Prologis Proposes Warehouse in Oakland as Vacancy Rises

Prologis wants to raze a defunct ironworks foundry in East Oakland and build a 311,000-square-foot warehouse in a region with rising industrial vacancies.

The San Francisco-based real estate investment trust will go before the Oakland Planning Commission this month to discuss an environmental study for 7825 San Leandro Street, the San Francisco Business Times reported.

The development would include the warehouse, a 25,000-square-foot office and parking for trucks and employees. It would replace the AB&I Foundry, which closed last year.

Prologis acquired the property from Duke Realty in 2022 as part of its merger and acquisition deal for $23 billion.

The environmental and development applications are now under review. The scoping meeting with the commission is the first step in the approval process and it could take two to three years, Janet Galvez, vice president and investment officer in the Bay Area for Prologis, told the Business Times.

Industrial vacancy in Oakland was 6.6 percent in the second quarter, up from 4.9 percent in the prior period, according to CBRE.

AB&I Foundry had operated in Oakland since 1906, where it melted down recycled scrap metal to make cast iron pipes and fittings used in plumbing systems across the West.

The 14.9-acre site a few blocks east of the Oakland Coliseum was the subject of a 2022 lawsuit filed by an environmental group that alleged the foundry was in violation of Prop. 65, the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act.

The group accused the foundry of exposing East Oakland to unacceptable levels of hexavalent chromium, a carcinogen made famous in the 2000 movie “Erin Brockovich.”

California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced this year a $2.5 million settlement with AB&I Foundry and its parent company, McWane.

Prologis, in conjunction with the Alameda County Department of Environmental Health, in December bulldozed all the buildings at the property. The county’s Department of Environmental Health is now overseeing a subsurface investigation.

Duke Realty bought the foundry site in April 2022 for $53 million, a month after it filed plans to build a Class A warehouse, according to the Business Times.

Prologis bought rival Duke in June 2022 for $23 billion, including its 142 million-square-foot portfolio, plus 7 million square feet under development and 17 million square feet of developable land.

The industrial giant wants to use part of that acquired land to build a 430,000-square-foot warehouse at the site of the former Owens-Brockway glass recycling facility at 3600 Alameda Avenue, in Oakland.

In January, Prologis offered $24 million for the former Oakland Raiders headquarters and training facility in Alameda. The 16-acre property is owned by the City of Oakland and Alameda County at 1150-1220 Harbor Bay Parkway, on Bay Farm Island.

— Dana Bartholomew