A former single-resident occupancy hotel in Oakland that's being renovated by an upstart San Francisco real estate company could sport a literally luxe first floor bar and lounge. According to an East Bay Express writer, the first floor of the former Hotel Travelers, a low-income housing space, bears a sign indicating a business called, at least provisionally, Lux Pub + Club, is seeking a liquor license.
The Chronicle makes the connection between the first floor project and the hotel's renovation, although the exact relationship there isn't clear. But "Lux Pub" is listed as a "Tech, Bar and Lounge," whatever that means, and the T word alone are likely to trigger concerns about gentrification, which were already voiced after the real estate company moved in last year.
First floor of the old Hotel Travelers (was SRO low-income housing) in Oakland is set to become "Tech, Bar & Lounge," run by Lux, Inc. pic.twitter.com/Fb6dtCyZm6
— Darwin BondGraham (@DarwinBondGraha) March 28, 2017
Danny Haber and business partner Yaniv Lushinsky are the force behind the remodeling effort at the Hotel Travelers, and their track record in San Francisco may be cause for concern. Here, they created the Negev, a co-living community of dozens of tiny bedrooms. Aside from some residents' complaints about the Negev's conditions, the biggest issue was the way it came to be. CBS 5 reports that a group of former residents of the space, where a fire had cleared out an SRO, sued Haber for wrongful eviction, settling for $475,000. SFist left a message with Haber requesting comment.
The Chronicle wrote about Haber and Lushinsky's East Bay work under the headline "Firm transforms distressed Oakland buildings for well-off tenants," and according to the Negev's website, it already has two spaces in Oakland.
“We’ve taken dilapidated, burnt-out buildings — buildings that were firetraps,” Haber told the Chronicle. “We turn them into housing that is not quite affordable but still low-priced for people in the neighborhood.”
Related: SoMa Tech Co-Op The Negev Facing City Scrutiny For Sub-Par Living Situations