SKS Partners’ Brannan Property Awarded LEED Platinum

By IvyLee Rosario

San Francisco—The United States Green Building Council has awarded LEED Platinum certification to SKS Partners’ 270 Brannan St. property in San Francisco’s SOMA neighborhood. Projects pursuing LEED certification earn points for how well they meet various measures of sustainability. Platinum is the highest level of certification possible to achieve. SKS Partners partnered with Mitsui Fudosan America on the development.

270 Brannan St. San Francisco

The seven-story, 200,000-square-foot, Class A office building opened in May 2016 and has been recognized for its innovative and environmentally sustainable design. Designed by Pfau Long Architecture and Sustainability Consultant Thornton Tomasetti, the property is resource efficient, using less water and energy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The site of a former parking lot, the structure now incorporates a water reuse system that captures rainwater and condensation from the building’s cooling system. This non-potable water is then treated on site and used for 100 percent of the irrigation system demand and 83 percent of the toilet flushing demand in the building.

“SKS and MFA were committed to developing an office building that would be a leader in environmentally sustainable practices,” said Dan Kingsley, managing partner of SKS, in prepared remarks. “We were particularly focused on demonstrating that contemporary buildings can efficiently use the scarce resource of water, and therefore we are honored to have been awarded all of the available LEED points for water efficiency.”

The Brannan property is only the 30th building in San Francisco to win platinum level certification, as it is rare. The building houses a naturally ventilated 5,000-foot internal atrium between the five-story front and seven-story back sections that provides occupants with a tranquil alternative space to the open office environment. It is also one of the first properties to offer more spaces for bikes than cars, with a 52 to 12 ratio.

The building is fully leased to Splunk, a software company.

Image courtesy of Yardi Matrix