601 City Center gets Oakland planners' OK

The Oakland Planning Commission has approved the design for 601 City Center, a 23-story office building proposed by Shorenstein Properties LLC and MetLife Real Estate Investments.

The 500,000-square-foot tower at the corner of 11th and Jefferson streets will be the first new addition to the City Center downtown development since 2002, when 555 City Center was completed. The 1.43-acre site bounded by 11th, 12th and Jefferson streets and Martin Luther King Jr. Way is currently a parking lot.

Plans call for 588,000 square feet of office space, about 9,500 square feet of retail and a two-level, 200-stall underground parking garage.

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Groundbreaking is scheduled for spring 2008 with completion targeted for spring 2010.

The commission voted to approve the 601 City Center design and revised City Center development plan in a 6-0 vote Dec. 5.