Jamestown: 799 Market Street
Solution Overview
Jamestown executed a modest capital improvement plan at 799 Market Street which included improvements to increase energy and water efficiency in the building, a lobby redesign, addition of bike storage and upgrades to common areas to increase the building’s appeal to technology sector tenants.
Background
799 Market Street is an 8-story mixed-use retail and office building in the SOMA neighborhood of San Francisco, close to the Financial District. During the 4-year period the building was in Jamestown’s portfolio, both rents and the overall property value increased. Jamestown conducted a series of energy and water efficiency retrofits to the property to add further value in San Francisco’s highly-competitive real estate market.
The building was originally constructed in 1968. Jamestown acquired the property in 2012 with the intent of marketing creative office spaces to technology-oriented tenants. It is half a block from a BART station (regional transit), close to a soon-to-be-completed subway station, and is serviced by both bus and trolley stops. The property features 17-foot ceilings and natural light on three sides. 799 Market is ENERGY STAR ® Certified.
Solutions
Jamestown executed a modest capital improvement plan which included improvements to increase energy and water efficiency in the building, a lobby redesign, addition of bike storage and upgrades to common areas to increase the building’s appeal to technology sector tenants. The building received $64,574 in rebates and incentives from local utility Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) to replace the boiler, upgrade the chiller, replace the variable frequency drive (VFD) motors on all chilled water pumps and upgrade the Building Management System (BMS). These rebates reduced the payback period for the projects and helped to offset any additional cost from choosing high efficiency equipment.
The boiler project included the replacement of the existing 3,500 MBh boiler (80% efficiency) with higher efficiency boiler (estimated at 87% efficiency), and the chiller project included the replacement of a 480 ton water cooled chiller with a 363 ton multi-stack chiller. This also allowed for chilled water supply temperature (CHWST) and air handling unit (AHU) supply air temperature (SAT) resets to drive additional savings. The VFD retrofit included all hot water and chilled water pumps and supply air handling units.
After these improvements, the building realized over $60,000 in annual savings, and reduced energy consumption by over 1,200,000 kWh during the two years between project completion and the sale of the building. This is equivalent to the annual energy-related CO2 emissions produced by 96 homes.
The ENERGY STAR ® Score for 799 Market also improved 50 percent between 2014 and 2016. In addition to the capital improvements, active energy management strategies such as peak load analysis using 15-minute interval data allowed the team to optimize building operations.
Other Benefits
Thanks to the energy efficiency improvements, operating costs for the building went down; at the same time the average rent for office and retail tenants increased almost 19 percent. While not atypical in high demand markets, it’s likely that the increased efficiency and other amenity upgrades helped to drive this increase. Those working in the building have the added benefit of a smaller carbon footprint: the close proximity to public transit and the addition of new bike storage made it possible for employees and customers to access the property without driving.
Image Gallery
The 8-story building is located in SOMA, a popular location for tech companies.
Cycling themed installations were included in the lobby renovation to reflect the culture of alternative transportation promoted by the building.
