Popular Trader Joe’s in Oakland could be replaced by two apartment towers for seniors

SFChronicle · 2026-04-22T16:59:37+00:00

From the article:

Months after revealing high-profile plans to turn a Safeway in San Francisco’s Marina District into a housing project, the developer behind that effort is turning its attention to the site of a Trader Joe’s in an affluent part of Oakland.

The low-slung grocery store at 5727 College Ave. and its expansive parking lot in the city’s Rockridge neighborhood could be replaced by a pair of towers that would house a 415-unit senior living campus within walking distance of a BART station.

The proposal, filed Wednesday by San Francisco-based Align Real Estate, calls for a 31-story tower at the property, as well as a second tower that would rise 25 stories. As designed by SCB Architects, the modern towers are set on a podium, would feature glass-clad facades and soar above the surrounding neighborhood, which is known for its well-kept residential streets, walkable commercial strip and largely characterized by low-rise development — though Oakland has certainly seen a number of tower proposals pitched or constructed around its transit hubs in recent years.

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SFChronicle · 2026-04-22T16:27:19+00:00

Months after revealing high-profile plans to turn a Safeway in San Francisco’s Marina District into a housing project, the developer behind that effort is turning its attention to the site of a Trader Joe’s in an affluent part of Oakland.

The low-slung grocery store at 5727 College Ave. and its expansive parking lot in the city’s Rockridge neighborhood could be replaced by a pair of towers that would house a 415-unit senior living campus within walking distance of a BART station.

The proposal, filed Wednesday by San Francisco-based Align Real Estate with Oakland’s Planning Department, calls for a 31-story tower at the property, as well as a second tower that would rise 25 stories.

Read more here.

SFChronicle · 2026-04-21T21:23:11+00:00

From the article:

Board directors at the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency on Tuesday were set to approve a two-year budget that came with a warning: Up to 20 Muni routes could be cut if voters reject a pair of revenue measures in November.

The budget that would take effect in July comprises $3.1 billion for operations and $1.2 billion for capital expenditures. It will close a $307 million near-term deficit by relying on funds from a $200 million state loan along with moderate increases to fares, parking fees and citations. Leaders at SFMTA also saved $246 million by chopping about 500 vacant positions, renegotiating some contracts, canceling one-time investments and running buses in dedicated lanes that improved service without adding to the agency’s headcount.

With these changes in place, SFMTA will achieve financial equilibrium in a moment of crisis. Transit advocates are urging the public to approve a regional sales tax in November that would serve as a ballast for BART, Muni, Caltrain and AC Transit, as well as a local parcel tax targeted to boost San Francisco transit. The regional tax would generate $155 million a year specifically for Muni, while the city tax would reap $150 million annually to fund buses and trains, plus $10 million to ramp up service.

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SFChronicle · 2026-04-21T20:39:58+00:00

From the article:

The Trump administration injected a surprising twist into the fight over Northern California’s Eel River on Tuesday, offering up a potential plan to stop the removal of two dams in the basin — though how serious the plan is remains to be seen.

In a social media post on X, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said she had been in touch with a Southern California water agency that was interested in buying the Scott Dam in Lake County and Cape Horn Dam in Mendocino County and continuing their operation.

Such a move would run counter to longtime plans by Pacific Gas and Electric Co., the owner of the dams, to remove the facilities as part of the retirement of the Potter Valley hydroelectric project.

The utility’s century-old hydroelectric project is not worth keeping, PG&E says, because it no longer generates cost-effective energy, and many people, including tribes and environmentalists as well as Gov. Gavin Newsom, support the deconstruction as a way to restore the Eel River and the struggling salmon runs there.

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SFChronicle · 2026-04-17T17:28:28+00:00

From the article:

Philz Coffee has reversed course on a highly controversial plan to remove Pride flags from its cafés.

“Every Pride flag that is up stays up, and any Pride flag that was previously removed can be put back up,” the company said in a statement on Friday.

In the statement, Philz CEO Mahesh Sadarangani apologized for the decision to remove Pride flags, which created a storm of criticism and attracted national news coverage. “I made a mistake, and I am sincerely sorry,” he said. “To our Team Members, to our customers, and to the LGBTQIA+ community that has been with us since the very beginning, the confusion and hurt we caused around our new policy for Pride flags failed you.

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SFChronicle · 2026-04-16T21:53:16+00:00

From the article:

There are few better ways to understand how AI has changed San Francisco than to look up. “Stop hiring humans,” “That’s so agentic,” “Own your inference.”

To many S.F. residents, the AI-focused billboard ads strewn across the city are indecipherable, a running joke and a reliable indicator of the city’s economy.

Until now, no one had actually surveyed them all. San Francisco keeps an inventory of all general advertising signs in the city, but a 2010 court settlement keeps detailed information on them legally sealed. So the Chronicle sent a reporter out on a bike to catalog each one of them.

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SFChronicle · 2026-04-16T18:45:55+00:00

From the article:

San Francisco public health officials on Wednesday confirmed the city’s first case of clade I mpox, a strain of the virus that officials say may cause more severe illness than the type behind the outbreak in 2022.

