Bummer: The Waterfront Hotel Oakland, A Hyatt JDV Property, Abruptly Shutters After 34 Years

After 35 years of service and stewardship as an anchor tenant in Oakland's Jack London Square, the Waterfront Hotel has closed. Notably, the Waterfront Hotel became part of Hyatt's portfolio when Hyatt acquired Joie de Vivre Hospitality in the 2010s. As a former resident of Oakland, CA, I'm pretty familiar with this property, so I thought it was worth flagging. Let's jump into it.

The Waterfront Hotel Oakland

Situated right in the heart of Jack London Square alongside the estuary, the Waterfront Hotel first opened in 1990 as part of the Port of Oakland's $100 million development plan to revitalize Jack London Square. Along the back lawn behind the hotel, is the ferry terminal, transporting commuters to and from San Francisco. Every Saturday morning a robust farmer's market operates in front of the hotel, allowing shoppers to grab fresh veggies and sourdough bread, just a few steps from the statue of Jack London himself. If it's the holiday season, you could sip wine and snack on bites while admiring the large Christmas tree flanking the hotel in the center of Jack London Square - a tree Mrs. Blackbeard would often ask us to stroll by to see the lights. Walk a few steps further into Jack London Square, and you'll find Heinold's First and Last Chance Saloon, a bar's who name refers to the time in which for many sailors, the pub was the first and last chance to drink alcohol heavily before or after a long voyage.

As Oakland is not a city known for ample upscale luxury accommodations, the Waterfront Hotel settled in as a midrange option for travelers looking for something different. Close to Oakland's downtown and amid Jack London's small-but-always-trying-to-be-bigger nightlife scene, the Waterfront Hotel's closure follows an unfortunate pattern of economic setbacks for the city.

Pulling Back the Curtain

A few things stand out about this closure. First, the abruptness of it all leads me to believe this was simply a matter of choosing when. Though there are only tidbits of info out there, an interview with a former employee of the hotel suggests that the hotel had been in a rocky financial state for some time due in part to a decrease in the overall tourism post-pandemic and the loss of all three of its major sports teams within ten years. That, coupled with rising vacancies in the number of neighboring tenants and increased crime in the city - specifically the downtown neighborhoods - was likely too much to recover from. It's tough to sustain any tourist base with those conditions going on.

Second, as Hyatt managed this hotel, it's particularly telling that most reports reveal no indication of Hyatt trying to step in to save the hotel. Jack London Square Associates LLC owns the Waterfront Hotel. When the ownership group defaulted on its rental payments to the Port of Oakland, that was the nail in the coffin. That said, you have to imagine that if this was a situation where a financially unstable or insolvent owner couldn't make its rental payments for its hotel property, and the property was otherwise still in a promising position - both aesthetically and economically - Hyatt might seek to do a bit more to keep a 'winner' in its portfolio. Whether that be by brokering a sale to a new solvent owner or taking ownership of the property itself, while it figures out what to do next. This was is probably not in the cards though, given that this is already the second significant hotel closure in Oakland in the last two years, as well as everything else that's gone wrong for Oakland lately. As with all businesses closing, real people are affected at the end of the day. Reports indicate Hyatt will pay out weeks of severance based on each year of tenure at the property, and while that's better than nothing, hopefully, everyone who finds themselves out of a job can land on their feet in short order.

Gone but Not Forgotten

I stayed at the hotel once, way back in 2014, and while it wasn't anything super glamorous, I enjoyed my stay. It was a staycation for a much younger Mr. and Mrs. Blackbeard, and I remember thinking highly of the place. The hotel holds helped shape a bigger memory in my mind, though, as it's also where our parents stayed when they came to town for our courthouse wedding. The Waterfront Hotel in Jack London Square - a solid run, and who knows? Perhaps in a few year's time, a comeback story for Oakland will also mean a return to glory for an Oakland mainstay.