By Donna Hemmila

The building project at 1100 Broadway adjacent to UCOP's Franklin Street headquarters is moving ahead with construction beginning in 12 months at the earliest.

"We're vigorously moving forward," said Paul Stein, a managing partner at SKS Investments, the San Francisco-based firm developing the project.

The Oakland Planning Commission approved the plans in April and, Stein said, additional construction details are being worked out.

A glass-walled, 20-story office tower is planned for the corner of Broadway and 12th Street. In addition to the new construction, the developer is refurbishing the adjacent Key System building, which will be connected to the new construction. Together the buildings will contain 310,000 square feet of offices and 10,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space.

"Inside the Key System building it would appear that they are the same building although the exteriors are very different," Stein said.

The Key System building, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, has been vacant since it was badly damaged in the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. The building façade will be restored and a roof garden added. Stein envisions the first floor of the ornate historic building as an ideal location for a "tablecloth restaurant."

No tenants have been signed for either the office or the retail spaces although Stein said the company is negotiating with several prospective occupants. Levi Strauss & Co. has requested a proposal, Stein said. The iconic San Francisco company is reportedly searching n the Bay Area for a 300,000-square-foot home to relocate its 1,000 employees.

Once the new buildings open for business, Stein said UCOP employees will still have access to Broadway but through the other building's lobby. Stein said his project's tenants will have access to the fifth floor roof garden of the Franklin building and will have the use of a floor in the public parking garage in the Franklin building.

The project will make use of sustainable building amenities such as solar panels and rain-water recycling systems. Stein said the project hopes to achieve LEED-Gold certification from the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design program of the U.S. Green Building Council.

The developer is hiring Oakland artist Rocky Baird to paint a mural commemorating the Key System on the fence surrounding the building lot.

Donna Hemmila is editor of Our University.