SOHO Newsletter / Sept-Oct. 2026
San Diego’s historic Wonder Bread Building at 171 14th Street in downtown is to be transformed by a winning new recipe into a 4,000-capacity music venue expected to open in 2028. Live Nation Entertainment’s project will adaptively reuse the 1924 red-brick landmark, bringing new life and revenue to one of the area’s distinctive industrial buildings.
In 2016, SOHO named the Wonder Bread Building to our Most Endangered List, when plans for a new stadium threatened its future. At the time, SOHO warned against both demolition and “facadectomy,” which would preserve only a thin historic exterior while sacrificing the historic building itself. Nearly a decade later, the building’s survival makes possible an exciting, forward-thinking adaptive reuse project.
SOHO Executive Director Bruce Coons, who met with the project team, welcomed their approach to the landmark, which was designed by San Diego master architect Eugene Hoffman. Coons routinely works with developers, owners, architects, and designers who bring projects to SOHO, helping them work through any issues, explore solutions, and identify the highest preservation practices and standards.
This circa 1913 photograph of the Southern California Baking Company clearly shows the 1890s building that will be restored after being encapsulated in cement for the past 80 years. Courtesy of Live Nation
Plans call for restoration of the historically designated northern portion of the building and its historic silo, with missing portions of this facade to be reconstructed. In addition, the remarkable 1890s brick facade that has been entombed in concrete for decades will be revealed and restored. The newer, non-historic southern portion will be removed.
The project is another powerful demonstration of how historic places can be preserved and adapted for appealing and profitable new uses while ensuring their place in downtown San Diego’s future. It is also a reminder of why we save historic buildings in the first place: to preserve possibilities for the future. Adaptive reuse, alongside the restoration of historic gems like this one, is at the heart of good preservation and it is a significant victory that Live Nation, a major cultural and economic force, recognizes the value of that approach.
This could be cool.