Around the corner, one sign on Casablanca Bridal & Tuxedo reads "Coming soon" while another says "Open." Women carrying beaded and chiffon dresses bustle through the door, while customers discuss orders with owner Martha Grogg. "Like everybody else in the neighborhood, we have big hopes about the transit village," said Jimmy Grogg, who has run the business with his wife for 24 years -- the past five just three blocks away on International Boulevard. "We hope it will help change the whole area."

The Groggs and Vazquez will be part of Oakland's first transit village. After more than a decade of planning and building, more than $100 million in public and private funding, and several months of last-minute delays, the project is nearly complete. A new branch library, senior center, La Clinica de La Raza health clinic and a child care center are open, about half the loft apartments are occupied, and many of the retail tenants are working hard to be ready for business in time for the grand opening celebration May 2.

The idea of a village next to the BART station came out of protests against plans for a new BART parking garage in 1992. It was ambitious, almost idealistic. Now it's bricks and mortar: Two large buildings, painted mustard, olive and sand colors, face each other across a welcoming plaza, filling in the once-forbidding area around the Fruitvale BART station.

A block away is a new senior housing complex. There is a new BART parking lot, but it's unobtrusive. And 34th Avenue has been transformed into a wide pedestrian walkway connecting the project to International Boulevard. The Fruitvale Village is now a model for urban, mixed-use redevelopment projects, and may even be unique in the nation. It combines community resources, retail and housing built smack-dab on a transportation hub with a dozen bus lines and BART.

"It's beautiful. I think what's beyond anything else is this is really transforming the community," said Arabella Martinez, executive director of the Unity Council and the driving force behind the project. "Ten years ago this was dirt and filth and security bars." Martinez, who will soon turn 67, has postponed retirement for several years to complete the project -- although she hopes to start raising money for the second phase before she steps down at the end of this year. That project will include about 200 units of housing, an organic public market, and some commercial space and parking on the parking lot between 35th and 37th avenues.

Long before it broke ground on the village, the Unity Council started helping businesses on International Boulevard spruce up their facades in preparation. The idea was ultimately to draw some of the thousands of commuters who pass through the BART station every day. "There's already been a significant reduction in vacancies on International," Martinez said. "That was one of the goals."

The other side of East 12th Street still needs some sprucing up, but that will come with time, Martinez said.

Years In The Making
The first major hurdle in the project was convincing BART to allow a nonprofit to build on its land. Then Martinez and the Unity Council spent years piecing together the financing for the project from local, state, federal and private sources -- more than 30 in all. Then there was the financing, mostly through Citibank.

"This couldn't have been done without champions, at the city, at BART, at the federal level," Martinez said.

One of those she cites is Councilmember Ignacio De La Fuente (Fruitvale-Glenview), for whom 34th Avenue has been given the honorary name Avenida De La Fuente.

"You have no idea the number of meetings and negotiating sessions this office had with BART at the beginning," De La Fuente said. "It was definitely a labor of love and I don't know what else."

De La Fuente helped channel the original $6.5 million in Clinton administration funds to the project, which got the ball rolling. During the years, the city has put up about $7.5 million for long-term leases on the senior center and library, plus a couple of million more in surrounding street and infrastructure improvements.

For now, the plaza is mostly empty during the day. But that may soon change.

"Sundays, in Mexico, people stroll with their families. Every town has a plaza and it's full," said Vasquez, of Jalisco II restaurant. "This looks just like that. People will feel very safe at night."

Vasquez's father started Jalisco Cafe 40 years ago on International Boulevard and 17th Street. Now that restaurant is open just three days, Fridays through Sundays, but attracts a following from as far away as Modesto for its carnitas.

Big Investment
Vasquez said he jumped at the chance for a prime location in the village. He is putting a substantial investment into the restaurant, which includes a full bar, outdoor seating and a small banquet room. He is also opening a taqueria next store. His brother will continue to run the original restaurant.

Vasquez is serving as the contractor on his own project, as well as on a new pharmacy on the corner of International and 34th that will specialize in Mexican remedies.

"This development is the best thing that's happened to Oakland in a long time," he said. "It's inspiring other people to clean up their buildings."

Steve Woolery, real estate director for the Fruitvale Development Corporation -- a subsidiary of the Unity Council -- said leases have been signed for 80 percent of the 38,000 square feet of retail space. Deals are in the works for about 15 percent more, so only about 5 percent is still available, he said.

He said he has turned away more than 120 prospective tenants because the developer preferred local businesses over national chains. Only a couple of franchises are moving in, including a Subway outlet.

"We could have leased the space three or four times over if we had taken the position of leasing to anybody who could fog a mirror," he said. "Starbucks wanted to be in here in the worst way, but we chose (a locally owned cafe) Beignet Coffeehouse."

Other tenants include a Curves gym, Citibank, an optometrist, Acapulco Records, a burger restaurant, a rotisserie chicken and seafood restaurant, and a small market. Woolery is negotiating with a frozen yogurt shop and sushi restaurant, among others, and hopes to attract one more large restaurant.

He Has Big Plans
"Can you imagine how nice it will be to park in BART's secure garage, have a drink or dinner before the game, and jump on BART to the Coliseum one stop away?" Woolery said. Leasing of the 46 loft apartments has been going slower than hoped. Prices were already dropped once, and while all 10 of the affordable units were filled immediately, only about a dozen of the market-rate apartments are occupied. Rent ranges from $1,233 for a 1 bedroom, 1.5 bathroom to $1,665 for the largest 2-bedroom.

Angie Gutierrez, an agent with the leasing company Boardwalk Investments, moved in herself.

"It's so nice and new, and very quiet," she said. "Once people move in, they are loving it."

Sheila Albanes hopes the quiet won't last. She has opened The Soap Garden -- the smallest, and probably most unique, shop in the plaza. She uses a Thai method to make fragrant, decorative flowers from soap. She also will sell cut flowers.

Until now, she has sold her crafts at fairs and markets, so this is her first business.

"The first week, I was really scared, because the plaza didn't even look open," she said. "But this week has been the best and I think it will get only get better. I like to see Oakland growing."

The Oakland Tribune: Cityside
Leanne McLaughlin, Managing Editor
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