OAKLAND \u2014 A mixed-use 11-story historic tower in downtown Oakland was bought at a relatively hefty discount more than a year after it was foreclosed due to a failed real estate loan.<\/p>\n
Bay Area real estate investor Edward Hemmat, through an affiliate, purchased The Leamington at 1814 Franklin St.<\/a> for $14.4 million, 58.3% less than its prior value, according to documents filed on March 2 with the Alameda County Recorder\u2019s Office.<\/p>\n Hemmat has invested in other Oakland properties, including a $2.2 million purchase in 2023 of the Palace Theater<\/a> at 1445 23rd Ave. in the San Antonio neighborhood. Bay Area Technology School<\/a> is operating at the site.<\/p>\n The Leamington was taken back by lender CIT Bank in January 2025 through a deed in lieu of foreclosure. A subsidiary of the bank valued the tower at $34.5 million at the time of the foreclosure, county documents show.<\/p>\n Famed aviator Amelia Earhart once occupied an office in The Leamington as she planned what turned out to be her final and fatal journey, according to multiple sources.<\/p>\n While the tower at the corner of Franklin Street and 19th Street now consists of offices and ground-floor retail spaces, it was originally a hotel and quickly became a notable downtown landmark.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Leamington Hotel was considered an architectural masterpiece when it opened its doors to traveling business executives in 1926,\u201d stated a post on the Local Wiki website. \u201cThe luxurious Spanish-style hotel was designed by architect W. H. Weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n In 1987, the tower was designated an Oakland landmark.<\/p>\n \u201cOpulent social gatherings for wealthy Oakland residents were among the frequent events conducted at the Leamington,\u201d Local Wiki stated.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"OAKLAND \u2014 A mixed-use 11-story historic tower in downtown Oakland was bought at a relatively hefty discount more…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":206090,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[389,184,387,7,8,3010,1335,8520,332,383,1533,181,95189,100,143,145,144,33494,3012,388],"class_list":["post-206089","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-oakland","tag-alameda-county","tag-bay-area","tag-business","tag-california","tag-california-news","tag-commercial-real-estate","tag-development","tag-downtown-oakland","tag-east-bay","tag-economy","tag-keywee","tag-latest-headlines","tag-matters-historical","tag-news","tag-oakland","tag-oakland-headlines","tag-oakland-news","tag-oakland-real-estate","tag-office-buildings","tag-real-estate"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206089","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=206089"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206089\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/206090"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=206089"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=206089"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=206089"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}