# Kaiser Center

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"Kaiser Building" redirects here. For the Kaiser Engineering Building in Oakland, California, see [Kaiser Engineering Building](/source/Kaiser_Engineering_Building).

For the auditorium, see [Kaiser Center for the Arts](/source/Kaiser_Center_for_the_Arts).

Commercial offices in Oakland, California

Kaiser Center Kaiser Center Location within Oakland, California Show map of Oakland, California Kaiser Center Kaiser Center (California) Show map of California Kaiser Center Kaiser Center (the United States) Show map of the United States Alternative names Kaiser Building General information Type Commercial offices Location 300 Lakeside Drive Oakland, California Coordinates 37°48′32″N 122°15′52″W / 37.8088°N 122.2644°W / 37.8088; -122.2644 Completed 1960 Owner The Swig Company Height Roof 389 ft (119 m) Technical details Floor count 28 Floor area 976,000 sq ft (90,700 m2)[1] Design and construction Architect Welton Becket Main contractor Robert E. McKee Contractor, Inc. References [2][3][4]

**Kaiser Center**, also called the **Kaiser Building**, is a 28-story office building located at 300 Lakeside Drive, adjacent to [Lake Merritt](/source/Lake_Merritt), in downtown [Oakland, California](/source/Oakland%2C_California), designed by the architectural firm of [Welton Becket & Associates](/source/Welton_Becket) of [Los Angeles](/source/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](/source/Rocky_Mountains).[5] A three-story office/retail building adjacent to the main tower was completed in 1963.

Kaiser Center was the headquarters of [Kaiser Industries](/source/Kaiser_Industries), a [Fortune 500](/source/Fortune_500) conglomerate that was headed by industrialist [Edgar F. Kaiser](/source/Edgar_Kaiser_Sr.) 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.[6]

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](/source/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.[7] 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.[8] 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](/source/Rockefeller_Center) in N.Y.[9]

## Tenants

The building was home to the headquarters of the [Bay Area Rapid Transit District](/source/Bay_Area_Rapid_Transit_District) from 2003 to 2021.[10] Other tenants include the [University of California](/source/University_of_California) Office of the President, Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, [The Port Company](https://portworkspaces.com), and [California Bank & Trust](/source/California_Bank_%26_Trust).[11] Global technical services company [AECOM](/source/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 (PG&E)](/source/Pacific_Gas_and_Electric_Company) announced it would place for sale its [downtown San Francisco headquarters complex](/source/Pacific_Gas_%26_Electric_Building), 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](/source/Concord%2C_California) and [San Ramon](/source/San_Ramon%2C_California) 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](/source/California_Public_Utilities_Commission). The headquarters move is expected to be finished by 2026.[12][13] PG&E was in [Chapter 11](/source/Chapter_11%2C_Title_11%2C_United_States_Code) bankruptcy for most of 2019 and part of 2020 in response to its liability for the catastrophic [2017](/source/2017_California_wildfires) and [2018](/source/2018_California_wildfires) wildfires in Northern California.

## References

1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** ["Kaiser Center"](http://www.skyscrapercenter.com/building/kaiser-center/24160). *Skyscraper Center*. CTBUH. Retrieved 17 September 2017.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** ["Emporis building ID 126176"](https://web.archive.org/web/20160307024613/https://www.emporis.com/buildings/126176). *[Emporis](/source/Emporis)*. Archived from the original on March 7, 2016.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** ["Kaiser Center"](https://skyscraperpage.com/cities/?buildingID=6974). *[SkyscraperPage](/source/SkyscraperPage)*.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** [Kaiser Center](https://structurae.net/structures/data/index.cfm?ID=20021519) at *[Structurae](/source/Structurae)*

