The City Center Building, known briefly as Centennial Tower, was the tallest building in Hayward,

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

. It was previously the second tallest, until the 2013 razing of

Warren Hall E. Guy Warren Hall, commonly known as Warren Hall, was a 13-story building at California State University, East Bay. It was the signature building of the campus in Hayward, California, overlooking the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Are ...

on the

Cal State East Bay California State University, East Bay (Cal State East Bay, CSU East Bay, or CSUEB) is a public university in Hayward, California. The university is part of the 23-campus California State University system and offers 136 undergraduate and 60 post ...

campus. It was for many years an abandoned building, located between Foothill Boulevard and City Center Drive, in the City Center section of

Downtown Hayward Downtown Hayward is the original and current central business district of Hayward, California, United States, and is home to the current Hayward City Hall, along with the two previous city halls, Alex Giualini Plaza and the City Center Buildin ...

, adjacent to the PlazaCenter mall. It was formerly used as Hayward City Hall. Demolition of the building began in January 2020 and was completed by September 2020.

History

The City of Hayward opened the

steel reinforced concrete Reinforced concrete (RC), also called reinforced cement concrete (RCC) and ferroconcrete, is a composite material in which concrete's relatively low tensile strength and ductility are compensated for by the inclusion of reinforcement having ...

building on October 18, 1969. It was originally planned to have 20 floors and a cinema, but only 11 floors were built, with no cinema. The building served as Hayward's city hall from 1969 to 1998. Its top floor was the seat of municipal government and other floors were leased to businesses. It was designed to replace the old Hayward city hall, now located at Alex Giulini Plaza. It was the first building in the planned City Center complex. Architectural critic

Allan Temko Allan Bernard Temko (February 4, 1924 – January 25, 2006) was an architectural critic and writer based in San Francisco. History Born in New York City and raised in Weehawken, New Jersey, Temko served as a U.S. Navy officer in World War II ...

nicknamed the building "the toaster" in the 1970s, strongly influencing public opinion against it. The Centennial Hall Convention Center was added to the complex. In the 1980s, the PlazaCenter complex of retail and commercial businesses was built next to it, on the former grounds of Hayward High School. The

1989 Loma Prieta earthquake The 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake occurred on California's Central Coast on October 17 at local time. The shock was centered in The Forest of Nisene Marks State Park in Santa Cruz County, approximately northeast of Santa Cruz on a section of t ...

damaged the building's structural integrity and the city government moved out of the building. In 1998, after the completion of the new city hall, the building was closed to the public. The city sold the building for $1.5 million in 1998 to a developer who planned to convert it to

condominium A condominium (or condo for short) is an ownership structure whereby a building is divided into several units that are each separately owned, surrounded by common areas that are jointly owned. The term can be applied to the building or complex ...

s. They renamed it "Centennial Tower" and sold it to another developer. Condominium conversion was never implemented, as it was considered too expensive. In 2006 plans were made to demolish the building. A year later, the demolition was canceled. On November 1, 2009, the adjacent Centennial Hall Convention Center closed, and was subsequently demolished.

New Hayward City Hall

The new

City Hall In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or a municipal building (in the Philippines), is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses ...

opened in January 1998. It is located at B Street and Watkins Street, next to the Hayward BART station. Haywardcitycenterbuilding

Current conditions

The building remained vacant. The interior walls, pipes and heating system have been removed. There were numerous broken or boarded-up windows.

Graffiti Graffiti (plural; singular ''graffiti'' or ''graffito'', the latter rarely used except in archeology) is art that is written, painted or drawn on a wall or other surface, usually without permission and within public view. Graffiti ranges from s ...

is visible on the windows and top floors. In January 2008 a fence was erected around the building to deter vandalism. In March 2010 a fire broke out on the top floors of the tower. Homeless people have occupied the first floor, and taken out copper pipes to sell as scrap. CityCenterBuildingHaywarddetail

Plans for the site

Plans were announced in early 2008 for remodeling the tower, including seismic retrofitting and conversion to office space. There were also plans to build condominiums over the Centennial Hall parking garage, which has also been demolished. The building closed in 2009. In 2010, the city opened bidding for its demolition. Instead of demolition, the site only had hazardous materials removed.

References

{{Hayward, California 1969 establishments in California 1998 disestablishments in California Buildings and structures demolished in 2020 Buildings and structures in Hayward, California Demolished buildings and structures in California Government of Hayward, California Landmarks in the San Francisco Bay Area Office buildings completed in 1969 Skyscraper office buildings in California Skyscrapers in California