Total project size reduced by a third
A proposed data center in San Francisco, California, has been scaled down amid environmental concerns.
The Guadalupe Quarry Redevelopment Project, which is located south of San Francisco in the city of Brisbane, seeks to construct a 180,000 sq ft (17,000 sqm) data center and an industrial building in the Guadalupe Quarry, otherwise known as the San Bruno Mountain quarry.
The Quarry is currently idle.
Both buildings will offer a combined floor space of 890,000 sq ft (83,000 sqm). They will occupy 62 acres out of the 144 acres constituting the whole project site, with 82 acres preserved for environmental purposes.
Don Little, a partner at developer Orchard Partners LLC, said in a press release: “Based on feedback from the Brisbane community, we have reduced the total project size by a third and reduced building heights from 100 feet (30m) to 80 feet (24m). The updated development plan is a smaller project that intends to result in less truck traffic and less environmental impacts. Warehouse uses could be reduced by up to 70 percent.”
The scaling down of the project was announced after Orchard Partners met with members of the local community on April 23.
The developer had submitted the initial plan to the City of Brisbane in July 2021. An Environmental Impact Report (EIR) was deemed necessary, and a draft was published for public review, with a comment period lasting until January 2025.
The City is currently evaluating the comments made and preparing a Final EIR, which will affect the City’s decision to approve or deny the Project. The timeline for this process is unclear.
The project has faced opposition from groups concerned about the environmental impact of the facility. Concern has been raised regarding the threat to certain species of rare or endangered plant and animal life, including various species of butterfly.
Managing partner Tyler Higgins added: “Our new development plan contemplates the creation of a data center, advanced manufacturing, and warehouse space, serving the San Francisco Peninsula — a region that hasn’t seen new infill industrial development for more than 30 years.”
The project’s website claims that the project will bring more than $15m in initial revenue to Brisbane, that it will make an estimated initial contribution of $1.8m to the San Bruno Mountain Habitat Conservation Plan, and that more than 560 construction jobs will be created.
It is unclear whether these changes will assuage those members of the public in opposition. Del Schembari, a member of the Mountain Butterfly Collective, told the Daily Journal that this was the “wrong project, wrong place.”
