Oakland Property Owner Proposes AI Data Center in Uptown

Colin Behring, CEO of the business affiliate owning 415 Thomas L. Berkley Way, has proposed the installation of a data center and artificial intelligence complex on the first floor of a four-story office building in downtown Oakland. The proposed 20,700-square-foot tech hub would function as a supporting accessory to the general office spaces located on the upper three floors.

Behring is requesting a letter of determination from city planners to bypass the requirement for a conditional use permit. He argues that the project is a continuation of the site's established prior use, noting that the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory operated a supercomputing and data storage facility at the location from 2000 to 2015.

The proposal has met resistance from the Party for Socialism and Liberation, which has launched a petition to block the development. Organizers for the group cite the negative environmental and community impacts typically associated with data center operations.