Pier 70’s Building 12: An Industrial Structure Lifted Into a New Life
By Matthew Martinez, Founder, CEO & Managing Broker, Diamond Real Estate Group. California DRE #01869679.
Building 12 at Pier 70 underwent an unusually literal transformation: the historic steel-framed structure was lifted before being adapted for new uses. The project retained an industrial exterior while changing the building’s elevation, interior accommodation and operating systems.
It offers a detailed local example of adaptive reuse. Keeping a familiar shell was only one part of making the old shipbuilding structure useful again.
The original building served a different scale of work
Architect Perkins&Will’s first-party project account dates Building 12 to 1941 and places it within the former shipyard. The new design turned the large industrial volume toward maker, workplace and gathering uses.
The original scale is central to the adaptation. A shipbuilding building contains spans and heights shaped by a production process, rather than the smaller rooms expected in ordinary offices or retail.
Reusing that volume requires decisions about where to insert floors, how people move between them and which parts of the industrial space remain visible.
The structure was raised and the surrounding ground changed
The architect describes lifting the building ten feet from its original foundations and raising the surrounding site with fill. The stated design objective included responding to projected sea-level rise.
Plant Construction’s project account describes the complex jack system and work undertaken while the building was supported above its earlier position. The contractor also records adding basement accommodation and new interior floor space.
These operations link structure and site design. Moving a building vertically changes its relationship with the surrounding streets, ground levels, drainage and entrances. The lift is therefore part of a larger redevelopment of the setting.
The new entrances make the industrial envelope more permeable
Perkins&Will describes three large red entry portals and operable window walls connecting the market-hall concept with pedestrian spaces outside. The interventions distinguish new public-facing circulation from the weathered steel fabric.
That contrast helps the building remain legible. The new work does not have to imitate every old detail to acknowledge the industrial structure; it can establish a clear contemporary route into it.
The added mezzanine and upper levels also allow several uses to share the same large envelope, rather than leaving one undivided shed or replacing the structure entirely.
The systems were designed around different interior conditions
MEP designer Point Energy Innovations describes an all-electric approach, with heat pumps, radiant heating and natural ventilation strategies suited to different spaces. It also records studying insulation and glazing to reduce heating and cooling loads while renewing the historic metal façade.
This is a practical aspect of reuse. A large market space, a maker studio and an office do not necessarily need identical environmental systems. The design must respond to their different occupancies and patterns of use.
The engineering account makes the project more specific than a general claim of sustainability. It identifies actual assemblies and operating choices, rather than relying only on the appearance of a retained building.
Preservation included substantial new construction
The contractor describes restoring the envelope, retrofitting utilities and improving the streetscape. Much of the work is less visible than the exterior patina, yet it supports the building’s continued use.
Building 12 shows how a historical structure can remain a recognizable local landmark while undergoing major physical change. Its value lies in the relationship between retained industrial character and the new capacity to accommodate people.
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Sources checked October 28, 2026. Project descriptions explain design and construction; they do not establish current tenant occupancy or property-specific flood performance elsewhere.
