Dilapidated SRO building in Oakland to get renewed as low-income housing

A federal bankruptcy court has authorized an affordable-housing housing developer to buy one of Oakland’s most infamous blighted properties, a dilapidated hotel in Chinatown that was red-tagged last year for code violations and a contaminated water supply.

“It’s been a public nuisance for a long time, and we could really turn it into an asset for the neighborhood,” said Carolyn Bookhart, who heads the housing team at Resources for Community Development, the Berkeley-based nonprofit that has signed an option agreement to purchase the former Empyrean Towers Hotel at 13th and Webster Streets for $4.5 million.

The lawsuit accused Tse of neglecting badly-needed plumbing and electrical maintenance, and called for a court receiver to take over the property.

A month after Parker filed the suit, city officials temporarily evacuated the Empyrean after finding that its water supply was contaminated.

After years of neglect, the building’s elevator doesn’t work, it needs a new boiler, and its electrical, plumbing, and heating systems have all decayed.

Carl Chan, a board member of the Oakland Chinatown Chamber of Commerce, said the prospect of dozens of new affordable housing units could be a boon to the neighborhood, which is wedged between Oakland’s downtown core and Lake Merritt.