JCC East Bay plans to sell its Berkeley building and move to Oakland

by Nathan Dalton

Feb. 21, 2025, 4:35 p.m.Feb. 21, 2025, 4:53 p.m.

JCC East Bay is selling the Walnut Street building it has called home for 43 years and moving its operations from north Berkeley to Rockridge in Oakland.

Founded in 1978 as Berkeley-Richmond JCC, the community center serves 9,000 people each year. It is home to a popular preschool and after-school program and hosts a wide variety of classes, workshops, and other events. The center changed its name to JCC East Bay in 2006. 

The building, formerly home to Garfield Junior High School, was built in 1915 and designated as a Berkeley Landmark in 1980. It is also listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

“We have taken great care to maintain our 115-year-old building, always prioritizing safety,” JCC East Bay CEO Melissa Chapman wrote in an email to the organization’s community Thursday. “As the needs of our community grow, and the historic building at 1414 Walnut ages, we need to be in spaces where we can meet the current and future demands of our community.”

The email also noted the challenging environment of the building including no heat or air conditioning and a lack of adequate parking. The size of the building also limits the size of enrollment for the preschool and after-school programs. Selling the property will also give the nonprofit “critical transition cash and reserve funds, which are vital for our future and financial stability,” according to the email. 

The new three-acre Rockridge campus is currently under construction with a planned opening of March 2026. The East Bay Jewish Community Campus, “the hub for Jewish life,” will be home to 15-20 other Jewish organizations and will feature a teen center, Hebrew immersion after-school programs, holiday gathering, cultural events and more. The preschool program will open on the new campus in August 2026 with a planned enrollment of 120 children, double the current enrollment of the Berkeley location. 

In the meantime, programs and services will continue at the Walnut Street location for around three years, and the organization is seeking a new long-term space in Berkeley for the after-school and Edah programs. 

“We are 100% committed to continuing to provide services in Berkeley,” wrote Chapman, “and are investigating a number of possible options, including a potential lease-back of the space for a period of time.”

Berkeley Hills resident Sylvie Carr has two daughters, age 3 and 5, enrolled in preschool and after-school care at JCC East Bay and said her family may have to find a new preschool for her youngest daughter, not yet 1, who would have enrolled in 2026.

“We’ll miss having this hub of Jewish life in Berkeley,” she said. “There are always several preschool families who are visiting scholars or post-docs from Israel whose kids attend, given its proximity to campus, and I hope that can continue in Oakland, but worry since it’s much farther from Cal and its University Village.  I also worry about it being farther away for many of the longtime teachers who already have long commutes.”

JCC East Bay, 1414 Walnut St., Berkeley. Phone: 510-848-0237. Connect via Facebook and Instagram.

Berkeleyside editor Zac Farber contributed reporting to this story.