Public radio station KALW has taken over the top two floors of the new Warfield Commons building at 988 Market as it begins renovating the space. The station will serve as the anchor tenant at the revolutionary new arts and media hub in collaboration with Community Arts Stabilization Trust (CAST).
As SFist reported in February, CAST purchased the 48,300-square-foot building for $7.3 million with the aim of “bringing the Warfield back to life as a place for collaboration, production, and creative operations,” per CAST’s website.
The new arts and media hub recently had an open house, and KALW officially moved in, inviting the public to catch a glimpse of the station’s new space before renovations begin.
As Broke-Ass Stuart reports, DIY radio station Psyched Radio has settled into its space, and the building has been activated with a variety of arts and cultural events in recent months, including the Unstaged Third Thursday series.
“A lot of us are volunteers, people who are a part of the local scene, who live right over there in the Tenderloin,” Guillermo Goyri, President of Psyched Radio told Broke-Ass Stuart. “We’re excited about the future collaborations we can do in this space, shows, and concerts with KALW and the DIY community.”
According to CAST’s website, KALW’s two floors make up 11,000 square feet for housing the station’s new headquarters, which will include broadcast studios, offices, classrooms, and training spaces.
The station's previous offices were located at Burton High School in Vistacion Valley. They were also awarded a temporary pop-up event space at 220 Montgomery Street in the Financial District through the city's Vacant to Vibrant program, which SFist recently visited.
CAST’s offices will occupy one floor of the building, which will also house meeting and collaboration spaces for artists and nonprofits.
The much anticipated opening of Warfield Commons is a welcome addition to the thriving Market Street Arts scene, which launched a little over a year ago. “This investment by CAST and KALW creates a new center of gravity for our cultural ecosystem, and with independent journalists and creatives activating the space daily,” said Steve Gibson, Executive Director of the Mid-Market Foundation, via Broke-Ass Stuart. “It reinforces what we’ve long known: that arts and culture are not just part of this neighborhood’s history, but the key to its future.”
Check out Warfield Commons during Unstaged Third Thursdays on Mid-Market.
Image: Google Street View
Previously: Office-to-Housing Conversion on Back Burner at Warfield Building, Which Just Sold With New Plans Afoot
