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Porn company buys historic SF armory for $14.5 million

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SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - A company that makes and distributes bondage and other pornographic films has purchased an old brick armory that was once used as a military induction and training center during the two world wars.

"This is going to be very exciting," said porn director James Mogul. "What an opportunity."

The Moorish-style brick building in San Francisco's Mission District was recently purchased for $14.5 million by Kink, a Web-based pornography distributor that outgrew its South of Market dungeon.

Built in 1912, the armory is listed on the National Register of Historic Places but has been empty since 1970. In recent years, plans to build apartments, offices and an Internet switching facility never got off the ground.

Kink's movie directors see the real, ready-made dungeon as just the thing for filming bondage movies.

Filming could begin inside the 200,000-square-foot armory as early as next month.

In the boiler room, Mogul said, the possibilities are endless.

"You could put a girl right inside the boiler," he said. "Why not? It's a nice little chamber. You wouldn't have to change anything."

Right now the company's porn movies are created in a two-story building on Mission Street, a block from the San Francisco Centre shopping complex. That building features a dozen sets, including a castle, dungeon, jail, barn, boudoir and what looks like a spaceship.

Kink founder and owner Peter Acworth said not only is the armory big enough to meet all his porn needs, he also plans to rent out extra space in the building to mainstream filmmakers.

"It could soon become the San Francisco Film Center," he said.

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