The Santa Fe Depot, one of the region’s most historic landmarks, is being sold to a local private investor with escrow due to close the first week of November.

The 102-year-old building, a nationally registered historic site with the signature twin tile domes at Broadway and Kettner Boulevard would remain in place, according to Voit Real Estate Services, which is representing the buyer and seller.

Its use as an Amtrak station would also continue under the current lease, but restaurant, retail and boutique hotel uses could figure into the building’s future.

Voit broker Kipp Gstettenbauer said he is not free to reveal the buyer and terms of the deal. But he said the depot was privately advertised for a sale over the last month.


“It probably received more interest than any other asset in San Diego County,” Gstettenbauer said. “There were offers from all over the world.”

The two-story depot deal does not include the former baggage building where Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego is located.

The current owner is ProLogis, a San Francisco-based logistics real estate company with $72 billion in assets under management, encompassing 684 million square feet in 3,319 properties in 19 countries.

It acquired the depot and surrounding property in 2005 when it merged with Catellus, a real estate spinoff of Santa Fe Industries, the successor to the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway.


Catellus previously sold off nearby properties to Bosa Development, where several condo towers have been constructed and more are planned under a 1992 master plan for the 15-acre property.

Details of Amtrak’s current lease are not available, but a ProLogis executive previously indicated it runs through 2021 with extension options available. The passenger train ticketing offices occupy a small portion at the north end of the 170-foot-long waiting room with the rest occupied by souvenir and snack stands and an information booth.

An early postcard shows the depot with its forecourt intact and the streetcar stop in view. (David Marshall Collection)

The original forecourt was replaced by a parking lot and then by a fountain and plaza. Some preservationists would like the original look to return. (David Marshall Collection)


The colonnade along the track side of the depot remains largely unchanged from its original look in this period postcard. (David Marshall Collection)

The waiting room included a line of concession stands on the south end. The chandeliers remain in place. (David Marshall Collection)

Bruce Coons, executive director of the Save Our Heritage Organisation, called the depot one of San Diego’s most iconic historic structures, alongside the San Diego Mission, Hotel del Coronado and Balboa Park exposition buildings.

“Countless life stories centered around that building until transportation patterns changed,” Coons said. “It’s still widely in use.”


The building was completed in late 1914 and the first passengers disembarked on the evening of March 7, 1915, welcomed by an estimated 5,000 onlookers.

It was just in time to serve millions of visitors to Balboa Park’s Panama-California Exposition and the followup California Pacific International Exposition in 1935-36.

It was a major terminus for soldiers, sailors and Marines headed for training during World Wars I and II and the Korean War, and travelers to and from San Diego before airplanes began supplanting trains in the 1950s. President Franklin D. Roosevelt arrived there on several trips to San Diego and his successor, Harry Truman, came through on his whistle-stop election tour in 1948.

The building was the starting point of the Santa Fe and San Diego & Arizona Eastern Railway and the city’s electric streetcar system until 1949.


The forecourt was demolished in 1954 to make way for a parking lot, since replaced by a fountain and plaza.

Santa Fe announced a twin-tower office plan in 1971 that was abandoned when historic preservationists called foul, the city threatened to acquire the building through eminent domain and the building was added to the National Register of Historic Places — a step that would make demolition difficult if not impossible.

David Marshall, a historic preservation architect who may serve as an adviser to the new owner, said the depot is a rare example of a fully-intact train station from the early-20th century.

“It is well regarded not only for the exterior but interior,” Marshall said. “It’s one of the most significant buildings near the waterfront.”


The depot’s origins go back to San Diego’s hopes for becoming a terminus of a transcontinental railroad. The land was given to the Santa Fe in 1880 as part of larger land grants to entice it to build a railroad from the east.

The first through service began in 1885 and set off an unprecedented land rush that boosted the local population from 8,000 to more than 40,000 over the next three years. This was the period when the Gaslamp Quarter was developed and numerous subdivisions were laid out throughout the county.

The first terminal, still standing, was built in National City and the first downtown depot, in Victorian style, opened in 1887 immediately west of the present depot.

The Santa Fe ordered up a the $300,000 new and much larger depot to open concurrently with the 1915 exposition and hired the San Francisco architectural firm of Bakewell and Brown to design its first Spanish Colonial and Mission Revival depot.


“It was the aim of the architects to design a station as one of the Franciscan fathers would have designed it had railway stations been built in his day,” wrote John Bakewell Jr. in the April 1915 edition of “The Architect and Engineer of California” magazine.

Highlights include colorful ceramic tiles produced by California China Products at a plant in National City, 16 bronze and glass chandeliers, arches, wood beams and a 650-long colonnade. The second floor once served as an overnight hotel for railroad workers.

Looking to the future, many planners and civic activists have hoped a major restaurant or food court could be opened in the 55-foot-wide waiting room. The second floor could become a youth hostel or boutique hotel. Some hope the old forecourt, surrounded by arcades, could be recreated.

Above all, said architect Marshall, the depot can retain its role as a transportation center, serving Amtrak, the Coaster, San Diego Trolley, buses, taxis and ride-hailing services.


“Most of the large stations are larger than they need to be, based on current railroad uses,” he said. “Many have adopted other uses, whether retail or restaurant.”

He said more detailed investigations will be needed in coming months to detail repairs and restoration work. He cited work will be needed to shore up the 90-foot towers and modernize the restrooms.


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roger.showley@sduniontribune.com; (619) 293-1286; Twitter: @rogershowley