KALW to Move Into ‘Arts Hub’ Above SF’s Warfield Theatre

Public media outlet KALW will move this fall into an office space above the Warfield Theatre, along with other arts, literary and media organizations, the station announced today.

The nine-story office building, recently slated for housing, was sold last Friday for $7.3 million in a deal with the Community Arts Stabilization Trust (CAST), which works to secure permanent homes for Bay Area arts organizations. KALW will occupy the top two floors, while CAST will move into a floor of its own.

In a project called the “Warfield Commons,” the remaining floors will host other soon-to-be-named arts organizations in deals that are not yet finalized.

“We’ve been in conversations with a lot of literary arts, independent media and media organizations, as well as a few arts service organizations,” KALW Executive Director James Kass told KQED.

The purchase was made possible through a combination of CAST and KALW as equity partners, below-market rate financing from Community Vision Capital & Consultants, and a guarantee of a KALW capital campaign from the Kenneth Rainin Foundation. Other tax credits and improvements funded by a federal subsidy were involved as well.

“These are the buildings that nonprofits lose out on for lack of finances, ready tenants or complicated partnerships,” said CAST CEO Ken Ikeda in a statement. “We’ve experienced firsthand rejection even with proof of funds because nonprofits are seen as unsustainable. This simply isn’t true. KALW is 83 years old and has never been stronger.”

The building stands above the historic Warfield Theatre, which presents a regular schedule of live music in its 2,300-capacity space. The venue is a separate entity and was not included in the purchase.

But the project’s proximity to the Warfield, as well as the Center for New Music, the theater district and other CAST acquisitions such as Counterpulse and the Luggage Store Gallery, has the potential to reshape the mid-Market area. Once eyed as a tech hub, with tax breaks to lure companies like Twitter, the neighborhood has undergone both tech flight and pandemic vacancies.

Speaking with KQED, Ikeda hinted at a “fairly robust and interesting group” of future tenants for the building. KALW expects to complete its move into the top floors by late fall 2025, while CAST plans to move in over the next month.

“There’s a beautiful outdoor deck, which we’re going to help provide facilitation around access,” said Ikeda. “We’re really excited.”

KALW began occupying a storefront in the Financial District, on Montgomery Street, in 2023, and has hosted over 100 community events since, said Kass. While much of the station’s operations moved to the new location, its studios remain at Burton High School in Visitacion Valley.

On Montgomery Street, “we’ve learned how important it is to have a space that people can physically come to, where they can watch journalism happening. They can be part of community forums and community conversations. They can come to classrooms and trainings,” said Kass.

Being on the top floors means that KALW will lose its ground-floor event space, but Kass said that talks have been underway to eventually co-present public events inside one of the building’s three retail storefronts, across from IKEA and the Golden Gate Theatre.

Both CAST and KALW have met with Goldenvoice, the live music promotions company that operates the Warfield Theatre. While no formal collaborations have yet been planned, the talks have gone well, Ikeda said.

In a statement, Mayor Daniel Lurie projected that the Warfield Commons project “will be a leader in arts and media, based right in Mid-Market, and a leader in San Francisco’s comeback.”