For Whole Foods Market, the first new grocery store in this Oakland neighborhood in over 25 years, our design brief was to tackle an adaptive reuse of a designated historic property. The site, which went on to become a prototype store for Whole Foods, was first built as a cable car power station in 1890, and later became a showroom for Cox Cadillac.

The Lowney Architecture team restored the historic façade, creating a welcoming interior with the necessary square footage to accommodate an innovative “loop” store layout. A new steel and glass structure connects the grocery store to a 200-space rooftop and street level parking area.

The project development took five years and required the collaboration of 10 different engineering firms to tackle extensive environmental remediation, installation of a complex drainage system to mitigate flooding from a creek which runs underneath the building, and extensive earthquake abatement. Construction was fast-tracked through the use of precast concrete. Involving the concrete company early on was beneficial for planning and design, helping to mitigate scheduling delays, and addressing challenges with the lack of a construction staging area in this tight urban infill site.