Last week, the Jewish Community Center of the East Bay (JCCEB) announced via its email newsletter that it has started expanding some of its activities to the complex of buildings at 5929 College Avenue — formerly the headquarters for Dreyer’s Ice Cream. The change was also noted in a recent East Bay Times article.
In late 2019, Nestlé/Dreyer’s sold the complex to a local real estate concern (Libitzky Property Companies) after the company shifted many of its management offices to the East Coast. According to Melissa Chapman, Chief Executive of JCCEB, Nestlé/
Dreyer’s is still using the upper floors of the main building and has a lease to continue using that space, and the former Yoshi’s performance space on Claremont.
The JCCEB has established some administrative offices in the former Dreyer’s complex, but will also continue to use its current Berkeley site, although it is well over 100 years old and showing its age. She said that one building in the complex is already
housing Moishe House — subsidized rental housing for post-college youth who wish to connect with and serve the surrounding community.
Chapman says that the JCCEB has just begun a planning process for its future use of the complex and is seeking input from the Rockridge and greater East Bay community. She says that the JCCEB hopes that the new complex will serve as a hub for local East Bay nonprofits, much in the way that the Fort Mason Center in San Francisco has done for the nonprofit community there.
JCCEB currently hosts many community activities and expects to move some of them to its new College Avenue center, as well as to initiate other new activities there. These could include childcare and preschool, after school care for K-5 students, summer and year-round day camp, a teen center, a health and wellness center, parenting classes, outdoor space uses including a community garden, and hosting inclusive holiday celebrations as well as other community events.
This new location is only a five minute walk from the Rockridge BART and conveniently located on the AC Transit 51B line, so it is expected that many will reach the site by public transit. However, the site includes a large off-street parking area which will
continue to be available to merchants in the ground floor retail spaces.
The site, situated on 2.98 acres of land, is comprised of multiple buildings. Chapman says that JCCEB expects to reuse most of the existing buildings in the complex, but that more details will have to wait as the planning process is still underway.
The JCCEB has a newly redesigned website at https://jcceastbay.org/ and will be posting an online survey within the next few weeks to gather thoughts and opinions from the community. Chapman also welcomes emails about the new center at Melissa.chapman@jcceastbay.org
