Forty-eight thousand LEDs now run along the western span of the Bay Bridge. They make up the rebuilt version of The Bay Lights, which was switched on in March 2026.
JP Conte helped pay for it. Illuminate, the San Francisco nonprofit behind the installation, said in February that he had funded the original work in 2012 and returned to support its replacement.
Why the First System Failed
Leo Villareal’s original design, first lit in March 2013, used about 25,000 bulbs strung along the bridge’s cables. Years of wind, salt air and constant vibration took their toll.
Ten years in, those bulbs were “failing faster than they can be repaired in a cost-effective manner,” ABC7 reported. The lights were turned off in March 2023. The replacement carried an $11 million price tag, according to Illuminate.
A Purpose-Built Replacement
Musco Lighting, a lighting manufacturer, was hired to engineer and fabricate the new system. Illuminate said the hardware was designed for the bridge’s wind loads and salt air from the start.
Coverage runs 1.8 miles along the bridge’s northern cable plane. It is lit every night from dusk until dawn, according to Illuminate.
A Returning Donor
Conte is the founder and managing partner of his family office, Lupine Crest Capital, and has worked in private equity for decades. His family’s foundation operates from San Francisco. He has also supported Bay Area education programs, including SEO Scholars and 10,000 Degrees.
He called the relit work “a gift to the public.”J-P Conte was one of more than 1,300 individual contributors to the rebuild, according to Illuminate, and one of many donors who had also given to the original.
Staying Involved
Jean-Pierre Conte has written that support should not end with one donation. An August 2025 column he wrote for Forbes Business Council, about wildfire preparedness, asked business leaders to talk to community leaders first and find out what they need.
Expertise and connections should be offered along with financial support, the column said. “Beyond writing a check, think about how you specifically can help the community,” J-P Conte wrote.
Closer to Home
That column drew on his own experience in Colorado. Conte calls Aspen home. The J-P Conte Family Foundation made a leadership gift that helped the Aspen Wildfire Foundation deliver a new wildland fire engine to the local fire district in late June 2025. It was slated to enter service that same wildfire season.
He also pointed to state records showing that Colorado’s 20 largest recorded wildfires had all occurred after 2001.