oWow Lops 19 Floors Off Planned Mass Timber Tower in Oakland

oWow wants to hack 19 stories off the height of a proposed apartment tower in Downtown Oakland, slashing two thirds off the project after a pandemic glut of multifamily development.

The Oakland-based developer filed revised plans to build a nine-story, 245-unit affordable building at 1523 Harrison Street, the San Francisco Business Times reported.

A previous proposal called for a 496-unit, 28-story highrise.The building, revised twice to make it larger through density bonuses, would have been the tallest mass-timber building in the nation.

Now, instead of “Oh Wow!,” it’s “Meh.”

The firm, led by a nearly sleepless Danny Haber, had said more height makes for more apartments ,which adds to better financial feasibility. But what goes up, can come down.

Plans now call for 243 affordable apartments for low-income households, plus two market-rate units, presumably for managers. Previous plans called for a majority of market-rate units.

The smaller building would contain studio and one-bedroom apartments above a ground-floor and basement parking garage.

It’s not clear what prompted oWow to shrink the building, or shift it to affordable housing. The company declined to comment to the Business Times.

The company plans to obtain financing through tax exempt bonds, tax credits and private funds.

Last month, oWow was sued by a supplier and notified of a pending lawsuit by another alleging they weren’t paid for materials during the construction of a 236-unit, 19-story apartment highrise at 1510 Webster Street, in Downtown Oakland.

The building was among the few residential developments to break ground in the East Bay city since the pandemic. Oakland’s multifamily pipeline has remained slow after an unprecedented surge in supply between 2015 and 2022, when about 10,000 units came on the market.

Danny Haber, CEO of oWow, told the Business Times that both liens, and subsequent legal action, were the result of its subcontractors not paying their respective suppliers. The subcontractors didn’t respond to a request for comment.

As of Jan. 24, oWow still has an unpaid property tax bill of $423,447, and another totaling $384,952 coming due in February, according to the Business Times, citing county tax records.

— Dana Bartholomew