Nearly a decade after fire gutted the old building, Oakland neighbors are getting their community hangout back. The rebuilt Mosswood Recreation Center throws open its doors tomorrow morning, with tours and remarks from Mayor Barbara Lee and Councilmember Carroll Fife on the schedule.
The new two-story center brings back classrooms, a community hall, a teaching kitchen, a computer lab and a maker space, replacing what was lost in the 2016 blaze. City staff plan free public tours from 10 a.m. to noon so residents can walk through the mass-timber building and hear about programs that will roll out in the coming weeks.
The center stands at 3612 Webster St, tucked inside the 11-acre Mosswood Park. The city lists it as a roughly 12,300-square-foot, two-story community facility that replaces the 1953 building destroyed by fire. According to the City of Oakland, the rebuild is part of a larger master plan for Mosswood Park, which also calls for landscape and circulation upgrades around the site.
As reported by The Oaklandside, the city will mark the reopening with a ceremony that features community tours from 10 a.m. to noon and tables from local groups, including the Oakland Heritage Alliance. That coverage notes the project cost roughly $20.8 million, and that construction finally kicked off in 2023 after years of community planning and design work.
Design and features
The center was designed by Leddy Maytum Stacy Architects, with landscape work by Einwiller Kuehl. Inside, the building packs a social hall, multiple classrooms, a kitchen, a computer lab, a maker space and an outdoor terrace that looks onto the park.
The structure leans heavily on engineered wood, using a glulam post-and-beam approach as part of a low-carbon, mass-timber strategy, according to Think Wood. The idea is that the building’s wood-forward design reflects the tree-filled landscape that surrounds it.
History and community context
Mosswood Park traces its roots to a former private estate and the nearby J. Mora Moss House, an 1864 Carpenter-Gothic landmark that local preservationists say is still in serious disrepair. The Oaklandside notes that the Oakland Heritage Alliance will host a table at Saturday’s ceremony and has underscored how the gleaming new recreation center sharply contrasts with the aging Moss House next door.
The park is no stranger to crowds. It is home to the annual Mosswood Meltdown music festival each summer, so the return of a full-service recreation center is expected to deepen the park’s role as a gathering place for events, classes and neighborhood celebrations.
What to know for Saturday
Tours of the new center run from 10 a.m. to noon tomorrow and the event is free. Neighbors with questions can contact the Mosswood Recreation Center through the city’s Parks & Facilities listing.
The center is expected to phase in after-school and adult programs in the weeks following the reopening, and organizers say they will post registration details on the Oakland Parks & Recreation site.
