{{Redirect|Kaiser Building|the Kaiser Engineering Building in Oakland, California|Kaiser Engineering Building}} {{for|the auditorium|Kaiser Center for the Arts}} {{Use American English|date=February 2025}} {{Infobox building | name = Kaiser Center | image = Kaiser Center 3.jpg | image_size = | caption = | alternate_names = Kaiser Building | location = 300 Lakeside Drive<br />[[Oakland]], [[California]] | pushpin_map = United States Oakland#California#USA | pushpin_label = Kaiser Center | coordinates = {{coord|37.8088|-122.2644|region:US-CA|display=inline,title}} | completion_date = 1960 | building_type = Commercial offices | roof = {{convert|389|ft|abbr=on}} | top_floor = | floor_count = 28 | elevator_count = | cost = | floor_area = {{convert|976,000|sqft|abbr=on}}<ref>{{cite web|title=Kaiser Center|url=http://www.skyscrapercenter.com/building/kaiser-center/24160|website=Skyscraper Center|publisher=CTBUH|accessdate=17 September 2017}}</ref> | architect = [[Welton Becket]] | structural_engineer = | main_contractor = [[Robert E. McKee|Robert E. McKee Contractor, Inc.]] | developer = | owner = [[The Swig Company]] | operator = | references = <ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.emporis.com/buildings/126176 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160307024613/https://www.emporis.com/buildings/126176 |url-status=usurped |archive-date=March 7, 2016 |title=Emporis building ID 126176 |work=[[Emporis]]}}</ref><ref>{{SkyscraperPage|6974}}</ref><ref>{{Structurae|20021519}}</ref> }}
'''Kaiser Center''', also called the '''Kaiser Building''', is a 28-story office building located at 300 Lakeside Drive, adjacent to [[Lake Merritt]], in downtown [[Oakland, California]], designed by the architectural firm of [[Welton Becket|Welton Becket & Associates]] of [[Los Angeles]]. The property is bounded by Lakeside Drive, which terminates and joins Harrison Street at the site, 20th-, 21st-, and Webster-streets. When completed in 1960, it was Oakland's tallest building, as well as the largest office tower west of the [[Rocky Mountains]].<ref>{{cite news | author=Lauri Puchall | title=Looking Down on Creation | url=http://www.themonthly.com/architexture11-06.html | work=The Monthly | date=November 2006 | accessdate=6 September 2010}}</ref> A three-story office/retail building adjacent to the main tower was completed in 1963.
Kaiser Center was the headquarters of [[Kaiser Industries]], a [[Fortune 500]] conglomerate that was headed by industrialist [[Edgar Kaiser Sr.|Edgar F. Kaiser]] at the time the building was constructed.
== Architecture == The main exterior of the building consists of glass and metal, primarily aluminum. There is also stone cladding around much of the building made up of concrete and a stone aggregate. This material is very likely an "exceptionally pure" coarse-grained dolomite. It probably originated in the quarries in California owned by Kaiser.<ref>{{cite web |title=Oakland building stones: Kaiser Center's dolomite |url=https://oaklandgeology.com/2016/07/18/oakland-building-stones-kaiser-centers-dolomite/ |website=Oakland Geology |date=18 July 2016 |publisher=Andrew Alden |access-date=21 June 2022}}</ref>
The building's roof garden was designed by San Francisco-based landscape architecture firm, Theodore Osmundson & Associates, and was the first built in the United States after [[World War II]]. While legend has it that Henry J. Kaiser resided in a penthouse apartment on the 28th floor, by 1960 the elder Kaiser had turned over the Oakland-based company to his son, and pursued projects based in Honolulu.<ref>{{cite news | author=Mary Morganti, Online Archive of California | title=Finding Aid to the Henry J. Kaiser Papers, The Bancroft Library | url=http://pdf.oac.cdlib.org/pdf/berkeley/bancroft/m83_42_cubanc.pdf | accessdate=30 May 2014 | archive-date=6 September 2015 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150906143743/http://pdf.oac.cdlib.org/pdf/berkeley/bancroft/m83_42_cubanc.pdf | url-status=dead }}</ref> It is much more likely that his son Edgar, who was in charge of Kaiser industries and a major power broker in the Bay Area by the time the building was commissioned, was the person who occupied any residential apartments.