A reader tipped us off the other day after they noticed some construction activity taking place at 908 Cherry St., an old warehouse/factory building. We swung by the building the other day to take a look, but can’t say we noticed anything out of the ordinary.

Looks rough

Peering upward

Though we saw no workers on the site, we were undeterred and checked the L&I map to see whether any permits had been pulled here in the past couple of years. Turns out, we were able to turn up some info.

First, and rather surprisingly, we learned that the vacant-looking building is currently in use, with the basement and first floor being home to a company that engages in “food processing of chicken and meat for wholesale and distribution.” So… that’s something we didn’t know. More interestingly, perhaps, we learned that the owners of the property applied over the summer to convert the upper floors of the building into twenty-eight apartment units, which could certainly explain why the reader noticed construction guys working at the property last week.

It’s nice to see that this old building is being preserved and will soon be completely adapted (once the asbestos remediation is finished) for a modern use. Several other large Chinatown buildings have gone through this process, like 1010 Race Street, or another former warehouse building on this same block.

Looking west, we see another what looks like it could have been a warehouse that's been fixed up

We’ll keep an eye on this project and will fill you in on the details as work moves along. We’ll be interested to see what the developers (and the architects at Harman Deutsch) elect to do with the windows. Will they maintain the warehouse-chic look, or will they go with the more user-friendly plate glass look?