The Hilton hotel next to the Oakland, California, airport has closed its doors after 56 years, after many other neighboring businesses have already closed and residents have moved away due to ongoing crime in the area. 

On Aug. 28, the hotel’s final customer was checked out, and it was officially shut down.  

“We thought we were all going to retire there, but we were heartbroken,” Egigu Lemma, known as “Gigi” by his colleagues, told Fox News Digital about the closure of the hotel, where he dedicated over 35 years as a bellman and guest service agent. 

Over 150 workers lost their jobs, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.  

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“When I started working at the Hilton, I was 19 years old, originally from Ethiopia. I came to this country as a refugee,” Lemma said, adding that he spent more time at the hotel than at his own house. “I loved the job, I really loved the job.”

Hilton officials did not say why they closed the Oakland airport hotel, but former workers believe it was the result of ongoing crime in the area.

“Hotel ownership reached a decision to permanently close Hilton Oakland Airport,” a Hilton spokesperson told Fox News Digital, in part, adding, “Hilton continues to welcome guests across the Bay Area where Hilton and our franchise partners operate nearly 50 hotels.”

“Businesses slowed down after COVID, but we were OK, at least the hotel was up in business, but after COVID, the crime was high, vehicles were broken into, catalytic converters were taken, they stole the ATM from the hotel,” Lemma explained about the ongoing difficulties in the area. 

Oakland police investigate the scene after shooting an armed carjacking suspect on International Boulevard and 105th Avenue in East Oakland, California, on Friday, Feb. 17, 2023. (Jane Tyska/Digital First Media/East Bay Times via Getty Images)

The Hilton hotel at 1 Hegenberger Road in Oakland stood for over half a century in business, spread across 20 acres, with 360 guest rooms and 15,000 square feet of event space. 

Lemma shared fond memories of the hotel and its character with Fox News Digital.

“We had a hotel cat. Her name was Parris Hilton, and she was there for the last 16 years, greeting the hotel guests,” he said. 

Earlier this year, the only In-N-Out Burger restaurant in Oakland closed, and the popular West Coast fast-food chain company previously told Fox Business that regular car break-ins, property damage, theft and armed robberies of customers and employees led to the decision to shut down in March. 

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In-N-Out Burger in Oakland closed in March due to crime in the area. (Google Street View)

The crime surge in Oakland prompted Blue Shield and Clorox to provide security guards for their workers.  

Blue Shield previously told Fox News Digital that it “recognizes the public safety challenges in the City of Oakland, and we are committed to fully supporting our employees’ safety.”

Some residents of Oakland have even left their homes in the city due to fear of crime, while 60-year-old retiree Dave Schneider was shot to death last summer while trimming his front tree during the day.

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The cleanup will focus on select contaminants — polychlorinated biphenyls, copper, lead and mercury — left by the Navy when the base was active. The goal is to remove contaminants that endanger animals that live in bay mud, as well as birds and humans that eat the contaminated shellfish and fish harvested from the water around the site.

Community advocates have called the agreement a “back door deal” that doesn’t fully address the radioactive contamination the Navy left in the soil at the site.

Work won’t start until 2027 after the Navy completes remedial design and planning. It will take about two years to complete the more than $30 million project; the Navy has yet to select a contractor to carry out the work or landfill to dispose of the waste.

The polluted sediment could be removed or remediated with dredging, treatment in place, capping or natural processes that eradicate the contaminants over time. The U.S. EPA and the California EPA oversee and enforce the Navy’s cleanup actions.

The 866-acre Hunters Point Naval Shipyard site was home to a shipyard from 1945 to 1974 and the Naval Radiological Defense Laboratory from 1948 to 1960. By decontaminating ships after atomic bomb tests and other activities, the Navy contaminated shipyard soil and groundwater — as well as surface water and sediment in the San Francisco Bay — with radioactive chemicals, heavy metals and petroleum fuels. The base was declared one of the nation’s most contaminated sites in 1989.

The agencies overseeing the cleanup alongside the Navy spent at least six years figuring out the best way to clean up the underwater portion of the site because it poses a risk to people and wildlife.

Cleanup of the site began in 1996.

“You don’t have to be an engineer to do the math, but that’s 28 years,” said Eileen White, executive officer of the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board. “I want to thank the community who’s had to wait, but the end product is going to be great.”

The project is important as storms intensify because of human-caused climate change, said Michael Montgomery, director of the EPA’s Superfund and Emergency Management Division.

“Very large storms can cause disruption,” he said. “So, in terms of super storms, the remedy would help prevent contamination from shifting.”

Bayview residents including Arieann Harrison have advocated for the complete cleanup of the site for decades. Harrison, founder and CEO of the Marie Harrison Community Foundation, said community members felt blindsided by the plan.