberation Park and explore BCZ’s vision to unapologetically center Black arts, culture, and economics to collectively design, resource, transform and build collective power for its communities.
