RADIUS | ALAMEDA, CA

Paceline Investors owns several buildings in an office park in the Harbor Bay neighborhood of Alameda, California. The location is lovely but does not have many food options for employees of the office park. In order to entice potential tenants, Paceline hired Landscape Architect April Phillips of APDW and UrbanBloc to design and build a neighborhood food court and activity space.

Because it is in an office environment, it was important to offer all-day options from early morning coffee and breakfast service to lunchtime meals, happy hour drinks, and snacks. The containers had to be very efficiently laid out in order to meet evolving needs throughout the day.  In addition, an office space, employee and public bathrooms, and storage and janitorial space were required. The layout also had to take into account the windy location with the second-story container helping to act as a windbreak. The second-story container also provides a unique branding opportunity and houses all the mechanical equipment for the cookline in the container below. The result is an intimate space framed by five containers with an interior-protected courtyard for outdoor dining. The owners of local favorite Cafe Jolie in downtown Alameda established their second location — Cafe Jolie Petit — at the site and are now delighting the Harbor Bay neighborhood seven days a week with their signature doughnuts, coffee, salads, and sandwiches.