OAKLAND — On a vacant lot at the corner of 73rd Avenue and Foothill Boulevard in East Oakland, Starbucks is planning to set up shop, with a sizable set-aside for community gatherings included.

“This isn’t just a Starbucks coming to a neighborhood, it’s a Starbucks with an urban concept,” City Council member Desley Brooks, who represents the neighborhood in which the development is proposed, told the council’s Economic and Community Development Committee at a special meeting April 11.

Starbucks is proposing to create its second “Core 2” store to support youth training programs by constructing a larger-than-usual building to accommodate a community room for use by local nonprofits.

The company has just one other such site, which it opened in Ferguson, Mo., in April 2016, the first of 15 it says it intends to open nationwide by next year.

Starbucks is promising to hire and buy locally. Its employees get full benefits, company stock whether they are full- or part-time and, through a program the company has with Arizona State University for undergraduate online study, can get college tuition reimbursed.

The land, a triangular, 1.2-acre plot, was once a Firestone store that was demolished in 2010. Proposals to use the parcel for a Walgreens, a satellite campus for Merritt College or a library all fell through.

“This is a spot that has been vacant for an extended period of time. The community has been waiting patiently for something to happen. This is the start of making sure that that happens,” Brooks said, calling the proposal “a win-win for this community.”

The committee advanced the proposal to the full City Council, where it was approved April 18 after running into some opposition from housing advocates. They urged the council to reject any sales of public land until officials make good on promises to provide an inventory of city property that might be appropriate for housing development and complete a policy for disposal of public lands.

“We’ve been working under the assumption that the city would not be disposing of public lands,” said Krishna Desai, a lawyer aligned with East 12th Coalition, who has been participating in meetings aimed at developing the policy.

“It’s very disconcerting to see that the city is continuing to move forward without a plan. … This feels like a waste of everyone’s time. You make us look like we’re participating in a sham process.

“I strongly encourage you to hold off for a few months until there is a policy in place. … The phone isn’t going to stop ringing, people will still come to negotiate for this property in three months if you hold off” while a policy is completed, Desai said, .

Instead of an outright sale of land, the proposal gives developer Portfolio Development Properties, of Walnut Creek, working with Oakland’s MZ Investments, a 12- to 18-month exclusive negotiating window to strike a deal with the city on a purchase or lease of the property.

In addition to a 3,600-square-foot Starbucks with a drive-through window, the site would include parking and, depending on potential tenant interest, more retail along 73rd Avenue.

Brooks minced no words in dismissing the project’s critics.

“We need housing, but we need jobs in order to pay for that housing. I support trying to make sure that we build housing, but we don’t address the housing problem by only building housing,” she said.

“I have for months been going to my district to talk about this project,” she said, pointing out that critics who spoke at the meeting were from other council districts and Berkeley.

“District 6 residents are ecstatic about this project. I would really hope that in the future if people are going to come and speak on behalf of community, that they actually go to that community and ask them what it is they want,” she said.

“This project is important to my community, and we deserve it,” Brooks said.

Portfolio and MZ Investments previously teamed up to build the Sprouts retail center on Broadway at 30th Street, which includes a Starbucks and other national retailers in addition to Sprouts. Portfolio also has a mixed-use, retail and 38-apartment building in the works at 40th Street and Broadway.

Contact Mark Hedin at 510-293-2452, 408-759-2132 or mhedin@bayareanewsgroup.com