Levi's Plaza. Image courtesy of Jamestown LP
Jamestown LP, owner of Levi's Plaza in San Francisco, has announced plans to invest in a clean energy transition program that will move the 930,000-square-foot creative office campus to net zero carbon operations by 2025. Jamestown will implement the program as part of its $50 million property-wide redevelopment.
The announcement comes two years after Jamestown acquired the nine-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 carbon-neutral operations across its portfolio by 2050.
“This ambitious goal is in synergy with other municipal and voluntary carbon reduction goals and provides Jamestown with the opportunity to create a strategic roadmap to achieve a 50 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030,” the company noted in its 2020 sustainability report.
The company intends to achieve as much of its net zero goal as possible through energy efficiency, including at Levi's Plaza, where the focus will be on eliminating on-site fossil fuel use through energy efficiency retrofits. Jamestown will replace boilers with electric heat pumps, generate solar power on-site and source 100 percent carbon-free electricity from the grid.
Other changes that will help achieve the net zero goal at Levi's Plaza include replacing natural gas-powered HVAC central systems in each of the nine buildings with systems that run on electricity. The company will also install a photovoltaic system on the roof to eliminate dependence on the electricity grid, as well as a new drainage system to prevent water infiltration.
Upon completion of the four-year transition program, Levi's Plaza will become the first carbon-neutral property in Jamestown's portfolio, which spans the United States, Europe and Latin America.
More than green-deep
Levi's Plaza. Image courtesy of Jamestown LP
While the transition to clean energy is an important part of Levi's Plaza's redevelopment, there's more to the multimillion-dollar transformation of the property, which first opened in 1981 as Levi Strauss & Co.'s corporate headquarters.
The campus will be enhanced through the creation of shared recreational areas, including bicycle and shower facilities, community meeting and event spaces, and new retail and food and beverage operations for the community. The redevelopment will also modernize the property's infrastructure and update the landscape to improve the accessibility and functionality of the Lawrence-designed green space.
Levi's Plaza remains home to the prestigious apparel for which it was originally developed, and also counts a variety of other companies as tenants, including Hult International Business School, Pereira O'Dell advertising agency, Public Library of Science, BCCI Construction and others.