<ref>{{cite news | author=Lauren Lassleben, Online Archive of California | title=Finding Aid to the Edgar F. Kaiser Papers, The Bancroft Library | url=http://pdf.oac.cdlib.org/pdf/berkeley/bancroft/m85_61_cubanc.pdf | accessdate=30 May 2014 | archive-date=6 September 2015 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150906161942/http://pdf.oac.cdlib.org/pdf/berkeley/bancroft/m85_61_cubanc.pdf | url-status=dead }}</ref> According to a National Park Service study, Edgar commissioned the architecturally significant rooftop garden after the building had been designed, inspired by the gardens of [[Rockefeller Center]] in N.Y.<ref>{{cite news | author=National Park Service | title=HALS Kaiser Roof Garden | url=http://lcweb2.loc.gov/pnp/habshaer/ca/ca3400/ca3442/data/ca3442data.pdf | accessdate=30 May 2014}}</ref>
== Tenants == The building was home to the headquarters of the [[Bay Area Rapid Transit District]] from 2003 to 2021.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bart.gov/news/articles/2019/news20190912|title=Board approves purchase of new headquarters saving public funds in future | bart.gov|website=www.bart.gov}}</ref> Other tenants include the [[University of California]] Office of the President, Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, [https://portworkspaces.com The Port Company], and [[California Bank & Trust]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.goldenboypartners.com/RSC/kaiser_press.pdf|title = Vista 6 Apartments – Luxury Apartments in Los Angeles}}</ref> Global technical services company [[AECOM]] moved into the building in 2016.
== Acquisition by PG&E == In the summer of 2020, San Francisco-based utility [[Pacific Gas and Electric Company|Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E)]] announced it would place for sale its [[Pacific Gas & Electric Building|downtown San Francisco headquarters complex]], which has become increasingly expensive to operate, and relocate its headquarters to Kaiser Center, which it intends to purchase. PG&E employees from suburban office locations in [[Concord, California|Concord]] and [[San Ramon, California|San Ramon]] will also be consolidated at Kaiser Center (referred to by PG&E as "300 Lakeside"). A deal to sell the San Francisco complex was reached in the spring of 2021, subject to approval from the [[California Public Utilities Commission]]. The headquarters move is expected to be finished by 2026.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Truong|first=Kevin|date=June 8, 2020|title=PG&E will move its headquarters to Oakland|url=https://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/news/2020/06/08/pg-e-announces-headquarters-move-to-oakland.html|access-date=2021-05-25|website=www.bizjournals.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=2021-05-24|title=PG&E agrees to sell SF headquarters complex for $800 million|url=https://www.mercurynews.com/2021/05/24/pge-sale-headquarters-800-million-oakland-wildfire-real-estate|access-date=2021-05-25|website=The Mercury News|language=en-US}}</ref> PG&E was in [[Chapter 11, Title 11, United States Code|Chapter 11]] bankruptcy for most of 2019 and part of 2020 in response to its liability for the catastrophic [[2017 California wildfires|2017]] and [[2018 California wildfires|2018]] wildfires in Northern California.
<gallery> File:Kaiser Center.jpg </gallery>
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== {{Commons category|Kaiser Center}} *{{Official website |}} *{{HALS |survey=CA-3 |id=ca3442 |title=Kaiser Center, 300 Lakeside Drive, Oakland, Alameda County, CA |photos=22 |dwgs=18 |data=6 |cap=3}}
{{Buildings in Oakland, California timeline}} {{Henry J. Kaiser}}
[[Category:Office buildings completed in 1960]] [[Category:Modernist architecture in California]] [[Category:Swig Company]] [[Category:Landmarks in the San Francisco Bay Area]] [[Category:Historic American Landscapes Survey in California]] [[Category:Henry J. Kaiser]] [[Category:Welton Becket buildings]] [[Category:Skyscraper office buildings in Oakland, California]] [[Category:1960 establishments in California]] [[Category:Pacific Gas and Electric Company]]