January 6-January 19, 2016 —
COLORADO REAL ESTATE JOURNAL
— Page 35
U
SGBC Colorado
honored the winners
of the second-annual
Commercial Real Estate Green
Building
Awards
for their
innovative
and superior
work in new
and existing
buildings
across the
Centennial
State. More
than 150
attendees
convened at
the SPACE
Gallery in
Denver on December 1 where
the awards were presented at
a gala reception. This year’s
winners were selected by a
15-person judging panel of green
building and commercial real
estate professionals.
“The winners chosen here
tonight were acknowledged for
their passion and commitment
to advancing the future of
green building in Colorado,”
said Patti Mason, Executive
Director, USGBC Colorado.
“Their work is representative
of USGBC Colorado’s mission
to improve the quality of life for
individuals by transforming the
way communities are built and
designed.”
The Awards Gala was
supported by NORESCO, one
of the largest energy services
companies in the United States.
“The event is such a nice way
to take a step back from our
daily grind, get together with
our peers and clients and
honor some of the projects
that are taking sustainable
goals to the next level and give
ourselves a little pat on the
back for trying to be one small
piece to the solution,” said
Adrian Wisniewski, Business
Development and Proposal
Manager, NORESCO. “With
all the scary things going on in
the world, it was inspiring to
see a room full of professionals
trying to do their part in solving
one of the challenges. We sure
aren’t going to solve these issues
on our own, but supporting
the local USGBC chapter is
certainly a nice start. ”
The 2015 Commercial Real
Estate Green Awards winners
are in seven categories:
Rise to the Challenge:
Most Accomplished
Green Building
Turntable Studios
Turntable Studios was created
as a dense vertical environment
of micro-units with efficient
living space and a small
footprint for each resident.
This space is much more
environmentally friendly than
a less dense, sprawling scenario
such as suburban, single-family
detached homes.
“It has been a great project to
work on,” said Brendan Tarang,
Project Engineer, I-Kota, who
accepted the award. “We were
able to turn an older building,
into micro-efficiency apartments
which will be the first of its kind
in Denver.”
Green Dealmakers:
Most Sustainable Real
Estate Company
GreenSpot Real Estate
More than just a real estate
company, the “whole-house” and
“whole-building” data driven
professionals at GreenSpot have
helped make it an industry
leader in adding value to real
estate through site acquisition
and disposition services, green-
building certifications like
LEED and ENERGY STAR
and expert advice to developers,
investors, and homeowners.
“I feel very blessed,” said
Melissa Baldridge, Co-Founder,
GreenSpot. “I tell people all the
time that our clients are rock
stars. You show up every day
and say that you want to think
to better, and I am blown away
that I get to work with you. It’s
amazing that this great group of
people chose to honor us.”
Most Successful Community
Engagement
Aurora Public Schools
All 59 of the schools in the
district have installed smart
meters through the Green Stars
Program, an incentives program
developed to award schools for
their energy saving efforts. The
meters give access to real time
data for energy, natural gas,
water and trash rates at the
schools.
“I’d like to thank everyone
on our team, this is a home
grown solution for Aurora
public schools,” said Julie
North, Natural and Renewable
Resources Coordinator, Aurora
Public Schools. “Since this
program started in 2014
we’ve saved $5 million for the
district.”
Greenest Building of
2015 (New or Existing)
South Wing at St. Vrain
The building is targeting
LEED Platinum and is
pursuing credits in all areas
of sustainability: energy
savings, water efficiency, CO2
emissions reduction, improved
indoor environmental quality,
stewardship of resources and
sensitivity to their impacts.
“I am so proud to help accept
this award,” said Katy Candau,
Architect, OZ Architecture.
“Boulder County wanted a
project that would better serve
their community that was
welcoming and friendly; all
the tools we used to promote
sustainability in this project did
that.”
Executive Director’s Award
The Dakota Outfall Project
The $21 million infrastructure
project achieved three important
objectives: it provided a 100-year
storm-water drainage solution
to address chronic flooding
during large storms, it increased
connectivity fromWashington
Park and surrounding
neighborhoods and it catalyzed
transit-oriented development to
allow for increased density near
the transit center.
“Thank you to USGBC
Colorado for recognizing
my project, which normally
wouldn’t be recognized,” said
Dan Cohen, Development
Manager, D4 Urban.
“Ultimately this project will
provide storm water drainage
for 5,000 to 6,000 area residents
and an added benefit of
increased access to local train
stations.”
The Green Building
Legacy Award
1900 Sixteenth Street
1900 Sixteenth Street, a
400,539 square foot 17-story
tower adjacent to the landmark
Millennium Bridge, was
designed to limit energy and
water consumption, protect
indoor environmental quality,
improve access to transit
options and use materials
with local or recycled content.
The structure achieved Gold
Certification through USGBC’s
LEED-CS certification program.
“We are honored to receive
this award,” said Roger Bell,
Chief Building Engineer, CBRE.
“We were the first platinum
multi-tenant office building for
LEED EBOM. It’s been quite
a journey and 5 years in the
making, and we are just proud
to be a part of it.”
Exceptional
Implementation of
Sustainable Technologies
Marble Distilling Co.
The building, which has
a distillery, tasting room
and guest rooms, is the first
major commercial building
to meet the requirements
of the International Green
Construction Code in the town
of Carbondale, Co and has
a ZEPI score of 6.98. It was
constructed using an integrated
systems approach that used the
heat from the distilling process
to provide heat to the building.
Nomination criteria specified
that finalists must be located
in the state of Colorado, and
must be active (in operation
or substantially completed)
between January 2015 and
October 2015. The project
must be a commercial building
(office, medical, retail, school,
etc.) and have green building
design or operational attributes,
however LEED® certification
is not necessarily required
for submission. Finally, the
project must exemplify the
vision of USGBC Colorado: “To
transform the way buildings
and communities are designed,
built and operated, enabling an
environmentally and socially
responsible, healthy, and
prosperous environment that
improves the quality of life.”
For more information
about the Commercial Real
Estate award winners, visit
usgbccolorado.org.
The U.S. Green Building
Council Colorado Chapter
is a 501(c)(3) non-profit
organization that was
established in the state of
Colorado in 2003. USGBC
Colorado was the 15th
chapter to be recognized by
U.S. Green Building Council
and is part of a nationwide
network of local chapters that
all contribute to the mission of
transforming the way buildings
and communities are designed,
built and operated, enabling an
environmentally and socially
responsible, healthy, and
prosperous environment that
improves the quality of life. Our
goal is to achieve our mission
through education, improving
industry guidelines, policy,
advocacy, and information and
resourcing sharing.
Patti Mason
Executive director,
U.S. Green Building
Council Colorado
Chapter, Denver
Laura Unrein, Group14 Engineering, Laura Charlier, Group14 Engineering
and Lauren McNeil, Group14 Engineering
Hayley Hermstad, OfficeScapes, and Linda Kogan, University of Colorado-
Colorado Springs
Patti Mason, USGBC Colorado, Julie North, Aurora Public Schools, Craig
Wright, Aurora Public Schools, Stephenie Falcone, GreenSpot, Melissa
Baldridge, GreenSpot, Brendan Tarang, I-Kota, Jeff Dickinson, Energy &
Sustainable Design Inc.; Michelle Marlow, Marble Distilling Co.; Duanine
Mandarich, Roger Bell, CBRE, Dan Cohen, D4 Urban, Julie Edwards, OZ
Architecture, Katy Candau, OZ Architecture and James Butler, Boulder
County Building Services
Hayden Garrett, Garland Industries, and Larry Boothby, Ashland
Construction
