Red Star was a place by West Oakland BART with a troubled history.
It opened as a yeast factory sometime around 1900. It was owned by a major baked goods company, Red Star Yeast.
The yeast factory was a polluting menace, releasing 30,000 pounds of acetaldehyde annually. 1 Neighborhood activists finally shut it down in 2003.
The site was bought by Michaels Development Company and LINC Housing Corporation. They hired construction contractor Advent Cos to turn it into a senior housing project called Red Star Apartments.
Then the construction site burned down in 2012. The fire interrupted BART service throughout the area.
The site is now in limbo. You can see its rotting remains from BART. There's a for-lease sign on the burned out ruins.
The previous concrete construction on the site is under demolition as of March 2016.
Links and References
- Red Star Yeast on Wikipedia
- http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Yeast-plant-in-Oakland-will-close-Neighbors-2624461.php
- http://blogs.kqed.org/newsfix/2012/06/14/burned-west-oakland-building-stood-on-site-with-long-history/
- http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/blog/2012/06/oakland-fire-destroys-senior-apartments.html
