SoMa Historic Warehouse Conversion
Located in San Francisco’s SoMa neighborhood, this approximately 60,000-square-foot, three-story concrete warehouse dates to 1930’s and reflects an earlier era of industrial development in the city. Originally used as a syrup warehouse, the building was constructed just a handful of years before the use of forklifts became commonplace. Its relatively low floor-to-floor heights and heavily built concrete floor structure were well suited to the dense warehouse loads of the time, characteristics that also make the building a natural candidate for conversion to self-storage.
Arclogica is leading the adaptive reuse of the building into a modern self-storage facility while preserving the architectural character that makes the property distinctive. The project includes seismic upgrades to bring the nearly century-old structure closer to current standards, along with comprehensive interior renovations, new building systems, accessibility improvements, and life-safety upgrades.
Preservation is a central part of the design. In coordination with the City of San Francisco and through the required historic review process, the building’s original Art Deco detailing will be retained and repaired where necessary. Its historic steel grid windows will also be rehabilitated, maintaining the industrial character and appearance of the original warehouse.
The existing building configuration supports the new use particularly well. Limited on-site parking, compact floor plates, substantial floor-loading capacity, and lower ceiling heights make self-storage a practical reuse while allowing the historic structure to remain largely intact rather than requiring extensive physical alteration.
At the ground floor, the project includes a management office as well as leasable tenant space dedicated for a nonprofit organization. This active use brings additional daily activity to the street level, helping maintain an occupied and engaged presence within the building while contributing to the surrounding SoMa neighborhood.
The result is a thoughtful repositioning of an underutilized historic industrial property, extending the useful life of the building while preserving the character that connects it to San Francisco’s manufacturing past.
