- Kofi Bonner
Kofi S Bonner M. Arch, MCP,
University of California, Berkeley ) is anGhana -born Americanarchitect and planner who is known for the heading the redevelopment of the city ofEmeryville, California . Mr Bonner was also Director of Economic Development and InterimCity Manager for the City ofOakland, California . In 1998, Mr. Bonner was hired as Chief Administrative Officer for theCleveland Browns Football Organization of theNational Football League . In 2004, Mr. Bonner was hired byMBNA Credit Card, and then in 2006, he became director of Urban Land for the Lennar Corporation.Early life and career
Born in
Ghana , Kofi earned aMaster of City Planning and aMaster of Architecture from TheUniversity of California at Berkeley in 1987. Mr. Bonner then worked for the housing development company then-known as Fei Tsen and Associates inOakland and served as a member of theSan Francisco city planning group called "SPUR" forSan Francisco Planning and Urban Research . In 1988, Mr. Bonner was hired to replace the out-going Steve Kaplan as Redevelopment Director for the City of Emeryville. It was there that Mr. Bonner captured local and national attention with several efforts judged "aggressive" in economic development and planning circles.Oakland-based
Kaiser Permanente was seeking land for a planned new headquarters facility in 1994. While the firm wished to remain in Oakland, finding land for Kaiser's plans proved politically and economically difficult. Observing these developments, Mr. Bonner reportedly openly courted Kaiser land development officials and eventually offered a 14 acre plot of land at 41st andSan Pablo Avenue inEmeryville as the place where Kaiser could build its new home. The effort drew the ire of Oakland political officials, and a then-new-to-OaklandJerry Brown , who famously sued Kaiser for its attempt to leave Oakland, charging the firm with racism. Eventually, Kaiser ended its plans, citing changes in the health care industry as the reason.The Kaiser affair drew much praise and attention to Mr. Bonner, who continued to negotiate with developers to sell land and attract retailers like
iKea . Mr. Bonner also successfully established a reuse plan for the former Emeryville Judson Steel plant, which is now the Bay Street Shopping Center. And while Kaiser backed away from its plans to build a Northern California headquarters in Emeryville, the Mr. Bonner and the Redevelopment Agency attracted Pixar Animation Studios, which constructed its new home on the same property that was originally slated for Kaiser.In 1998,
Cleveland Browns PresidentCarmen Policy offered the position of Chief Administrative Officer of the Cleveland Browns to Mr. Bonner, becoming the first African-American to hold such a title in theNFL . With the Browns, Mr. Bonner was responsible for the construction of the new Cleveland Browns Stadium and spearheaded the creation of the organizations website. Mr. Bonner also sat on theNFL 'sInternet Committee.In 2004, Mr. Bonner was hired to a business development position with
MBNA , the credit card company. Expressing a desire to return to his city planning roots, Mr. Bonner was selected as Director Of Urban Land for The Lennar Corporation in San Francisco, where he currently heads the effort to build a new stadium intended for the San Francisco Forty Niners.References
*cite newspaper |title="Emeryville Raids Oakland |year=1995 | |publisher=The Montclarion |page=2
External links
* [http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2008/01/01/BU1RU29EP.DTL Faces of Business: Kofi Bonner]
* [http://nflbiz.blogspot.com/2008/02/kofi-bonner-candlestick-point-plan-for.html Kofi Bonner: Candlestick Point Plan For Bayview]
* [http://zennie2005.blogspot.com/2008/01/kofi-bonner-lennars-kofi-bonner-heads.html Lennar's Bonner heads 49ers Stadium Plan]
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