Oakland took a big step Tuesday toward dramatically transforming its cityscape by approving plans for the construction of a massive hotel and apartment complex across from Uber’s future headquarters in the city’s Uptown district.

The 27-story residential tower and hotel complex would be the city’s first high-rise building in 10 years, taking up a full square block on a lot across from the former Sears building, which will become home to Uber and the specialty food hall Newberry Market & Deli in 2017.

The City Council’s Community and Economic Development Committee voted Tuesday to approve a plan by San Diego developer Oliver McMillan and Oakland’s Strategic Urban Development Alliance construction firm to build 330 residential units — about 50 of them affordable — 56,450 square feet of retail, a seven-floor boutique hotel, and a parking garage on an empty city-owned lot at 19th Street and Telegraph Avenue.

Menlo Park firm Lane Partners, which brought Uber to the former Sears building at 20th Street and Broadway, is a strategic partner in the deal.

With the City Council poised to give the final approval in March, the 1911 Telegraph Ave. hotel project could break ground as early as next year.

“I think we’ve all seen Lane Partners do something unfathomable in bringing Uber here,” said Alan Dones, head of the Strategic Urban Development Alliance, at the committee meeting Tuesday. “Well guess what — stand back, you’re about to see magic happen.”

Jerry Brown era

The 1911 Telegraph deal is decades in the making. City leaders have been eyeing the lot since at least 2002, when then-Mayor Jerry Brown was in talks with Forest City Enterprises to fill the site with apartments, while other officials saw it as a potential spot for a new Oakland A’s ballpark.

But Forest City’s plans foundered during the economic downturn, and the proposed ballpark never got off the ground. The lot remained vacant for years while Oakland struggled to court investment and establish itself as a retail hub.

Yet in recent years, the city’s economy has completely turned around, as new housing and commercial projects sprout up, particularly in the Uptown district. The Uber deal, announced in October, signaled that Oakland’s long-awaited renaissance was finally under way.

The hotel is a key part of that transformation, City Council President Lynette Gibson McElhaney said at the meeting.

For years, she said, “we’ve been under-resourced for conventions, for space, even for family reunions.”

Yet even as city leaders pin their hopes and dreams on the Telegraph Avenue corridor, anxiety is building about the aftereffects of an economic boom that could ultimately change the face of Oakland.

With new development driving up the price of real estate and bringing in well-heeled refugees from San Francisco, some longtime residents are worried they’ll be pushed out.

Brake the exodus

“One thing we want to do with this project is slow down this displacement that’s taking place,” said Dones, who grew up in Oakland during the 1960s. Back then, he said, the city’s downtown was a bustling retail district anchored by the H.C. Capwell building. That building housed Sears from 1996 until last year. It will now be rehabbed for Uber.

In later years, Oakland’s retail district faded, owing partly to suburban flight, and partly to BART digging a big trench through the city, Dones said. Now that the city is finally rebounding, he doesn’t want to be left out.

Broad participation

“Here’s the thing,” he said. “As the developer, I hire the people who design the buildings. I hire the people who build the buildings. I decide who the buildings are going to serve, who is going to operate those buildings, and manage them. I create the ability for people to participate in the whole economic chain — not just as an afterthought.”

Dones said the hotel can help by creating much-needed jobs and sales taxes to boost the city’s economy.

McElhaney, who has established herself as a staunch advocate for affordable-housing issues, told the developers Tuesday that she trusts them to keep all Oakland residents in mind as they move forward.

“You all don’t get to paint on a completely blank canvas,” she said.

Rachel Swan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: rswan@sfchronicle.com