{"id":142319,"date":"2026-01-21T00:28:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-21T00:28:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/142319\/"},"modified":"2026-01-21T00:28:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-21T00:28:08","slug":"landlord-attempts-evictions-after-fire-at-downtown-oakland-building","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/142319\/","title":{"rendered":"Landlord attempts evictions after fire at downtown Oakland building"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dozens of renters displaced by a monstrous blaze<\/a> in their downtown building Monday quickly received a letter from their landlord announcing their leases had been \u201cterminated.\u201d<\/p>\n

The renters could make an escorted trip to their scorched apartments to retrieve their belongings and return their keys, receiving a refund on their security deposits, said the letter. It came from Commonwealth Management, a company registered to prominent Oakland landlord Ted Dang, who\u2019s owned the building at 1770 Broadway for decades.<\/p>\n

But lawyers who provide legal assistance to renters under a contract with the city say the letter is \u201cinvalid.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cA fire is not a legitimate event that terminates a lease or gives the landlord the ability to terminate the lease,\u201d said David Hall, managing attorney at Centro Legal de la Raza<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Depending on the cause of the fire or other findings, the landlord may be required by city law to cover temporary relocation costs for the residents and guarantee them the right to return once repairs are complete, Hall said.<\/p>\n

Centro Legal and the city of Oakland are advising residents to refrain from signing any legal documents before speaking with an attorney.<\/p>\n

Dang and Commonwealth Management did not respond to multiple requests for interviews.<\/p>\n

When the three-alarm fire broke out just after 7 a.m. Monday, more than 60 firefighters rushed to the scene to extinguish the blaze and evacuate tenants from over 40 apartments. The fire was out by 8:40 a.m., and the Oakland Fire Department red-tagged the property.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Three residents were sent to the hospital for smoke inhalation injuries and have since been released, said OFD spokesperson Michael Hunt. A firefighter also suffered a minor injury from heat exposure.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The ground floor of the property has a few local businesses, including Stanley Petey Cox\u2019s \u2014 better known as Mistah F.A.B\u2019s \u2014 Dope Era<\/a> shop. The storefronts were boarded up Tuesday morning.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In a video he posted online<\/a>, Cox said he\u2019s staying hopeful despite the destruction of a cherished community store he\u2019s built over eight years.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not letting none of that make me become discouraged, become hateful,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m yearning to see what tomorrow brings.\u201d The fire occurred on the first day of a series of comedy, music, and other events he\u2019s hosting, called FAB Week<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The city administration, mayor\u2019s office, and Red Cross have responded to the fire and its impacts with \u201curgency,\u201d said Hunt. \u201cNobody wants to see a population of people who are reliant on affordable housing be displaced for a long time.\u201d<\/p>\n

While the property isn\u2019t subsidized affordable housing, it\u2019s an older rent-controlled building where many tenants are paying below-market rates or have Section 8 vouchers.<\/p>\n

The city has established a temporary shelter at the Willie Keyes Recreation Center at 3131 Union St. for displaced residents. The shelter, where 17 people are currently staying, will be staffed around the clock and open \u201cuntil further notice,\u201d the city said in a press release<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to keep working with our community partners to make sure these residents are not left behind,\u201d Mayor Barbara Lee said in a statement.<\/p>\n

Some tenants<\/a> and supporters have begun launching fundraisers for impacted residents \u2014 including several tenants who are employees of sister restaurants Jaji and Parche<\/a> near the building.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI barely escaped with my life, but I lost everything I owned in the flames,\u201d wrote tenant Saron Hanson on their fundraiser. \u201cNow, I am left without a place to call home and am facing the overwhelming challenge of starting over from scratch.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to the tenant and news reports<\/a>, the blaze may have been ignited by a resident charging a car battery that exploded. In 2024, city records show, someone submitted a complaint about a \u201cscooter and bike chop shop\u201d run on the property, where lithium batteries were charged.<\/p>\n

However, the fire department has not yet determined the cause of Monday\u2019s flames. Inspectors are still \u201cpeeling back debris,\u201d speaking with tenants, and examining the units, Hunt said.<\/p>\n

A history of fires at 1770 Broadway
\n\"IMG_3721\"\/Mistah F.A.B.\u2019s Dope Era shop on the ground floor of 1770 Broadway was also affected by the fire. Credit: Darwin BondGraham\/The Oaklandside<\/p>\n

Just under two years ago, another fire broke out at the five-story building at Broadway and 19th Street. But that incident was confined to just one unit, according to Hunt, and resulted in OFD placing the property on fire watch for only four days.<\/p>\n

A subsequent investigation turned up other compliance issues, though, and the city issued the owner a notice of violation.<\/p>\n

Those issues were resolved by the time the city re-inspected the property in October 2024, said Hunt, and another investigation of the building in September 2025, prompted by a habitability complaint, found no violations.<\/p>\n

Historical newspaper records reveal that another fire in the building injured eight tenants in 1993. Dang already owned the property at the time. That fire was caused by \u201celectrical overload,\u201d according to a 1994 San Francisco Chronicle story<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The year after that fire, Dang ran for mayor<\/a> of Oakland, finishing second to Elihu Harris.<\/p>\n

Dang, an Oakland Chinatown native, was one of the founders of East Bay Asian Local Development Corporation<\/a>, or EBALDC, one of Oakland\u2019s most significant nonprofit affordable housing developers.<\/p>\n

Dang served on the organization\u2019s board through at least 2024, and received a \u201clifetime achievement award\u201d at EBALDC\u2019s 50th anniversary celebration<\/a> in the fall.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In an interview with the organization<\/a>, Dang said EBALDC grew out of a feeling that he and his co-founders had of \u201dan obligation to give back to our community.\u201d They were educated and entered the workforce during a time of social upheaval and civil rights organizing, including among Asian Americans in Oakland.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But in at least a few instances, Dang\u2019s development and rental businesses have run into \u201ccontroversy over legal or political questions,\u201d noted the 1994 Chronicle article.<\/p>\n

After restoring his Broadway property following the 1993 fire, Dang told a reporter he intended to keep some of the units vacant, because he was choosy about whom to rent to.<\/p>\n

\u201cI will not accept welfare tenants, or people who are not working, or people who have some other problems,\u201d he said at the time. \u201cI\u2019d rather leave them vacant. I\u2019ve been that route\u2026we end up evicting them.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Court records show Dang has been a party to numerous lawsuits in Alameda County over the past several decades, sometimes as the plaintiff and sometimes as a defendant.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Dang owns 1770 Broadway through a company called 19th & Broadway Associates, incorporated in 1984.<\/p>\n

He and his family own at least 16 other properties in the Bay Area, many around downtown Oakland, Chinatown, and Adam\u2019s Point, according to public records and a San Francisco Chronicle database<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n

Hall, the attorney from Centro Legal, said several tenants he spoke with \u2014 some of whom have children and some of whom are elderly \u2014 are eager to move back to the centrally located building, and were distressed to receive the letter notifying them their leases were terminated.<\/p>\n

The incident is the largest single instance of displacement in the city since the New Year\u2019s 2023 flood at the Coliseum Connections<\/a> property in East Oakland. Residents there were unable to return home for months.<\/p>\n

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