The first office building , at 14th and Broadway , opened on December 18 , 1973 . The first skyscraper , the Clorox Building , opened next door in 1976 . However , construction stalled , and by the 1980s the mall still had n't been built and most of the site was still vacant . The project was redesigned , with a smaller outdoor retail complex and new federal office building replacing the mall , and a partial restoration of the original street grid . Several new buildings were completed in 1990 , including the retail complex , named '' City Square '' , and 1111 Broadway , the new headquarters of the global shipping company American President Lines ( APL ) . Economic recovery of downtown Oakland was stalled by the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake and a recession in the early 1990s , and private development at City Center stopped for the next few years . Government payrolls were not affected ; the Ronald V. Dellums Federal Building complex was completed in 1994 , bringing more pedestrian traffic to the struggling mall
1989 Loma Prieta earthquake
1989 Loma Prieta earthquake
Oakland City Center