OAKLAND CITY OFFICIALS among others have broken ground on a new community center for Mosswood Park as well as park improvements.
Roughly 100 people attended the groundbreaking on Aug. 24 in one of Oakland’s oldest parks at the corner of Broadway and West MacArthur Boulevard, next to Kaiser Permanente’s Oakland Medical Center.
“It was a pretty good show” in terms of attendance, said Christine Reed, the manager of the project for the city of Oakland.
Besides city officials, at least some members of the Mosswood Park Recreational Advisory Council were present.
The project includes a new two-story community center and improvements to 4 acres of the 11-acre park. The improvements will occur in the park’s southern quadrant, Reed said.
The community center will have a social hall with a dance floor, commercial kitchen and dedicated inclusion classroom for people with social, emotional and other challenges, such as autism.
The center will also have a computer lab and makerspace where after school classes can be held. It’s also a place for kids attending summer camp.
Reed said the new center and improvements are expected to be completed in the spring of 2025 with an expected cost of $20.8 million.
Oakland received two grants to help pay for the improvements and new center. The city received a $3.5 million grant from Kaiser Permanente and a $2.2 million grant from the California Natural Resources Agency.
Other major sources of funding are coming from 2016’s Measure KK and 2022’s Measure U.
Construction may delay park events, especially in the later stages of the project, Reed said. But the city will try to minimize those interruptions.