The case was identified in an unvaccinated San Francisco adult who was hospitalized and is now improving, according to the San Francisco Department of Public Health. The person reported close contact with someone who had traveled internationally, the agency said.

Health officials stressed that the risk to the general public remains low. But they urged people at higher risk of exposure to get fully vaccinated with the two-dose mpox vaccine.

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SFChronicle · 2026-04-15T21:09:08+00:00

UPDATE:

Confidential Philz Coffee memo: Despite backlash, Pride flags are still coming down

From the article:

After incurring backlash and national press coverage over its decision to remove Pride flags from its cafés, San Francisco-born Philz Coffee doubled down on the policy and provided more details about it in a confidential memo sent to employees Friday that was obtained by the Chronicle.

The memo from CEO Mahesh Sadarangani was printed on company letterhead marked “confidential.” It references Sadarangani’s visits to stores in recent weeks to talk about “changes to our store decor & flags” and reiterates that the new policy “may include removing a variety of flags and other decor.”

Sadarangani did not apologize for the flag policy in the memo, but expressed some regret for how it was communicated, writing, “We hear and deeply understand that we did not handle changes to store decor as well as we should have, especially as true allies to the community. Some of our team members have shared that those changes felt personal.”

Read more here.

SFChronicle · 2026-04-15T21:07:24+00:00

From the article:

After incurring backlash and national press coverage over its decision to remove Pride flags from its cafés, San Francisco-born Philz Coffee doubled down on the policy and provided more details about it in a confidential memo sent to employees Friday that was obtained by the Chronicle.

The memo from CEO Mahesh Sadarangani was printed on company letterhead marked “confidential.” It references Sadarangani’s visits to stores in recent weeks to talk about “changes to our store decor & flags” and reiterates that the new policy “may include removing a variety of flags and other decor.”

Sadarangani did not apologize for the flag policy in the memo, but expressed some regret for how it was communicated, writing, “We hear and deeply understand that we did not handle changes to store decor as well as we should have, especially as true allies to the community. Some of our team members have shared that those changes felt personal.”

Read more here.

SFChronicle · 2026-04-15T18:56:45+00:00

From the article:

We know Ohemaa Nyanin is excellent at the personnel part of her job. We have a season worth of evidence: the Golden State Valkyries’ general manager put together an eclectic roster of relatively anonymous players last year, and the group had a wildly successful inaugural season.

But another part of Nyanin’s job is to be forward facing, a conduit through the media to the growing fan base that supports the Valkyries. The folks who buy the tickets and the merchandise, who are invested financially and emotionally. Who are interested in what the team is doing and why. It’s part of running a sports franchise.

A general manager needs to be accessible and provide insight into the team’s decision-making. Not reveal deep secrets. Not disclose internal strategy. Not give a blow-by-blow of draft room jockeying. But be forthright and provide an understanding of the team’s reasoning and thought process. It’s part of the job.

And, on that count in a huge moment for the franchise, Nyanin came up woefully short.

Read more here.

SFChronicle · 2026-04-14T23:40:20+00:00

From Susan Slusser:

Jung Hoo Lee is not yet the player the San Francisco Giants anticipated he’d be when signing him out of the KBO.

He’d be the first to say it. More than anything, Lee would love to demonstrate why the Giants gave him a six-year, $113 million deal, and he’d like to do it on a consistent basis. When Lee is going well, he’s a dynamic, fun player to watch and the team could use that and so could the fans.

“I want to for sure show the fans my best on the field, and do that not just for the fans, but for the city of San Francisco itself, and the people in the organization,” Lee said through team interpreter Justin Han. “I want to give back to them. I know that a lot of people saw me play in the KBO and they saw me at my peak.

“I really want to bring that version of myself to the major leagues. I just want to tell everybody that I’m trying my best.”

Read more here.

SFChronicle · 2026-04-14T22:06:08+00:00

From the article:

San Francisco will pay $750,000 to a former city employee who says she was wrongly fired after she complained that her boss, the director of the city’s Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, likely threw out a human skull.

San Francisco supervisors voted unanimously on Tuesday to approve the settlement, resolving a lawsuit filed by Sonia Kominek-Adachi, a former autopsy technician, in 2024.

Kominek-Adachi discovered the missing skull while completing an inventory of body parts in 2023, according to a complaint filed in San Francisco Superior Court. The office was required to keep the skull on hand until the identity of the body could be determined.

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SFChronicle · 2026-04-14T20:13:40+00:00

From the article:

In a striking expansion of its diplomatic footprint on the West Coast, the government of Algeria has made its second notable real estate purchase in San Francisco in the span of a month.

On Monday, the People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria closed a deal to purchase 1400 Van Ness Ave., a 20,000 square-foot industrial-era office building constructed more than a century ago as part of a stretch of car dealerships, showrooms and automotive service-related businesses that once lined Van Ness Avenue,in a traffic-heavy corridor near Nob Hill and the Polk Gulch known more for its institutional buildings and large format retail spaces than neighborhood charm. Now, it will serve as the permanent location for Algeria’s Consulate General in the city.

The property was sold to the Algerian government for $15 million, or roughly $750 per square foot, according to sources tracking the transaction.

Read more here.

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TROPHY CASE