PG&E crafts nearly billion-dollar deal to buy Oakland HQ, nearby site

OAKLAND — PG&E has completed a nearly billion-dollar purchase of its downtown Oakland headquarters tower and an adjacent property in a deal the utility giant hopes will help save money for its customers.

All told, the power titan paid $985.5 million for an office high-rise and nearby office and retail building at 300 Lakeside Drive in downtown Oakland, according to documents filed on June 3 with the Alameda County Recorder’s Office.

Oakland-based PG&E has established its headquarters in the 28-story office tower that’s perched on the shores of Lake Merritt.

PG&E paid $906 million for a parcel that contains its headquarters tower and $79.5 million for the adjacent parcel that includes a mixed-use office and retail building, the Alameda County documents show.

The transaction completes an intricate set of Bay Area real estate deals that PG&E hopes will help it pass along savings from a more efficient operation to its customers through their monthly electric and gas bills.

PG&E has also sold its former headquarters complex in San Francisco for $800 million as part of a relocation of the company’s head offices to downtown Oakland.

The utility titan has estimated that it would be able to save $400 million through a more efficient operation in a single office tower.

PG&E said it would pass the savings along to customers over a five-year period. The company anticipated that the cost savings would help moderate the rise in monthly bills for ratepayers.

The 300 Lakeside Drive building is the home office for about 7,000 of PG&E’s 26,000 workers, the utility estimated in 2023.

In 2020, PG&E said it had struck a deal to lease the 300 Lakeside office tower from TMG Partners. That rental agreement also provided PG&E with an option to buy the tower from TMG, a purchase that has now occurred.

“Our Oakland headquarters is a critical hub for our operational and innovation progress,” PG&E Chief Executive Officer Patricia Poppe stated in a web post in 2023.

PG&E began moving workers into the 300 Lakeside office tower in 2022.

The move from San Francisco and the consolidation of other East Bay offices into Oakland represent a 50% reduction in PG&E’s major Bay Area office space since 2020, the company stated previously.

“We love being a part of the community in Oakland and look forward to our future in this vibrant city,” Poppe stated in the 2023 web post.