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Contact: Sarah Filley, Cofounder Popuphood, (510) 761-6163 (510) 375-7705 sarah@popuphood.com www.popuphood.com

Latham Square Grand Opening

A New Pop-Up Plaza in Oakland Offers Public Space and Enterprise Zone Oakland, CA, September 24, 2013 The City of Oakland, in partnership with the Downtown Oakland Association and Popuphood, will host a grand opening for the new Latham Square, marking a new era of innovation in Oaklands public spaces. The intersection of Broadway and Telegraph Avenue, just below 16th St., is the gateway to the emerging Uptown district. The newly installed furniture, signage, and planting areas have transformed the intersection and showcase the high-quality, reclaimed materials from the City's own yards. The temporary and mobile nature of this project is designed to respond to community input as part of the prototyping process with a flexible and iterative approach to Oaklands civic projects. It is now a pedestrian friendly place that has sparked civic dialogue about the potential of our public spaces. Join us on October 12th at 2 p.m. for a Grand Opening Celebration to enjoy the new plaza, listen to music, and shop at several small-scale mobile vending stations. The plaza is a temporary pilot project designed to increase foot traffic and walkability at the intersection of Telegraph and Broadway, and will remain in place for six months to one year. The success of the pilot project will inform permanent improvements to the intersection by the City to create a new public space. In addition, the plaza design incorporates space for mobile vending, offering a chance to pilot retail and complementary event programming to activate the heart of Oaklands downtown. The plaza was designed by Rebar Group, an art and design studio with a passion for reimagining public spaces. Matthew Passmore, principal at Rebar and lead designer for Latham Square, says, The goal is to reconnect the public space on the street to the surrounding urban fabric, which is really breathtaking. The historic Rotunda and Cathedral Buildings, two of the best local examples of 20th century architecture, are the areas most prominent features. The City of Oaklands Public Works Agency took an innovative approach to reimagining a problematic intersection, and Latham Square is a great example of Urban Prototyping the global movement that is harnessing design, art, and technology to improve cities.
Lionel'J.'Wilson'Building 150'Frank'Ogawa'Plaza Suite'1B Oakland'Ca,'94612 Popuphood info@popuphood.com www.popuphood.com

510.761.6163

Says Sarah Filley of Popuphood, This is another example of the City of Oaklands contribution to the global conversation of urban innovation. Popuphood, an Oakland based social enterprise that works at the intersection of urban design and creative engagement, proposed an Enterprise Zone in the plaza. This program is an extension of their incubation program for small businesses and offers an opportunity to connect their Popup space in Frank Ogawa Plaza to the Broadway corridor and reflects their passion to rethink local as a catalyst for revitalization, block by block. We hope to use this period of prototyping the built environment to design and test strategies for micro-entrepreneurs. Our goal is to create a program with the city of Oakland to model pathways from vending to pop-ups and eventually, permanent brick and mortar. Downtown Oakland Association, a community benefit district (CBD) that advocates on behalf of the areas property owners, business owners and residents will bring entertainment and events to the plaza, alongside Popuphoods vendors. They will also provided ongoing maintenance of the newly constructed plaza and manage the website and marketing channels. We look forward to collaborating with the City in this public/private partnershipto maintain [and program] another beautiful pedestrian environment in downtown Oakland, said District Services Manager Andrew Jones of the Downtown Oakland Association. The final design reflects months of ongoing community outreach, meetings, workshops and a traffic study of the circulation changes. While the city found no major negative impact from the closure there are ideas around parking and traffic flow that will be tested throughout the duration of the year long pilot program, with on-going evaluation of the impact of the Plaza on local businesses and downtown circulation. For more information, see Popuphoods recent posts covering the soft opening and the recap of the August event. You can find the project background and design details, on the City of Oakland project website at www.oaklandnet.com/LathamSquare and stay tuned for the Launch of the Latham Square Website! ### Established in 2011 Popuphood is a small business incubator revitalizing neighborhoods block by block. As a for profit social enterprise we are consulted to curate, market, design and engage neighborhoods to define creative place-making and economic development strategies for municipalities, developers, property owners, creatives, and retailers. Popuphood is defining a local approach to rethinking retail and its role as a strategic tool for revitalization. Media kit
Lionel'J.'Wilson'Building 150'Frank'Ogawa'Plaza Suite'1B Oakland'Ca,'94612 Popuphood info@popuphood.com www.popuphood.com

510.761.6163