Renewable energy company Intersect Power set up headquarters in the historic former Pacific Telephone and Telegraph Co. building in Downtown San Francisco, the San Francisco Examiner reported.

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The Pacific Telephone and Telegraph Co. building at 140 New Montgomery St.

The company, which employs 280 people and raised billions of dollars in capital, had been operating virtually since 2016. The new office occupies an entire 12K SF floor at 140 New Montgomery St. 

The downtown headquarters places it amid a proliferation of artificial intelligence companies that have set up shop in the last year. Google’s office is just blocks away at 215 Fremont St., as is TPG’s California Street office. 

San Francisco’s office market is still in rough shape, with a 35.8% vacancy rate, but net absorption of 250K SF indicates an uptick in tenant interest. In the first quarter, tenants filled 2.9M SF, the most since 2019, according to CBRE.

Downtown relocations are uncommon, in keeping with the statewide trend. California lost the most headquarters of any state last year, with 17 companies announcing departures — mostly to Texas. San Francisco has lost more than 150 headquarters since 2018. 

Intersect Power builds and operates solar and battery storage projects to power the grid and advance the transition to clean energy. In December, the company partnered with Google and TPG Rise Climate to provide the infrastructure to power data centers with renewable energy.

The AI boom has had ripple effects across the economy, from connectivity to the need for industrial space. Intersect Power aims to address the need for clean energy. 

In 2024, the company fulfilled Tesla’s need for more than $830M in battery energy storage systems. In November, Intersect struck a deal with Google to build “energy parks” alongside data centers. 

The company is in the preconstruction phase of a 398-acre energy generation and solar park in Alameda County. The project faced opposition from environmental groups and Alameda County residents, who filed a lawsuit in 2021 alleging that the project violated the California Environmental Quality Act and a measure that protects agricultural land and open space.

The suit was thrown out in Alameda Superior Court in 2022. The project is set to break ground this year.