Huge crowds march through San Francisco as right-wing protesters lie low

RICHMOND — Actor-developer Wendell Pierce has announced that a real estate partnership he participates in will build a mixed-use development in the city’s Downtown Main Street Corridor.

The development would feature retail and housing, and a goal would be to attract tech sector businesses to the city’s core, according to a post by Pierce on Twitter.

“Richmond CA. is an East Bay jewel,” the New Orleans native tweeted this week. “32 miles of waterfront shoreline, beautiful mountain views, 30 minutes to SF and Oakland city centers.”

Pierce said he wants to bring Oakland-based Red Bay Coffee, which he describes as an “innovative beverage business that practices profit-sharing with staff,” to Richmond. In an earlier tweet, he said he also was bringing Red Bay Coffee to New Orleans, where he is involved in another development. He also is a participant in an apartment development in Baltimore.

For more food and drink coverage
follow us on Flipboard.

Pierce is famous for, among other accomplishments, his roles in the HBO series “The Wire” and “Treme” and the 2013 film “Parker” and 2016 film “Confirmation.”

Richmond Mayor Tom Butt, and Amanda Elliott, executive director of the nonprofit Richmond Main Street Initiative, expressed enthusiasm on Facebook over Pierce’s announcement.

“So blessed to have actor and now friend Wendell Pierce as an investor in downtown development projects,” Elliott said, and added, “Economic development is social justice.”

According to Elliott, the proposed development would spread over two blocks along the north side of Macdonald Avenue, between 11th and 13th streets, and include more than 250 units of housing and about 60,000 square feet of retail space.

As part of a separate project, Pierce wants to bring Red Bay Coffee and a co-working business to a retail building at the Richmond BART station, Elliott said.

Twitter posts responding to Pierce’s announcement were generally upbeat, with some exceptions, such as one that warned: “And so it begins. I live one block away and my concern is will lifelong Richmond residents (be) driven out just like Oakland?”

Pierce, in one of his tweets, promised:

Get more celebrity news and photos delivered to your inbox for free on weekdays.Sign up for our Coffee Break newsletter here.

“Our development in Richmond CA will have a Developer Apprentice Program, that trains local entrepreneurs the business of real estate dev.”

He also tweeted that he hopes to collaborate with the arts community, including the nearby East Bay Center for the Performing Arts.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Parents of Student Murdered by Maintenance Man Sue Apartment Complex

He pleaded guilty to murder late last year, now the case of a maintenance worker who killed a Blinn student is back in court. The parents of 20-year-old Jenna Verhaalen are suing the Bryan apartment complex where she was killed. Verhaalen was strangled at the Autumn Woods Apartments in 2008, by 27-year-old maintenance worker Jeremiah Rosser . The suit claims Autumn Woods ignored complaints made about Rosser. Specifically, a complaint they claim Jenna made to Rosser's boss, when he entered her apartment while she was in the shower. The suit alleges the complex's negligence led to Jenna's death. Attorneys for Autumn woods said management had no reason to believe Rosser was a risk. However, that's not what the complex's corporate office told News Three in 2008. Back then, a spokesperson said Jenna complained to the maintenance supervisor about Jeremiah Rosser , but never filed a complaint with the office. Rosser quit his job at Autumn Woods several day
Read more

“Blacklist” star Megan Boone lists West Village apartment for $2.4M

Image
Megan Boone and her apartment at 302 West 12th Street (credit: NBC and BKR Partners) Megan Boone, who  plays FBI agent Elizabeth Keen on NBC’s crime thriller “The Blacklist,” has just listed her condominium at 302 West 12th Street for $2.4 million, per city records. (credit: BKR Partners) Boone bought the apartment in 2014 for $1.85 million. According to the listing, with Brian Kanarek of BKR Partners, the 837-square-foot unit has one bedroom and one bathroom. It overlooks tiny Abingdon Square Park, and has a large fireplace, soundproof windows, high ceilings, a walk-in closet and access to the communal landscaped roof terrace . Kanarek did not immediately respond to request for comment. (credit: BKR Partners) Per city records, Boone and her husband, artist Dan Estabrook , bought a townhouse in Carroll Gardens in March 2016 in an off-market deal. In addition to starring on “Blacklist” with James Spader, Boone has also appeared on “Law & Order: LA,” “Blue Bloods” and the film “St
Read more

Charlotte affordable housing forum raises possible solutions

There’s a big demand for more affordable housing in Charlotte, where rents and home prices have shot up much faster than wages over the past few years. Many of the apartments being built now target more affluent renters, waitlists for housing vouchers are long and starter homes are snapped up almost immediately. So why aren’t developers building more affordable housing ? That was one of the main questions at a candidate education panel hosted by the Greater Charlotte Apartment Association on Friday, where about two dozen candidates for Charlotte City Council turned out to learn some of the basics on a complicated subject. “ Affordable housing is one of the topics you’ll talk about a lot,” Bryan Holladay, who supervises the group’s government affairs outreach , told the candidates. The subject is an alphabet soup of acronyms (like NOAH, or “ Naturally Occurring Affordable Housing ”) and overlapping terms and definitions. Sometimes when people say “ affordable housing ” they mean go
Read more