The S. Zollingers Building in Piqua, Ohio is a concrete cast-in-place, nationally-registered historic structure. The 40,000gsf former wholesale grocery warehouse has been vacant for a generation. Built with six rows of massive interior columns, the building lays out well for conversion from a warehouse to a commercial and residential use. However, the fenestration is small by today’s standards and the window sills on the upper stories are four to five feet above the finished floor. The east façade, facing the river, is blank as it is a former party wall.
The building’s repositioning takes advantage of the blank east façade by adding a new, three story addition onto the existing building which will overlook a new plaza. The mixed-use program distributes a two-floor market space for local vendors on the lower and ground level with shared offices and 32 residential units on the upper floors.
The adaptive reuse of Zollingers is a priority investment area of Piqua’a riverfront’s revitalization, leveraging the building’s location relative to the Great Miami River Trail and the Ohio to Indiana Trail. The project’s financing will be enabled through a variety of state and federal subsidies. Construction will begin in Winter 2022 and will be complete in 2023.
- UIC
- Porter Fanna
- Booker Design Collaborative
- Choice One Engineering
- Omloop
Slate / Urban Improvement Company




Elevations
A new three story addition on the east elevation negotiates the change in grade to the main floor and opens-up the former blank wall that faces the river.