A barber school tried to expand in East Oakland. Then came the foreclosure and lawsuits

Across the street from a corner store and a smokeshop, and next to a two-in-one fast-food joint, sits a sizable stucco building that’s seen a lot.

For more than a decade, 7200 International Blvd. wasted away, accumulating layers of graffiti, peeling paint, and wooden boards in a part of Oakland burdened with blight and vacant real estate.

Previous owners planned to convert the property into live-work units, but that never panned out. Then, at the end of 2024, The Brothers and Sisters Barber Cosmo Academy purchased the building with the intention of opening a new location for its East Oakland beauty school…

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