Green Buildings & Green Payoffs: Our LEED-Certified Member Buildings

Commercial real estate professionals today are inundated with messages about the benefits of “going green.” After awhile, the messages can all start to sound the same.

So you can see why we were interested in the contents of a presentation called “Current Trends in Green Real Estate – Spring 2011 Update,” jointly produced by the CoStar Group, the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) and CB Richard Ellis (CBRE). Click here to view the full article about the “Current Trends in Green Real Estate” survey.

CBRE recently conducted a survey of the owners, managers and tenants at more than 150 of its buildings across the nation, and came up with some pretty positive results about the benefits of green retrofits and implementing sustainable practices:

• Across survey respondents, green buildings had rental rates an average of 7.38 percent higher than the market average.
• Building managers surveyed maintained tenant satisfaction jumped considerably following green upgrades – from 81 percent satisfied to 97 percent satisfied.
• 16 percent of building occupants observed an increase in productivity following green improvements.
• All owners surveyed expect to pursue LEED certification on other buildings in their management portfolio.

Thirty of our building members have received LEED certification, and many more are pursuing certification. Congratulations to the following members for their dedication to environmental sustainability:

• ABN AMRO Plaza  – LEED EB 2.0 Gold Certification
• Chicago Transit Authority Headquarters – LEED EB 2.0 Gold Certification
• Citigroup Center – LEED CI Gold Certification
• Columbia College Chicago’s Media Production Center – LEED NC 2.2 Gold Certification
• FBI Regional Office – LEED EB O&M Platinum Certification
• Hyatt Center – LEED EB O&M Platinum Certification
• Merchandise Mart – LEED EB 2.0 Silver Certification
• One North Wacker – LEED EB 2.0 Sliver Certification
• One South Dearborn – LEED CS Sliver Certification
• Quaker Plaza – LEED EB 2.0 Silver Certification
• Union Tower – LEED EB O&M Silver Certification
• Wrigley Global Innovation Center – LEED EB O&M Gold Certification
• 10/120 South Riverside Plaza – LEED EB O&M Silver Certification
• 111 South Wacker – LEED CS Gold Certification
• 135 South LaSalle Street – LEED EB 2.0 Certification
• 155 North Wacker Drive – LEED CS 2.0 Gold Certification
• 161 North Clark Street – LEED EB O&M Sliver Certification
• 190 South LaSalle Street – LEED EB O&M Certification
• 191 North Wacker Drive – LEED EB O&M Gold Certification
• 20 North Michigan Avenue – LEED EB O&M Gold Certification
• 20 North Clark Street – LEED EB O&M Gold Certification
• 200 West Adams Street – LEED EB O&M Silver Certification
• 203 North LaSalle Street – LEED EB O&M Gold Certification
• 211 West Wacker Drive – LEED EB O&M Silver Certification
• 225 West Wacker Drive – LEED EB O&M Gold Certification
• 300 North LaSalle Street – LEED CS 2.0 Gold Certification
• 330 North Wabash Avenue – LEED EB O&M Silver Certification
• 350 West Mart Center – LEED EB O&M Gold Certification
• 353 North Clark Street – LEED CS 1.0 Gold Certification
• 55 West Monroe Street – LEED EB O&M Gold Certification
• 550 West Washington – LEED EB O&M Platinum Certification

Should your building be on this list? Let us know and we’ll make sure to add it as we continue to update this list of our LEED-certified members.

We predict that within the next few years, it’ll become challenging to find a Class A downtown Chicago building that isn’t LEED certified.

What do you think? Is LEED certification worth the investment?