In honor of Earth Day, here's a look at new San Francisco restaurants, corporate event venues, hotels, conference centers, and private rooms that factor the environment into their design or operations. Many of these new and renovated San Francisco venues have LEED certification from the U.S. Green Buildings Council or another certification group. They can accommodate groups large or small for private and corporate events, conferences, meetings, weddings, business dinners, teambuilding activities, cocktail parties, and more.
New co-working community Eco-Systm opened in SoMa, offering work space in an eco-friendly environment. Green features include energy-saving lightbulbs, motion-sensor lighting throughout the floor to conserve energy, a recycling and composting program, office supplies made from recycled products, environmentally friendly cleaning supplies, healthy snacks and beverages, and access to yoga, nutrition, and fitness classes. The venue’s largest conference room holds as many as 12 people.
The Bently Reserve, a LEED Silver-certified event venue located in the historic former San Francisco Federal Reserve building, completed a renovation in April that included sustainable upgrades. The 8,045-square-foot Banking Hall now has an upgraded LED system that’s more energy efficient, as well as a new ceiling, newly restored columns, and a new unisex bathroom. The hall holds 805 for receptions. The 870-square-foot Gateway Room, which holds 90 receptions, is now completely restored to its 1924 look, with new paint, walls, cherry wood, and tile. The renovation also created a new meeting and event space called the Adriatic Room. The 760-square-foot former storage space has a new ceiling and exposes the building’s 1924-era brick walls. It holds 62 people for receptions.
American Conservatory Theater’s the Strand theater is scheduled to open in mid-May after a $32.5 million renovation. Design firm SOM is handling the revitalization of the historic theater, restoring the original 1917 façade. The site will include a 300-seat theater, a 120-seat black box theater, and a café. The project saves 40 percent of water through use of high-efficiency toilets, water closets, showers, and bathroom sinks. The theater also saves about 15 percent in energy through use of high-efficiency HVAC equipment and lighting and will subsidize green power facilities through the purchase of renewable energy certificates. Other green features include proximity to public transportation, bike lockers and showers for commuters, use of building materials with recycled content, and a recycling program.
In March, Hotel Monaco’s BDK Restaurant & Bar opened in San Francisco’s Lower Nob Hill neighborhood. Named after Kimpton Hotels founder Bill Drennon Kimpton, BDK is an American tavern helmed by chef Heather Terhune. The 72-seat dining room is designed by San Francisco-based design firm Ken Fulk and features both high-top tables and pub-style booths and banquettes. The bar seats 17 and the lounge seats 20. Materials used in the restaurant's design include California granite, raw steel, leather, polished brass, and oak. Its green design elements include the use of energy-efficient LEDs and a system to conserve water usage.
Dry Creek Vineyard in Healdsburg is now officially recognized as a Certified California Sustainable Winery. The winery was certified in August 2014, and the vineyards completed certification in February 2015. Sustainable initiatives at the vineyard include the use of cover crops to replenish the soil, solar power for the winery’s daily energy needs, and a partnership with the Sonoma County Water Agency in the Creekside Restoration Project along the Dry Creek. The winery is available for private tours for groups of as many as eight guests, and boccie in the vineyard is available for groups of as many as 12 guests.
Nine-time winner of the EPA Energy Star award Hotel Nikko recently installed two Capstone C65 microturbines in February to increase energy efficiency. The system will provide energy and hot water for the 25-story, 532-room hotel, which is striving to achieve LEED Gold certification this year. The hotel offers 20 distinct venues, including a ballroom that can seat 600 guests for banquet-style events.
The newly renovated historic Presidio Officers’ Club, which debuted in September, has been designed and built to achieve a LEED Silver rating. Green features include the use of 100 percent FSC-certified wood products, maximized daylight, low-VOC paints, adhesives, and building materials, the use of regionally sourced materials and recycled building materials, water efficient fixtures, and optimized building energy performance with energy-efficient systems and controls. The 2,955-square-foot Ortega Ballroom features panoramic bay and forest views and seats 160 banquet-style or 280 theater-style or holds 300 for receptions. The outdoor Hardie Courtyard has lush plantings and holds 50 for receptions.
Every renovation and upgrade the Hilton San Francisco Union Square has completed in the past five years has incorporated energy-saving initiatives, from LED and energy-efficient lighting to low-VOC paint and low-flow plumbing fixtures. The hotel is currently undergoing a multiphase, multimillion-dollar renovation that most recently redesigned 575 guest rooms and suites in its Tower 1. It also added 11 rooms, bringing the hotel’s inventory to 1,919 rooms. The decor in the Tower 1 guest rooms is sleek and minimalist, with ocean-inspired colors and black tile accents in the bathrooms. As one of the largest hotels on the West Coast, the Hilton San Francisco Union Square boasts 134,000 square feet of meeting space. The hotel also recently added hydration stations throughout the hotel. Each hydration station has a counter indicating how many single-use plastic bottles were saved, and at the end of 2014, more than 60,000 one-use plastic bottles were saved. By this sumer, Hilton hopes to provide 18-ounce reusable water bottles for guests to use.
Temple Nightclub, a popular San Francisco nightclub with an energy-generating dance floor, reopened in October after a complete redesign. The 20,000-square-foot venue in SoMa now has a 50,000 addressable LED immersive lighting sculpture and a state-of-the-art Void Air Motion sound system. The main room holds 750 guests for receptions and includes two full bars with one mezzanine-level bar. Meanwhile, LVL 55 holds 350 for receptions and offers a full bar and enclosed DJ booth. The Infinity Lounge, where the energy-generating dance floor is located, can hold as many as 150 guests for receptions and includes a full bar and customizable DJ booth. The entire venue is available for buyouts.
Soon-to-open San Francisco “table-to-farm” restaurant the Perennial will open a 2,000-square-foot, Kickstarter-funded aquaponic greenhouse in West Oakland to grow organic lettuce and vegetables and raise carp and sturgeon. Founded by husband-and-wife team Anthony Myint and Karen Leibowitz, whose resumes include Mission Chinese Food, the greenhouse will host open houses for the public to learn more about aquaponic farming. Kitchen scraps from the restaurant will be composted by worms and then dehydrated and fed to the fish and plants. The 65-seat restaurant, slated to open in July, will serve bread made from perennial grains and meat sourced via carbon farming. It also will collaborate closely with Zero Foodprint, a nonprofit that helps restaurants lower and offset their greenhouse gas emissions.
