OAKLAND — A century-old downtown Oakland building once known as “radio central” has tumbled into a loan default, a financial setback that suggests the city’s real estate ailments have yet to run their course.
The office and retail building at 464 19th St. is in default on a $2.4 million loan that has become delinquent, documents filed on May 4 with the Alameda County Recorder’s Office show.
The building at the corner of 19th Street and Broadway in the Uptown district has a rich history, according to information posted by the Bay Area Radio Hall of Fame website.
Constructed in 1923 for Harvey Lyon, owner of Lyon Moving & Storage, the building’s design was crafted by Edward Foulkes, who was the architect for the landmark Tribune Tower, another historic Oakland building that’s in default.
From 1936 through 1964, Oakland radio station KROW and its successor KABL operated in the building.
Notable personalities such as Don Sherwood and Russ Coughlan worked for one of the radio stations that operated on the second floor, according to the radio website.
Comedian Phyllis Diller once was a copywriter for KROW before turning to stand-up comedy, a Radio Hall of Fame post shows.
Warren Malnick, described on his LinkedIn page as a developer, owns the building through an affiliate. The two-story building totals 11,800 square feet. Over the decades, the ground floor typically was devoted to a retail operation.
The loan default for the building extends wide-ranging financial setbacks that have descended on numerous office, apartment, and hotel buildings in downtown Oakland.
Slumping values, delinquent loans, bankruptcies and foreclosures still haunt numerous commercial properties.
The money woes might also morph into difficulties for an array of government agencies if the financial nosedive erodes property values and reduces revenue streams for cities and other local public entities.