About us
Warfield Commons is a multi-story hub where arts and media thrive. It will spark new foot traffic, activate street life, incubate local talent, and help power the economic recovery of the Mid-Market corridor that’s already underway, adding to the existing cultural assets that continue to bring joy and vibrancy to this neighborhood. This is cultural strategy as civic strategy.
A landmark reinvented
Warfield Commons is powered by CAST’s community-centered real estate approach and KALW’s rich legacy in public media.
We cultivate and foster what cities and communities urgently need: original voices, permanent infrastructure, and shared purpose.
This isn’t just any corner—it’s one that has seen struggle, survival, resistance, and reinvention. Warfield Commons honors that layered history by creating a space where those stories can be heard, seen, and shaped by the people who live them.
Power in partnership
A collaboration between Community Arts Stabilization Trust (CAST) and KALW Public Media, Warfield Commons is a bold and timely investment in the soul of San Francisco at 988 Market Street, in the storied Warfield Building.
Purchased in February 2025 by CAST and KALW, the century-old building that anchors Warfield Commons sits in a cultural corridor of Mid-Market that has undergone waves of transformation following the dot-com boom and the payroll tax break in 2011 that attracted tech companies into the area.
San Francisco is at yet another inflection point.
After years of pandemic disruption, storefront vacancies, and shifting urban patterns, the city’s downtown is calling for a new vision—one rooted not in tech or tourism alone, but in creativity, culture, and civic connection.
As the new home base for one of the oldest public radio stations in the country, KALW is creating a 21st-century storytelling lab, with podcast studios, training spaces, classrooms, and newsroom facilities, including the People’s Studio, dedicated to amplifying voices from our communities.
CAST’s leadership ensures that the space will remain an affordable sanctuary for creative and cultural workers in the City, free from the pressures of an escalating real estate market where displacement is a constant threat. Warfield Commons is not a pop-up—it’s a permanent anchor.
About KALW
KALW Public Media seeks to be the spark that ignites conversation, nurtures new voices, challenges conventions, and empowers communities to strive for and celebrate a better world. The first FM Station west of the Mississippi, we continue to harness the power of audio in the ongoing fight for democracy and belonging. KALW is not just a radio station—it’s an experiment in what public media should be. Based in the Bay Area, KALW serves as a catalyst for civic engagement, a home for groundbreaking storytelling, and a training ground for the next generation of media-makers.
We exist to ignite conversation, nurture new voices, challenge conventions, and empower communities to strive for and celebrate a better world. Through music, journalism, live events, and a deep commitment to inclusion and innovation, KALW amplifies stories that shape the future of democracy, justice, and belonging.
Learn more at kalw.org, or follow KALW on LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, X, Bluesky, and YouTube.
About CAST
Community Arts Stabilization Trust (CAST) is a community-centered real estate organization committed to ensuring artists and cultural workers can stay anchored where they create. Founded in 2013, CAST works in deep partnership with communities across the San Francisco Bay Area, particularly communities that have endured systemic oppression and historical underinvestment.
CAST models new ways to secure and steward affordable, inclusive spaces for creative and cultural expression by applying real estate financing tools and structural models in innovative ways, building community knowledge and agency, and creating and holding space for visioning and arts activation. Its programs and services have helped arts organizations build pathways to ownership, enabled artists to secure long-term affordable leases, and created dedicated spaces for cultural connection and exchange.
Learn more at cast-sf.org or follow CAST on LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, and Bluesky.
We are building a space for artists and journalists, neighbors and changemakers—all working to shape a more resilient future. Together, we’re proof that collaboration isn’t just a value, it’s how change happens.
Transformation
In this creative ecosystem, we envision shared and individual studio spaces for artists alongside meeting and collaboration spaces where journalists, media makers, and creatives can connect and grow their audiences. With permanent, affordable space, expert support, and pathways to ownership, our community will have the freedom to focus on what they do best. Ripe with shared resources, mentorship, and meaningful connections, this is a place designed for cross-pollination and where creative power grows.
Rendering of KALW's future People's Studio by Minnie Phan
Rendering of collaborative artist workspaces by Allie Johnson
Rendering of 2nd floor by Allie Johnson
Rendering of 2nd floor by Allie Johnson
Rendering of artist studios by Allie Johnson
In the news
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![The San Francisco Standard]()
Stop trying to make 'Lower Hayes' happen! Mid-Market can be great on its own
September 24, 2025
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![Broke-Ass Stuart]()
The new arts, journalism & media HQs on top of the Warfield
August 28, 2025
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![CoStar News]()
Historic San Francisco theater building to become arts and culture hub
February 12, 2025
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![San Francisco Business Times]()
New owner will convert Mid-Market building to an arts and culture hub
February 11, 2025
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![KQED]()
KALW to move into 'arts hub' above SF's Warfield Theatre
February 10, 2025
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![San Francisco Chronicle]()
This historic S.F. office building was going to become housing. Now it's slated to be an arts hub.
February 10, 2025
