March 2, 2006

Dear Fellow Community Members,

The purpose of this correspondence is to provide you with an update regarding our involvement in the proposed Kwik Way development project at 500 Lake Park Ave. As you may recall, Paramount Development Group (PDG) had an agreement with Alex Hahn, the owner of the site, to redevelop the site into a mixed-use retail and housing development. After many months of successful work with the Community, the Council Member's office and our development team, we were shocked when Mr. Hahn notified PDG that he was not going to honor the agreement to proceed with PDG to develop the project. We quickly responded with an offer to purchase the site outright, but Mr. Hahn refused our offer.

We now understand that Mr. Hahn is in negotiations with another developer, Tom Peterson of Lakeshore Partners, to purchase the site. Therefore our involvement in the project has terminated as of February 13, 2006. Unfortunately, we do not have any further information to share regarding the Hahn's or the new developer's intent with respect to redeveloping the site.

While we are very disappointed that we will not be able to continue to work with the community on such an important project, we do want to take this opportunity to express our sincere gratitude for the generous commitment of time, talent and vision that you all brought to this successful community process. As the press quoted it was the "Miracle on Lake Park Ave" to move this project from the well organized protest of the McDonald's to a true win-win compromise with broad based community support.

We also want to recognize Kava Massih and J. Connor from Kava Massih Architects, our facilitator, Susan Lubeck from Community at Work, and Council Member Pat Kernighan's office for their outstanding work on this project and their commitment to the process.

We encourage you to continue your active involvement in your community around such controversial projects because it is exactly this type of meaningful community participation that makes the Grand Lake Neighborhood and the City of Oakland a great place to call home. Should you have any further comments or suggestions about the future of the project please contact Genny Gerrard in Council Member Pat Kernighan's office at 238-7032.

Warm Regards,