Oakland real estate developer announces downtown data center plan

A real estate developer purchased a vacant building in Oakland and has announced that he intends to build a data center. That alone is enough to raise alarms these days, but the fact that he wants to do it in the middle of downtown has some people worried about the future.

The vacant four-story building at the corner of Franklin and 20th in Oakland is no stranger to technology. Before it closed, it housed a supercomputer for the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory with a 20-megawatt power capacity. And that was just what CEO Colin Behring was looking for.  

His company built a 38-story luxury apartment building on the same block, with the bottom two floors devoted to a high-tech workspace called "STAK." The idea is for tech workers to live and work in the same building.  In a statement to the San Francisco Financial Times, Behring said, "In an era where AI and high-performance computing are reshaping every industry, that legacy presents a strategic advantage as we expand the STAK Ventures ecosystem and deepen our ties to the venture and technology communities."

But it seems not everyone is eager to deepen those ties.

"I think if I saw 'AI' up there I would be scared, you know?" said Oakland resident Leslie Cologne, looking up at the building. "I think I've lived too long to understand the world in general! And this is one of those things that flags my lack of comprehension of most things happening in my midst."

For many, the whole idea of data centers and artificial intelligence has become a symbol for not caring about people. At least, that's how resident Dulama LeGrand sees it.

"A data center wouldn't help someone who has to sleep on the sidewalk," he said. "That'd just provide more money for people who already have money. So, it's not necessarily a technology problem.  It's more of a human problem. The way humans treat others." 

As San Francisco and San Jose focus on developing AI in the cyber world, the East Bay is being seen as a place where it can be put into practice. Behring's STAK model envisions Oakland as a place where robotics and autonomous vehicles can be developed and eventually manufactured. In fact, Amazon's Jeff Bezos recently leased space in a large industrial building in West Oakland to do the same thing for what it's calling Project Prometheus.  

But back out on 20th Street, a woman who called herself "America" said she would rather the property be put to a more humanitarian use.

"It's great for whoever is purchasing because it fits their mold.  But it does not take into consideration human life, livelihood," she said. "They're not telling the full story. And then it becomes, like, 'jokes on you!' When it goes up and you're like, 'whoa, whoa, whoa,' you're like, it's too late.  It's built."

Even though the purchase was announced back in December, the city of Oakland says it has received no proposals from the company. In a statement today, a spokesperson said, "Staff are currently developing frameworks for City leadership to support evaluation of new and growing industries, so that Oaklanders can best benefit from the opportunities they present, while balancing the greater needs of our business and resident communities."

The Behring Companies did not respond to CBS News Bay Area's request for comment on Wednesday.  But earlier, the company reported that 15 robotics companies toured the building in the first two weeks of marketing the space.