San Francisco’s Levi’s Plaza to Go Web-Zero
Levi’s Plaza. Image courtesy Jamestown LP
Jamestown LP, owner of Levi’s Plaza in San Francisco, has announced plans to invest in a clean energy transition program to bring the 930,000-square-foot creative office campus to zero-carbon operations by 2025. Jamestown will run the program as part of its $ 50 million property-wide retrofit.
The announcement comes two years after Jamestown acquired the 9-building property at 1155 Batter St. from developer Gerson Bakar & Associates for $ 920 million. A year ago, the real estate company announced its goal of achieving net-zero carbon business in its portfolio by 2050.
“This ambitious target is synergistic with other municipal and voluntary carbon reduction targets and offers Jamestown the opportunity to create a strategic roadmap to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 50 percent by 2030,” the company stated in its 2020 sustainability report.
The company intends to achieve its net zero target as much as possible through energy efficiency, including in Levi’s Plaza, where the focus will be on eliminating fossil fuel use locally through energy efficiency retrofits. Jamestown will replace boilers with electric heat pumps, generate solar power on site and get 100 percent carbon-free electricity from the grid.
Additional changes that will help Levi’s Plaza meet the net zero target include replacing central gas-powered HVAC systems in each of the nine buildings with electrically powered systems. The company will also install a photovoltaic system on the roof to remove dependence on the electricity grid and a new drainage system to prevent water ingress.
Upon completion of the four-year transition program, Levi’s Plaza will be recognized as the first carbon-neutral property in Jamestown’s portfolio, which spans the US, Europe and Latin America.
More than green-deep
Levi’s Plaza. Image courtesy Jamestown LP
While the move to clean energy is an integral part of the Levi’s Plaza retrofit, the redesign of the property, which first opened in 1981 as the corporate headquarters of Levi Strauss & Co., is worth more than a million dollars.
The campus will be upgraded by creating shared equipment areas that include bike and shower facilities, meeting and event space for the community, and new retail and food and beverage establishments for the community. The retrofit will also modernize the property’s infrastructure and update the landscape to improve the accessibility and functionality of the green space designed by Lawrence.
Levi’s Plaza is still home to the prestigious clothing for which it was originally designed, and also has a host of other tenants including Hult International Business School, Pereira O’Dell advertising agency, the Public Library of Science, BCCI Construction and others.
