MAYOR GAVIN NEWSOM PROPOSES UNITED NATIONS GLOBAL WARMING CENTER AT SAN FRANCISCO’S HUNTERS POINT SHIPYARD

July 30, 2009

Mayor Gavin Newsom today unveiled a proposal to locate a United Nations center focused on global warming and green technology at the former Hunters Point Shipyard. The proposed center would be part of the United Nations “Global Compact” and would be focused on promoting sustainable and clean technologies. A UN Global Compact Center would likely include a clean tech business incubator, offices of the UN Global Compact, and a retreat / conference center to facilitate the exchange of sustainability best practices and other innovations related to combating global warming.

“Locating the UN Global Compact Center in San Francisco will reinforce our city’s commitment to global justice and sustainability,” said Mayor Newsom. “Once completed, the United Nations center can serve as an anchor for other sustainable businesses at the Shipyard in much the same way that the University of California and the Stem Cell Institute have anchored Mission Bay’s burgeoning biotech and life sciences cluster.”

After years of planning and voter approval last June, the Hunters Point Shipyard and the adjacent Candlestick Point are slated to be revitalized as a vibrant new development of over 10,000 new homes – more than 32% of which will be offered at below market rates, over 300 acres of new parks, a major new retail and arts center, and over 2,000,000 square feet of commercial space destined to serve as the largest cluster of green technology companies and institutions on the western seaboard. All told, the project is expected to generate over 10,000 permanent new jobs and more than 2,000 construction jobs per year for over 15 years.

The Hunters Point Shipyard in San Francisco would provide a key strategic location for a global United Nations center. Over two million square feet of LEED-certified commercial space will be developed in “Parcel C” of the Shipyard in a campus-like setting, with views across the Bay and to Downtown San Francisco. The site is generally equidistant between San Francisco International Airport and downtown, and offers easy access to Silicon Valley, Stanford, U.C. Berkeley, the Lawrence National Labs, NASA Ames Research Center, and UCSF.

“We are excited to partner with the City of San Francisco to work towards securing a center for the UN Global Compact in San Francisco,” said Gavin Power, the Deputy Director of the UN Global Compact. “California, in general, and San Francisco, in particular, has been at the forefront of environmental sustainability and justice for many years and all of the right ingredients are here – including the technological and academic institutions and the financial and entrepreneurial resources – to have a United Nations Global Compact green tech center at the Hunters Point Shipyard really make a difference.”

“Locating a United Nations green tech center on the Shipyard is a great opportunity for this community to overcome the Shipyard’s legacy of environmental injustice,” said Supervisor Sophie Maxwell, who represents the Bayview and Hunters Point. “For decades, the Shipyard has been both an economic and an environmental blight on the surrounding community. To have this site transformed into a center for green collar jobs and a place where the environmental problems of the future may be solved would be sweet justice indeed.”

“Environmental Justice entails not just having the Shipyard cleaned up, but also revitalizing the Shipyard to create jobs and parks and affordable housing,” said Dr. Veronica Hunnicutt, Chair of the Mayor’s Hunters Point Shipyard Citizens Advisory Committee.

Next steps will include working with the United Nations to refine the proposal and to develop an advisory board to help guide project development and fund raising efforts.