Not Your Everyday Commercial Landlord: Support EBALDC’s Restaurants and Retail Businesses this Holiday Season

December 2022

EBALDC is the largest nonprofit owner of commercial properties in the East Bay, owning and managing over 300,000 square feet of spaces that are home to over 100 small businesses and nonprofits at 14 properties across eight neighborhoods in Oakland and Emeryville. Led by May Mui, Associate Director of Commercial Real Estate, EBALDC actively recruits businesses who are deeply engaged in their community and who meet the needs and desires of local residents. We thoughtfully and intentionally contribute to the economic self-sufficiency of women, immigrant and business owners of color which in turn drives equitable economic development in their neighborhoods. We want to see them thrive.

Comments May: “We have an open-door policy at EBALDC where our commercial tenants can come and talk with us. We see their success as our success, so if they need assistance, we are available to talk and come up with solutions.”

_{(l-r) Katrina Watts-McFarland (EBALDC Commercial Property Administrator), Lila Owens (Owner, Cupcakin’), May Mui (EBALDC Associate Director of Commercial Real Estate)}

For May, neighborhood-level economic health is personal. Since childhood, May has known first-hand EBALDC’s commitment to developing neighborhoods where everyone can prosper and lead a healthy life. She and her family were among the first residents to move into EBALDC’s Frank G. Mar Apartments in Oakland’s Chinatown. She has also had a successful career working at EBALDC for the past 24 years. “Helping the tenant and seeing them become successful to where they are able to start a business and then expand it is very fulfilling,” she says. “I share my experience with them and help them through startup, leasing, and construction.”

EBALDC’S small business tenants are 16% women and 46% Black, indigenous, or people of color (BIPOC). Even before the COVID-19 crisis, preservation of our small businesses was essential to ensuring that Oakland’s low-income and BIPOC residents could access goods and services within their communities that have often faced structural inequities.

May outlined some of the support EBALDC offers its commercial tenants on a regular basis, “Aside from mentoring our commercial tenants to be successful as they develop and then open their business, we provide what might be considered social services. If a situation arises, we respond to their needs and together we figure out how we are going to resolve it.”

During the pandemic, EBALDC started the Covid Commercial Tenant Resiliency Program (CCTRP) with support from JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo Bank, partnering with numerous nonprofits and other small businesses, as well as the City of Oakland.

Says May, “Initially, we provided direct grants to our commercial tenants coupled with in-depth technical assistance to help them navigate extremely challenging times. We also provided referrals for additional grants to help our commercial tenants during the pandemic. We helped them follow up, checking in with them to make sure they got through the grant process so they could receive as much funding as possible to help them stay in business.” Continuing, she says, “In addition to grants, we also provided services and connected them to trusted consultants: website design, strategic planning, and consulting on business plans. We also provided lease renegotiations and payment deferrals given our role as a non-traditional commercial landlord that wants to see our businesses thrive.”

To date, 85% of EBALDC’s small businesses are still in operation. Most recently, Sweetheart Café in Oakland Chinatown, received a $50,000 grant from National ACE; in addition, La Guerrera’s and The Cook and Her Farmer, both in Swan’s Market, each received $10,000 from Comcast.

With each success, we know more work needs to be done to support our small businesses in the face of the ongoing pandemic, a growing housing crisis, and rising inflation. As Lena Swan, owner of All About the DOGue Salon & Spa in Emeryville, recently noted, “As a Black small business owner, I value EBALDC being intentional landlords that support us.”

Join EBALDC in supporting Healthy Neighborhoods by frequenting our restaurants and retail businesses this holiday season and beyond: