[peanut gallery]

Here's the Chronicle's take from Thursday, also confirming a Wednesday ground-breaking and including a render from another angle:

Ground broken for high-rise in Oakland
Christopher Heredia, Chronicle Staff Writer
Thursday, October 2, 2008

Oakland officials broke ground Wednesday on the city's first high-rise in six years, a 23-story office tower in the middle of downtown that is expected to create 1,000 jobs when it opens in two years.

Mayor Ron Dellums and officials from Shorenstein Co. and the Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. said the $240 million project, known as 601 City Center, will help boost the Bay Area economy, despite rising unemployment, high gas and food prices and a national credit crunch.

"We've always done well in Oakland, and we believe 601 City Center will do equally well," said Tom Hart, executive vice president of Shorenstein, noting that most of the company's current office space in Oakland is leased.

"This is a major undertaking for us," added Glenn Shannon, president of Shorenstein, "and it demonstrates our ongoing commitment to and confidence in Oakland."

As gas prices hover at $4 a gallon and city and county planners focus on developing jobs and housing near transit and the urban core, the new high-rise at 12th and Jefferson streets will encourage workers to get out of their cars and take rail to work, or live near the office, officials said.

The new high-rise will be adjacent to 555 City Center, a 21-story building completed in 2002 by Shorenstein, which is based in San Francisco.

Dellums called the project an example of smart planning and sustainable growth. Shorenstein and Metropolitan Life have committed to contributing $2 million from the project to the city's affordable housing fund.

"This has significance far beyond this particular moment," Dellums said. "I want to express my profound gratitude to Shorenstein and MetLife for their willingness and vision to bring this project to fruition at this moment, given the difficulty of the economics of this country. This is a magnificent statement with respect to the confidence that they have in the evolution of Oakland going forward."

Shorenstein officials said they will seek LEED gold certification from the U.S. Green Building Council for 601 City Center, which would make it one of the largest green office buildings in the East Bay. The high-rise will be built from mostly recycled steel.

Its double-paned, tinted glass facade will reduce demand on the building's cooling system, and it will have two roofs covered by native and drought-resistant plants that will help absorb heat and filter rain runoff.

"We welcome the office space," said Council President Ignacio De La Fuente, who attended Wednesday's groundbreaking. "We're not famous for tall buildings, but we're getting there."

Specs for new Oakland high-rise

601 City Center, at 12th and Jefferson streets, is the first high-rise to be built in Oakland since 2002. It is scheduled for completion in late 2010.

-- Stories: 23
-- Cost: $240 million
-- Office space: 597,000 square feet
-- Green construction: recycled steel; tinted, double-paned glass; roofs with heat-absorbing vegetation; water-saving fixtures