Commercial Real Estate
June 2019

Crave BBQ chef opens Grammie’s Down-Home Chicken & Seafood in Oakland

From Berkeleyside
Last year, the local food media was buzzing when news emerged that Rashad Armstead, the chef behind Oakland pop-up Crave BBQ, was opening a brick-and-mortar restaurant at the historic California Hotel in West Oakland. It was to be a permanent place for Armstead to serve his smoked meats and Southern-style sides that first got attention from his pop-ups at the Ashby flea market in Berkeley and at a gas station parking lot in West Oakland. But Armstead was also excited to partner with the hotel’s owner, non-profit East Bay Asian Local Development Corporation... View article
Media
November 2018

Crave BBQ to Open in West Oakland’s California Hotel

From Oakland Magazine
In partnership with the East Bay Asian Local Development Corporation (EBALDC), Bay Area native chef Rashad Armstead announced today that he will move his restaurant, Crave BBQ, to the historic California Hotel and into the newly established California Hotel Live! Visual and Performing Arts Cultural Hub — a community gathering place outfitted for locals to be entertained, meet, and eat, located in West Oakland’s San Pablo Avenue Corridor neighborhood. “We are so pleased that Crave BBQ has found a home in West Oakland where Rashad and his family have such deep roots,” said EBALDC director... View article
Media
November 2018

A Black Cultural Corridor Takes Shape on Oakland’s San Pablo Avenue

From KQED
On a recent Sunday, in the parking lot behind the California Hotel on Oakland’s San Pablo Avenue, the Harvest Festival is bustling. Parents line up for plates of barbecue; kids decorate pumpkins in the pumpkin patch; and neighbors of all ages hang out while a DJ spins funk, soul and old school R&B. The scene is just one example of how longtime, mostly African-American West Oakland residents are revitalizing a formerly blighted stretch of San Pablo Avenue with the help of East Bay Asian Local Development Corporation (EBALDC), one of Oakland’s largest affordable... View article
Media
October 2018

Oakland’s Historic California Hotel Will Soon Become a Barbeque Destination

From Eater San Francisco
West Oakland’s historic California Hotel is in the midst of a major revitalization project, and with it will come a new destination for barbecue. The space’s central, 1,800-square-foot restaurant will be Crave BBQ, which got its start in 2017 as a pop-up. Rashad Armstead grew a following for his slowly smoked meats and classic sides out of an old gas station in West Oakland — best known now as a common pop-up location for Horn Barbecue — but stopped after less than a year to start looking for a permanent brick-and-mortar. Prior to Crave, Armstead ran a private... View article
Media
October 2018

Investing in West Oakland

From East Bay Express
Community Foods Market, slated for a December opening (formerly called the People’s Community Market), is making a final push for public investors before the grocery store opens in West Oakland, long considered a food desert, and where there hasn’t been a full-service grocery store for more than 40 years. The project was one of the first in California to offer this counter-model to IPOs. Community shareholders, who are California residents and mostly small-scale investors, can buy in for a minimum of $1,000. West Oakland residents who qualify can receive financial assistance... View article
Media
June 2017

New podcast episode from the Federal Reserve highlights connection between health and economic opportunity

From Build Healthy Places Network
Did you know that each of the 12 regional Federal Reserve Banks has a community development function? The Community Development departments of the Federal Reserve System conduct outreach and research on issues facing low- and moderate-income households. Like many organizations across the country over the last few years, they understand the importance of looking at community and economic development through a health lens. “Health is a bigger concept than medical care,” according to David Erickson, community development officer at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. “It’s the sum record of... View article