WALNUT CREEK, CALIFORNIA – For years, Walnut Creek residents driving past Broadway Plaza have watched the old train station across from WC’s shopping mall sit quietly behind its freshly restored facade.
The building at 850 S. Broadway is one of downtown’s most recognizable historic structures. It began life as Walnut Creek’s Southern Pacific Railroad depot in 1891, later moved from its original location near Mt. Diablo Boulevard, and was converted for commercial use in the 1970s. More recently, it was best known as the longtime home of Vic Stewart’s steakhouse.
But after Vic Stewart’s closed, the property went through a major redevelopment that never quite delivered the busy restaurant-and-retail destination many locals expected.
The former depot was restored and rebranded as the Walnut Creek Station House. The project removed later additions connected to the restaurant, upgraded the building’s major systems, added parking and reconfigured the property for multiple retail or office tenants.
Despite that work, the building remained largely quiet for years.
Now, there is at least one sign of life. Readers have been reaching out to ask about it.
A Bay Area company called Kalos Health is preparing to open a Walnut Creek location inside the building. Kalos offers DEXA body-composition scans–basically, a brief whole-body X-ray that reveals your body fat percent, bone density, and more. The company also offers personalized fitness and nutrition coaching based on scan results.
Kalos’ Walnut Creek page still describes the location as “coming soon,” but its booking page already lists the South Broadway address and promotes a grand-opening discount. And in driving by, we saw their new storefront with its signage up at the Station House.
The arrival of Kalos appears to be the first clearly identifiable tenant publicly connected to the long-empty Station House in some time.
The rest of the building’s future is less clear.
Commercial listings marketed the property as a renovated retail and office space with roughly 9,200 square feet of leasable area. The building was advertised as capable of being divided into as many as six separate spaces, meaning there is room for multiple businesses beyond the Kalos studio.
The listing has since been removed from major commercial real estate sites and is now marked off-market. That can mean a property has been leased, sold, withdrawn from marketing or is being repositioned, so it does not necessarily confirm that the entire building has filled up.
The Bay Area Telegraph reached out to Station House’s listed owned but hasn’t heard back.
Still, the fact that a tenant is preparing to move in is notable for a site that has looked complete but inactive for years.
Whether that is the beginning of a fuller tenant lineup — or simply a single business moving into a still-underused landmark — remains to be seen.
We’ll keep following this one–make sure to join our free 925 News newsletter so we can keep you updated.
