Otis Elevator Company Building

1. 1924

   The Otis Elevator Company's western assembly plant was built over 1923 and 1924 on a lot 275 by 137.5 feet, designed by the company's own architectural office in Yonkers. It went up as two storeys, the lower one tall enough to take railway wagons, with combed brick and tan terra cotta on the street fronts, eighteen bays along Beach Street and nine along Grant Avenue, each bay carrying one tall round-headed arched window under a Lombard band of six small arches. A railway spur ran in through the Grant Avenue side.

   National Register of Historic Places nomination, National Park Service
2. 1924

   The plant assembled lifts and made the selector mechanism for the company's Signal Control System, and served the whole United States west coast plus Nevada, Arizona, Alaska and Hawaii, with smaller buildings of similar design in Los Angeles and Portland.

   National Register of Historic Places nomination, National Park Service
3. 1939

   With new construction at a standstill through the Depression, the plant was turned over entirely to servicing and maintaining lifts rather than building them.

   National Register of Historic Places nomination, National Park Service
4. 1970

   The lift company left in 1969 and the building became offices for a health insurer. A middle floor was inserted into the tall ground storey, making three floors of two; the internal railway track and sliding crane came out; the lower window sash was replaced with a black metal storefront system and the end-bay windows enlarged to match the rest; and the two Beach Street entrances were closed up in favour of a new recessed entrance in the eighth and ninth bays.

   National Register of Historic Places nomination, National Park Service
5. November 5, 1970

   The Otis Elevator Building in the Northern Waterfront area had recently been renovated and leased to a single tenant employing 600 to 700 people.

   San Francisco City Planning Commission minutes, San Francisco Public Library (Internet Archive)
6. 1971

   Built.

7. Nov 1990

   Permit 9023381 $$$ $500,000

   Seismic repair.

8. 1998

   The interior was stripped back for multimedia tenants: the concrete piers exposed, the dropped ceilings taken out with the piping and wiring left showing, and the inserted middle floor removed in two places to restore rooms of the original double height under the skylights.

   National Register of Historic Places nomination, National Park Service
9. Feb 1998

   Permit 9803253 $$$ $677,000

   Mm2 el-me-ssp - 2nd floor.

10. Feb 1998

    Permit 9803254 $$$ $677,000

    Mm2 el-me-sp 1st floor.

11. May 1998

    Permit 9809120 $$$ $500,000

    Mm1 3rd floor el/me.

12. October 21, 1999

    Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, significant for the part its lifts played in the building boom that changed the San Francisco skyline in the late 1920s, and for the assembly and control manufacture carried on here.

    National Register of Historic Places nomination, National Park Service
13. Sep 2002

    Permit 200209186764 $$$ $400,000

    Oti-1 3rd floor, el, me, ls, sp.

14. Nov 2002

    Permit 200211272423 $$$ $600,000

    Oti-1 3/f el me ls sp.

15. Mar 2004

    Permit 200403229291 $$$ $950,000

    Interior ti incl drywall, electrical, mechanical&plum.interior finishes.

16. Feb 2012

    Permit 201202274931 $$$ $150,000

    Tenant improvement; change offices into classrooms; remodel existing classrooms into offices. including associated change of use. life safety separate.

17. Feb 2013

    Permit 201302190431 $$$ $600,000

    1st & 3rd floor restroom remodel - new fixtures, finishes & restroom partitions, new finishes at common area.

18. Sep 2019

    Permit 201909232380 $$$ $1,200,000

    Remodel of interior ground floor entrance lobby to 2 floor hgh space & addition of new roof deck. extension of elevator stop to roof & extension of stair to roof. seismic upgrade. ** maher: n/a **.

19. Nov 2020

    Permit 202011048194 $$$ $120,000

    Interior demolition of non-structural partitions, ceilings and finishes on levels 01, 02 and 03. no exterior work per ab-017. no change of use under this permit.

20. Nov 2020

    Permit 202011128788 $$$ $400,000

    Replacement of 1st floor slab on grad with reinforce concrete structural slab. interior structural work only all other work under permit application 2019-0923-2380.

21. Dec 2020

    Permit 202012171243 $$$ $300,000

    Interior core & shell improvements. remodel grnd floor main lobby, new cut-out. infill of 2nd floor openings. cosmetic upgrade of existing egress stairs, new restrooms on level 01-03. no change of use; no new office use.

22. Aug 2025

    Issued Permit 202508294258 $$$ $2,620,700

    G/f t.i. non-structural partitions, ceilings, restrooms, showers & lighting, new parking. office allocation & parking per 2022-009996 cua & 2022-009996 ofa. gym not for public use.

23. Sep 2025

    Issued Permit 202509084794 $$$ $4,266,704

    1&2/fl- ste 200/100- ti non structural partitions, ceilings, fixtues, doors, finishes. mep deferred. no change of planning use from institutional to office under this permit.

24. Sep 2025

    Issued Permit 202509084793 $$$ $1,469,928

    2/fl- ste 250- ti non structural partitions, ceilings, fixtues, doors, finishes. mep deferred.

25. Nov 2025

    Issued Permit 202511240285 $$$ $1,400,000

    Suite 300 tenant improvement. non-structural partitions, ceilings, fixtures, doors and finishes. mep deferred.

26. Jan 2026

    Issued Permit 202601123684 $$$ $2,146,752

    Level 1 and level 2: suites 100 and 200. deferred mep for 202509084794.

27. Jan 2026

    Reinstated Permit 202601123677 $$$ $731,160

    2nd fl, ste 250 deferred mep for permit application 202509084793.

28. Jan 2026

    Issued Permit 202601284777 $$$ $700,000

    Ste 300 - deferred mep to 202511240285.

29. Mar 2026

    Issued Permit 202603026788 $$$ $1,809,790

    3rd/f ste# 350: office t.i. included non-structural partitions, millworks & finishes, modification of stairs e) enclosure on adding 2 roll down fire shutters, mep deferred.

30. Mar 2026

    Issued Permit 202603097200 $$$ $1,292,400

    Ground floor: deferred mep to permit application 202508294258.

31. Aug 2026

    Issued Permit 202608206913 $$$ $574,044

    1/f suite 150. including non bearing partitions, ceilings, light fixtures, doors and side lites and new finishes. mep deferred.

DBI holds 153 permits for this parcel, most of them tenant improvements on individual floors. The timeline shows the 24 largest by stated cost, plus the earliest on file; the DBI query in the sources below returns all 153. 5 of them are nominal $1 street-space or sidewalk permits. 2 expired permits are not shown. The assessor's roll gives 1971, the year after the building was converted from a factory to offices; the nomination dates its construction to 1923–1924.