I’ve been on the search for this warehouse in the San Francisco Bay Area for quite some time, and finally stumbled across it, earlier this year. Elated doesn’t even begin to describe my feelings lol. Now if you know me at all, you know that I looooooove finding old rusty spraycans on explores. The rustier and filthier, the better! This warehouse sure didn’t disappoint. Not only was there great graffiti by local bay area artists, there was a plethora of spaycans and a few overturned cars to boot! Everywhere I turned there was something amazing to shoot. If I wasn’t laying on my stomach shooting something on the floor, I was admiring all of the beautiful artwork and unique lighting that this location has to offer.

Here’s a bit of history on this awesome location:
The two most common names used, when referring to this facility have been – Terminal One and/or Parr Terminal Military Reservation.  Located in the San Francisco Bay Area, the building was constructed in 1911 and operated as a port facility from the early 1900’s until the late 1980’s. The warehouse is 34,075-sq ft [almost the length of a football field] and has an indoor height of 23 ft. There are 19 steel roll-up cargo doors (16×24 ft) surround the perimeter of the building (mostly on the shipside and rear of the warehouse).

From 1911 until [roughly] 1945, it was primarily used as a storage warehouse, shipping facility and for the transfer of cargo and bulk liquids from ships to trucks and rail cars. This location had no room to store the bulky containers and poor access for trucks and trains eventually falling into disuse with the advent of containerized shipping.  The facility was used by several companies to transfer crude and refined oil and other cargo from ships to trucks and railcars. Liquid cargo was pumped out of ships to aboveground storage tanks located throughout the property. During the 1930s, the City entered into an agreement with the Parr Company to operate the Terminal for the city. The site was also used as the Ferry Terminal for passenger service across the San Francisco Bay prior to construction of the Golden Gate Bridge.

By the end of World War II, the DOD (Department Of Defense) began the process of terminating its leases. The site, [with the exception of the tract used for the water reservoir] was released back to the property owners between October 1945 – January 1946. The permit for the remaining tract of land with the Santa Fe Railway Company was terminated in December 1948.  After Army occupancy, the site continued to be a commercial cargo and fuel terminal.  After the DOD activities ended at the site (1948), the ownership of the facility is a bit unclear.  It appears that from 1948-until the 1980’s, portions of the site were leased/subleased by several companies, including Georgia-Pacific and Ford Motor Parts Division. The last tenant, Petromark, Inc. utilized the facility through 1998. At that time, the remaining aboveground storage tanks (ASTs) and other equipment were removed. The facility has remained vacant since then.  Currently there are no plans for redevelopment.