Excerpt:

The city’s Historical Advisory Board is scheduled to take up the rehabilitation of one of Alameda Point’s larger buildings. The city is currently working with Jonah Hendrickson’s Alameda Point Redevelopers, LLC, (APR) to transform Building 8 at Alameda Point into a usable, profitable space.

In 2013 Hendrickson transformed West Berkeley’s long-abandoned Standard Die & Tool Company building into Berkeley Kitchens, a unique collection of commercial rental kitchens specifically designed for food companies to have a kitchen to call their own.

The 76-year-old, 270,000-square-foot Building 8 at 2350 Saratoga St. served the Navy as a storage area. It presents Hendrickson with several challenges. First, the structure currently has no electricity and no running water. Building 8 also needs a brand-new roof and has lead-based paint and asbestos throughout. In addition the ballasts for the fluorescent light fixtures might contain PCB and the light tubes could hold some mercury.

“APR has a vision for making the building an enterprising, multi-tenant entrepreneurial and creative ‘maker’ space that is comparable to their other projects in the Bay Area,” City Manager Jill Keimach stated in a memorandum she sent to the City Council last March.

Keimach shared that APR hopes to transform the building into “a vibrant center for commercial activity and social interaction. The makeover would include “a well-designed, fully furnished streetscape and storefront facades.”