Why Industrial Infill Matters
The San Francisco Peninsula industrial real estate market is the second most supply-constrained and underserved market in the United States and has the oldest industrial building base on the West Coast.
The Guadalupe Quarry Redevelopment Project provides an unmatched opportunity to address this challenge while strengthening environmental conservation on San Bruno Mountain.
The Situation: Obsolete Space and Long-term Underinvestment
Over the past thirty years, nearly a third of the SF Peninsula’s industrial buildings have been demolished and replaced with projects that provide mixed-use, housing or life science use. Of the industrial buildings that remain, more than 80% were built before 1980, and the most recent warehouse project developed on the SF Peninsula was nearly 20 years ago.
The Bay Area Goods Movement Plan identifies growing demand for commercial services real estate in the region and a strong demand for warehouse space. However, with low clearances, low power availability, outdated fire protection, inadequate car and trailer parking and insufficient space for trucks — the SF Peninsula’s older building stock just doesn’t meet the needs of today’s modern industrial users and is functionally obsolete.
Locally, a March 2024 Economic Development Report commissioned by the City of Brisbane found that Crocker Industrial Park has leased at a very high capacity (0% vacancy in January 2023, compared to 40% vacancy 10 years earlier).
However, despite having a distribution and warehousing vacancy rate of less than 4%, the Metropolitan Transportation Commission found that the Northern California Megaregion underinvests in industrial lands and infrastructure needs. This, in turn, is causing operational inefficiencies that negatively impact residents, businesses and the environment.
Planning for Growth and Abundance
The City of Brisbane has a long history and rich legacy of industrial development. You might say industrial is embedded in Brisbane’s DNA. Annual property tax from Crocker Industrial Park helped enable the City’s incorporation in 1961. The Guadalupe Quarry Redevelopment Project represents a new chapter for industrial development in the city, building on this legacy while providing the modern space needed for local employers to grow and remain in Brisbane.
The Guadalupe Quarry provides an unmatched industrial infill opportunity to help address the strong demand for modern facilities while advancing both economic opportunity and environmental conservation. The simple fact is there are few — if any — large, already disturbed pieces of land in the Bay Area feasible for light industrial development.
The City of Brisbane’s General Plan anticipates the closure and annexation of the quarry and has already pre-zoned the area for trade commercial uses, such as wholesale, distribution, storage and light industrial activity. The Guadalupe Quarry Redevelopment Project recognizes this and provides a path forward to accelerate closure of the quarry and realize the quarry property’s potential as a regional hub for trade commercial and light industrial businesses.
The Guadalupe Quarry Redevelopment Project would help serve the needs of businesses and residents throughout the SF Peninsula, balancing environmental conservation and economic opportunity while increasing funding for vital local services.
The project would:
- Increase protected open space and habitat for threatened and endangered species
- Increase continuous funding for implementation of the San Bruno Mountain Habitat Conservation Plan, essential for protecting endangered and threatened butterfly species
- Increase funding for vital local services like law enforcement and public safety
- Support Union construction jobs and create high-quality permanent jobs
- Enhance local infrastructure