Parkmerced labs launches in San Francisco as a living laboratory to accelerate innovation in urban living

San Francisco – February 12, 2016 – Maximus Real Estate Partners announced the launch of Parkmerced Labs (PM Labs), a new company driving innovation in urban living, which is set to transform Parkmerced, one of the largest urban communities in North America. The announcement was made by Rob Rosania, founder and lead visionary of Maximus Real Estate Partners.

With more than 3,200 apartments and 10,000 residents, Parkmerced is located on the main route between San Francisco and Silicon Valley. PM Labs, seen as a modern Bell Labs of real estate, will collaborate closely with corporations and promising startups to bring pioneering solutions in urban living to Parkmerced, focusing on four innovation platforms; energy technology, building technology, connected environment, and mobility.

This will be the first testbed and proving ground for PM Labs, for this new model of working in ways to accelerate innovation in the built environment, and pioneer solutions that can be developed and implemented on a global scale.

“Our goal is to rethink urbanization and living in cities, and change the lives of residents with piloting and testing to create new solutions for transportation, energy consumption and housing,” said Rosania. “As the largest community in the tech sector, Parkmerced is the ideal community in which to develop this model, merging the innovations of Silicon Valley with modern residential development. It will become a hub for residents of all backgrounds, and over the next 20 years, we anticipate investing nearly $6 billion, adding more than 5,500 new units, 20,000 new residents and 400,000 square feet of commercial space, ultimately growing to 3 percent of San Francisco’s population.”

“With the critical need for housing, we anticipate this will provide an enhanced supply of demographically diverse, desirable housing in the Bay area, and serve as a new model for community living and shared values of corporations, growth companies and property developers,” said Willie Brown, former mayor of San Francisco. “This should also serve as a guide to minimize government time and resources in guiding future developments.”

“PM Labs is establishing a groundbreaking partnership to create the first seamless, multi-modal, community-wide, transit solution,” said Andrew Shapiro, founder of Parkmerced Labs. “This collaboration will bring together public transportation, car and bike sharing, and access to hourly car rentals, to create a comprehensive alternative to private car ownership, and is projected to reduce private car trips by at least 50 percent.”

PM Labs is also working with technology partners to enable residential access to more efficient, cleaner sources of energy, such as shared community solar, with a goal of a 60 percent reduction in per-capita energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions.

Additional initiatives include collaborating with partners to apply the internet of things to the physical environment, both in the home and the broader community. Solutions will enable smart homes, buildings, and security, as well as an increase in convenience and efficiency for residents in areas such as retail, delivery, entertainment, and community safety.

As for building technology, PM Labs is working with a global partner on a suite of solutions to optimize the design and construction of new buildings, to manage ongoing performance and maximize the efficiency of building operations. This will include 3D modeling and software to track wastewater, with a target goal of achieving a 60 percent reduction in per-capita water, energy consumption and waste water production, which is critical in the State of California.

About Maximus:

Maximus Real Estate Partners is reinventing the concept of urban living. Founded in 2012, the real estate and development company is creating transformational value in areas that have been in want of livable modern housing while revitalizing existing under-cared-for properties. Recognized as the most rapidly growing multifamily investor in the San Francisco Bay Area, Maximus currently owns five multifamily renovation/development properties including the largest entitlement in California history, Parkmerced. This development received the prestigious American Institute of Architecture (AIA) award for Urban Design in 2013 for the project’s innovative long-term development design creating the largest carbon net neutral community. With 5,000 existing units and over 7,000 units in the development pipeline, Maximus has a deeply sophisticated and environmentally innovative approach that has positioned the company to revolutionize the urban community experience.