Center to Move, Firehouse for Sale

A community center housed in a city landmark will be moving out of the Sunset District.

The directors of the Oakes Children's Center, a school specializing in treating and educating emotionally-disturbed and developmentally-delayed children, have left the 110-year-old firehouse at 1348 10th Ave., which has served as the Oakes campus since 1969, in order to accommodate more students and expand its treatment offerings.

According to Executive Director Norman Hering, the center will be relocating to Bernal Heights, where it will lease an unoccupied elementary school from the SF Catholic Archdiocese.

"The potential for Oakes' growth is enormous," Hering said. "Our plans for the upcoming year include opening a fourth and possibly fifth classroom for students, expanding outpatient services for children on the Autism Spectrum and increasing our capacity for the after-school program. And we will be able to increase the size of our doctoral training program."

The new facilities have a large parking lot and two playgrounds. School administrators have not always planned to move campuses. They received approval from the SF Planning Commission in 2005 to build a new facility next door in a vacant building. However, they decided it would be more cost-efficient to move to an entirely new campus and put the firehouse and adjacent property up for sale.

The firehouse, still with its original wooden fire pole and 20-foot ceilings, is on the market for $1.495 million.