1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** Lauri Puchall (November 2006). ["Looking Down on Creation"](http://www.themonthly.com/architexture11-06.html). *The Monthly*. Retrieved 6 September 2010.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-6)** ["Oakland building stones: Kaiser Center's dolomite"](https://oaklandgeology.com/2016/07/18/oakland-building-stones-kaiser-centers-dolomite/). *Oakland Geology*. Andrew Alden. 18 July 2016. Retrieved 21 June 2022.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-7)** Mary Morganti, Online Archive of California. ["Finding Aid to the Henry J. Kaiser Papers, The Bancroft Library"](https://web.archive.org/web/20150906143743/http://pdf.oac.cdlib.org/pdf/berkeley/bancroft/m83_42_cubanc.pdf) (PDF). Archived from [the original](http://pdf.oac.cdlib.org/pdf/berkeley/bancroft/m83_42_cubanc.pdf) (PDF) on 6 September 2015. Retrieved 30 May 2014.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-8)** Lauren Lassleben, Online Archive of California. ["Finding Aid to the Edgar F. Kaiser Papers, The Bancroft Library"](https://web.archive.org/web/20150906161942/http://pdf.oac.cdlib.org/pdf/berkeley/bancroft/m85_61_cubanc.pdf) (PDF). Archived from [the original](http://pdf.oac.cdlib.org/pdf/berkeley/bancroft/m85_61_cubanc.pdf) (PDF) on 6 September 2015. Retrieved 30 May 2014.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-9)** National Park Service. ["HALS Kaiser Roof Garden"](http://lcweb2.loc.gov/pnp/habshaer/ca/ca3400/ca3442/data/ca3442data.pdf) (PDF). Retrieved 30 May 2014.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-10)** ["Board approves purchase of new headquarters saving public funds in future | bart.gov"](https://www.bart.gov/news/articles/2019/news20190912). *www.bart.gov*.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-11)** ["Vista 6 Apartments – Luxury Apartments in Los Angeles"](http://www.goldenboypartners.com/RSC/kaiser_press.pdf) (PDF).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-12)** Truong, Kevin (June 8, 2020). ["PG&E will move its headquarters to Oakland"](https://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/news/2020/06/08/pg-e-announces-headquarters-move-to-oakland.html). *www.bizjournals.com*. Retrieved 2021-05-25.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-13)** ["PG&E agrees to sell SF headquarters complex for $800 million"](https://www.mercurynews.com/2021/05/24/pge-sale-headquarters-800-million-oakland-wildfire-real-estate). *The Mercury News*. 2021-05-24. Retrieved 2021-05-25.

## External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to [Kaiser Center](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Kaiser_Center).

- [Official website](http://www.kaisercenter.com/)

- [Historic American Landscapes Survey](/source/Heritage_Documentation_Programs#Historic_American_Landscapes_Survey) (HALS) No. CA-3, "[Kaiser Center, 300 Lakeside Drive, Oakland, Alameda County, CA](https://loc.gov/pictures/item/ca3442/)", 22 photos, 18 measured drawings, 6 data pages, 3 photo caption pages

v t e Timeline of the tallest buildings in Oakland, California Bank of America Building (69 m) (1907) Oakland City Hall (98 m) (1914) Kaiser Center (118 m) (1960) Ordway Building (123 m) (1970)

v t e Henry J. Kaiser Organizations California Shipbuilding Corporation Eagle Mountain Railroad Kaiser Aluminum Kaiser Broadcasting Kaiser Family Foundation Kaiser Motors Kaiser Permanente Kaiser Shipyards Richmond Shipyards Oregon Shipbuilding Corporation Swan Island Shipyard Vancouver Shipyard Kaiser Steel Permanente Metals Permanente Quarry (Kaiser Cement) Facilities Henry J. Kaiser Center for the Arts Henry J. Kaiser High School Kaiser Center Kaiser Engineering Building People Edgar Kaiser Jr. Edgar Kaiser Sr. Henry Kaiser (musician) Related Eagle Mountain, California Hawaii Kai, Hawaii

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Kaiser Center](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaiser_Center) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaiser_Center?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.