San Francisco, Exhibit A for the “urban doom loop” that has seen
downtown office space and accompanying amenities empty out in the wake
of the pandemic, has just welcomed a new lease in the financial district
from, ironically, a company known for its driver-free cars. Waymo, the
Alphabet-owned autonomous ride service that’s been piloting programs in
its home city as well as Phoenix and Austin, last week signed a lease
for 78,000 sq. ft. in an area where The Real Deal says one in three
office spaces is vacant. The transaction follows the company’s sublease
at the location from Uber, which moved from the space into its new HQ in
Mission Bay in 2021.
One week ago today, Cummins welcomed U.S. President Joe Biden to this
expanding manufacturing facility and chose the occasion to announced it
will also invest more than $1 billion across its U.S. engine
manufacturing network in Indiana, North Carolina and New York. Cummins
President and CEO Jennifer Rumsey noted the incentives in measures such
as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act “are
driving the clean energy economy forward in the United States and
critical to our decarbonization efforts.” In Fridley, she said, “in just
a few weeks, we will begin manufacturing one of the key pieces of
technology for green hydrogen production that will help decarbonize our
economy and drive the clean energy transition – the electrolyzer.”
Hydrogen produced by electrolyzers can power hydrogen fuel cell vehicles
and is used in industrial processes like steel production. Established
in 1969, the Fridley operation employs over 900 and will plan to
dedicate 89,000 sq. ft. of the existing facility to electrolyzer
production starting April 24.
Clarion Partners has 21 active Fitwel certifications including its
six-building, 22-acre Merritt 7 office park in Norwalk, Connecticut,
which recently garnered two new tenants.
Image courtesy Clarion Partners
Spring saw the advent of the 2023 Best in Building Health
awards from Fitwel, a healthy building
certification system created in partnership with the U.S.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and operated by
the Center for Active Design (CfAD) that has 1.2 billion sq.
ft. registered on the platform, impacting more than 2.6
million people. Among the honors:
ESG Impact Through Health: Nuveen
Portfolio Benchmarking: Clarion Partners
Entity Wide Growth: Lionstone Investments
Most Certifications of All-Time: Harrison Street
Highest Scoring Built Project of All-Time: Green Matrix
Consulting Company / Hon Hai Group / UL Solutions
Highest Scoring Design Project of All-Time: Corgan /
Peloton Headquarters, New York, NY
Georgia World Congress Center Authority (GWCCA), Hilton and Skanska in
late March celebrated the ceremonial topping off of the Signia by Hilton
Atlanta, calling the 453-ft., 976-room project “the city’s largest
downtown ground-up hotel development project in 40 years.” When it opens
in January 2024 the hotel built on the repurposed foundation of the
Georgia Dome is projected to generate nearly 1,000 new jobs.
We can’t visit the site of the former Georgia Dome without referencing
what happened there five years and four months ago. We’re not talking
about a football game. We’re speaking, of course, of the infamous and
still-funny Weather Channel reporter’s
MARTA-bus-blocks-implosion-shot video. Give that man a night’s
stay at the new Hilton! And give one to the bus driver too, for staying
focused on her job and her timetable despite distractions like dome
implosions.
