What's New - Cleantech

STATE-OF-THE-ART CLEANTECH HUB PLANNED

As part of the redevelopment of the Hunters Point Shipyard, there will be more than 2.5 million square feet of commercial and research & development space built, which will be targeted towards businesses in the clean technology sector. Building 813, built in 1948, is a vacant 260,000 square-foot, four-story warehouse located on the Shipyard that is planned to be rehabilitated to serve as a hub for clean technology activity.

Building 813, once rehabilitated, will serve as the Pacific Rim home for the United Nations Global Compact, a strategic policy initiative of the United Nations. The United Nations Global Compact Sustainability Center will be focused on the development, deployment, and transfer of environmentally-sound technologies as well as a retreat and conference center.

Building 813 will also serve as space for early-stage companies in innovation driven industries, with an emphasis on clean technology firms. The building will provide affordable, short term, small and flexible leases for companies in the earliest stages of development. Building 813 will minimize the cost of starting and growing a company and increase the chances of success, by providing specialized business programming including workshops, symposia, and networking/community building events as well as providing shared services and equipment. Building 813 would serve as a platform to start and grow companies with the goal of ”graduating” those companies to the upper floors of Building 813, or elsewhere in either the Shipyard or the City. A successfully rehabilitated and active Building 813 will be essential to establishing an early identity for the innovation cluster, while significantly improving the recruitment proposition and attraction of like businesses and institutions to the Shipyard, thereby stimulating the area’s economy and jumpstarting the transition to a clean technology campus.

This type of small, flexible and affordable space is often difficult for early companies to find in San Francisco. The Office of Economic and Workforce Development receives regular inquiries about City-sponsored incubators or affordable, flexible, small office space. A 2009 incubator feasibility study for the City of San Francisco, completed by ICF, recommended:

“the creation of a clean tech incubator at the Shipyard that will capitalize upon the City’s strengths…Its high concentration of information technology, materials science, life science and financial services knowledge and industry are powering the growth of clean tech enterprises, and a clean tech incubator can make a difference in terms of fostering the growth of this emerging industry in San Francisco.”

Building 813 will address this industry’s real estate and development needs in a cost-effective manner, thereby expediting the growth and success of early stage companies in innovation industries. Building 813 will accommodate and facilitate the creation and expansion of companies at various stages of their growth lifecycle, but particularly those at the earliest stages of business development.

The re-use of the building according to principles established by the United States Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (“LEED”) program would turn the rehabilitation of Building 813 into a demonstration project, exhibiting world class techniques and tools for building re-use. Building 813 is envisioned to become a high-performance building which displays a world-class mastery of building re-use technologies and exemplifies the highest commitment to sustainable building and design. The renovated building is expected to meet or exceed a LEED Platinum level of certification, or an acceptable equivalent, with an intention to incorporate as many green building and energy efficiency systems, techniques and practices as possible.

An RFQ for the procurement of a project team to assist with the design, development, architecture and engineering, construction management and operation of the entire building was released in early April 2010. An informational meeting was held in late April 2010 and interviews were conducted in early June 2010; Equity Community Builders, partnered with Leddy Maytum Stacy Architects, has been selected to collaborate with City staff to design improvements to the building that will optimize the space for all tenants of all sizes, as well as demonstrate commitment to the highest levels of energy efficiency and green performance targets. The team is currently in negotiations with the City, and a contract is expected to be brought to the Redevelopment Agency in August 2010 for approval.

Learn more about the Cleantech Industry Initiative here.