Colorado Real Estate Journal - January 6, 2016
USGBC 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 from Washington 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.