{"id":271166,"date":"2026-04-16T18:32:15","date_gmt":"2026-04-16T18:32:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/271166\/"},"modified":"2026-04-16T18:32:15","modified_gmt":"2026-04-16T18:32:15","slug":"oakland-hills-housing-plan-stokes-fears-of-fires-and-education-gaps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/271166\/","title":{"rendered":"Oakland hills housing plan stokes fears of fires and education gaps"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>OAKLAND \u2014 A proposal to build well over 100 homes in the Oakland hills at a shuttered university site has stoked fears of fires, along with concerns about an erosion of educational opportunities in the area.<\/p>\n<p>BH Properties has proposed the development of 165 single-family residences at the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mercurynews.com\/2023\/06\/13\/holy-names-university-oakland-school-economy-price-buy-real-estate\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Holy Names University<\/a> site in Oakland, according to preliminary plans on file with city officials.<\/p>\n<p>The proposal, however, has raised caution flags.<\/p>\n<p>Why? The development site is in a moderate high fire hazard zone and is directly adjacent to a severe high fire hazard zone, according to an official map posted by the state forestry and fire protection department (CAL Fire).<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat area is in a high-fire zone, and it is not zoned for housing,\u201d Oakland City Councilmember Carolyn Fife said in a recent interview with this news organization. \u201cIt would be very disappointing if the developer attempts to pursue housing there.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Kristen Caven, a resident of the area, also expressed concerns about plans by BH Properties to develop housing on the site.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAll the Oakland Hills communities have fire concerns,\u201d Caven said in an interview with this news organization.<\/p>\n<p>Yet housing is precisely what <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mercurynews.com\/2023\/06\/09\/oakland-holy-names-university-campus-real-estate-buy-school-build-hil\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Los Angeles-based BH Properties<\/a> envisions for the site. The housing development also contrasts sharply with what the real estate firm touted in 2023 when it paid $65 million for the property.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are excited to announce this long-term investment in the Oakland community,\u201d Jim Brooks, president of BH Properties, said in 2023 regarding the company\u2019s property deal. \u201cWe expect it to continue to be an asset to the community and its students for years to come.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Instead of an education hub, BH Properties intends to pursue low-density housing for the 58.6-acre campus, at 3500 Mountain Blvd. in the Oakland hills.<\/p>\n<p>Even though the company wants to develop housing on the site, BH Properties says that it still sees educational uses for the property.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDespite the changes in demand from potential educational users, our goal continues to be re-imagining the property as an educational campus,\u201d BH Properties states in comments the real estate firm\u2019s representative emailed to this news organization. \u201cWe will continue to encourage and consider all educational inquiries for the foreseeable future.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It also noted, however, that an education hub could take a significant amount of time to develop.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRecognizing the time required to evaluate alternative uses, the recent filing of plans for a potential residential use, as one consideration, would provide greater end-user opportunities and would help satisfy the East Bay\u2019s ongoing need for housing at all levels,\u201d the company stated.<\/p>\n<p>BH Properties is using provisions of SB 330 to seek a streamlined review process from Oakland city planners, the development proposal shows.<\/p>\n<p>The project would bulldoze 14 structures on the Holy Names University site.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe existing chapel, bell tower, and performing arts center are to be preserved and incorporated into the new community proposed by the project,\u201d BH Properties stated in its proposal.<\/p>\n<p>The proposal\u2019s lack of specific plans for educational uses has also raised concerns in Oakland.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSome sort of educational use is needed there,\u201d Councilmember Fife said. \u201cI know there was talk about some sort of film education center.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Oakland officials point to the merger in 2022 of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mercurynews.com\/2021\/03\/17\/covid-19-casualty-mills-college-announces-end-as-four-year-school-in-2023\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Mills College into Northeastern University<\/a> as another example of a loss of higher-education opportunities in the East Bay\u2019s largest city. The deal rescued Mills College but ended its historic role as an all-women\u2019s school.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m very concerned about the loss of education in Oakland,\u201d Caven said. \u201cThis was a real arts and cultural community, and now our liberal arts colleges are gone.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Caven said community members had continued to hope that Holy Names University would continue as an education hub.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m very disappointed that the land developers and real estate people always seem to get their way now,\u201d Caven said.<\/p>\n<p>Some wonder whether Oakland is becoming a kind of education desert with a dearth of four-year colleges within its city limits.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI just want to continue to help Oakland and East Bay students,\u201d Fife said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"OAKLAND \u2014 A proposal to build well over 100 homes in the Oakland hills at a shuttered university&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":271167,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[389,184,387,7,9502,8,409,1335,332,99545,383,643,2306,1011,1337,1533,181,100,143,145,1904,144,33494,13,388,94685,535],"class_list":{"0":"post-271166","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-oakland","8":"tag-alameda-county","9":"tag-bay-area","10":"tag-business","11":"tag-california","12":"tag-california-fires","13":"tag-california-news","14":"tag-city-politics","15":"tag-development","16":"tag-east-bay","17":"tag-east-bay-fires","18":"tag-economy","19":"tag-environment","20":"tag-higher-education","21":"tag-housing","22":"tag-housing-development","23":"tag-keywee","24":"tag-latest-headlines","25":"tag-news","26":"tag-oakland","27":"tag-oakland-headlines","28":"tag-oakland-hills","29":"tag-oakland-news","30":"tag-oakland-real-estate","31":"tag-politics","32":"tag-real-estate","33":"tag-social-alert","34":"tag-wildfires"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/271166","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=271166"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/271166\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/271167"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=271166"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=271166"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=271166"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}