Why Adaptive Reuse Should Be San Diego’s Next Big Move

Why Adaptive Reuse Should Be San Diego’s Next Big Move
July/August 2025

Urban challenges are nothing new—but our solutions can be not only new, but innovative and highly effective. San Diego architectural historian Diane Kane made a compelling presentation on recent adaptive reuse projects and policies that reframed some of Southern California’s thorniest problems, such as the housing shortage and environmental sustainability. Finishing out National Preservation Month on May 31, 2025, Diane’s slide talk explained and echoed SOHO's stance on reuse and convincingly proposed a proven, feasible blueprint for San Diego to encourage and codify the adaptive reuse of many more old and historic buildings.

Diane delivered an engaging, chronological talk filled with successful examples from San Diego, Los Angeles, and Pasadena, and put them in context. She emphasized the transformative impact of Los Angeles’s Adaptive Reuse Ordinance, which has resulted in more than 12,000 new housing units that also set off a downtown renaissance. Pasadena recently adopted an Adaptive Reuse Ordinance to streamline converting older commercial buildings into residences, an update intended to achieve greater housing density while preserving historic character.

These inspiring examples offered crucial takeaways for San Diego: Smart policy, community vision, and a strong preservation ethic can transform underused or defunct spaces into vibrant, livable places without sacrificing our history or sustainability.

This slide from Diane Kane's presentation lists preservation tools used in the Warehouse District, including a transfer of development rights that allowed Sempra Energy to build a new tower on the original site of SDG&E’s Substation A, which was deconstructed and reconstructed a couple of blocks away.

Thank you, Diane, for deepening our understanding of adaptive reuse, and for reinforcing how it must play a central role in San Diego’s future if we’re serious about preservation, more housing, affordability, and sustainability.

Couldn’t make it to the lecture? Don’t worry—we’ve got you covered. You can now watch the full presentation online.

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