1155 Canyon Boulder’s first LEED private project

Principal Partners from left, Larry Soll, Woody Eaton, Jerry Lee, Nancy Moran and John Wittemeyer. Not pictured is partner William Reynolds.

BOULDER – As green building gains momentum in Boulder, the new four-story building at 1155 Canyon Boulevard – branded as 1155 Canyon – stands out as a pacesetter.

Located at Broadway and Canyon on the former site of Trios Wine Bar and Gallerie, the mixed-used development is the city’s first private project to qualify for certification in Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, known as LEED.

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In May, First National Bank of Colorado will move in as the primary tenant of the of the building’s commercial portion. The bank will occupy 20,000 square feet of the 99,000-square-foot building. Other office tenants include accounting firm EKS&H, Wachovia Securities and AMG Bank. The building is also home to 18 high-end condominium units.

The LEED rating system for environmentally sustainable construction, developed by the U.S. Green Building Council, has emerged as the industry standard for green development. New construction and major renovations, existing buildings, commercial interiors, and core and shell projects can register for certification. Pilot programs for homes and neighborhoods are under evaluation this year.

“(LEED) definitely has emerged as the national standard,´ said Elizabeth Vasatka, environmental coordinator with Boulder’s Office of Environmental Affairs. “It’s the momentum of the marketplace that understands this is a better building practice.”

Projects are given points based on six categories – sustainable sites, water efficiency, energy and atmosphere, materials and resources, indoor environmental quality, and innovation and design process. Buildings receive certification by scoring above a certain point threshold. If construction goes above and beyond the minimum prerequisites, the project can attain silver, gold or platinum levels of certification.

“There’s no doubt we’ll be certified,´ said Jerry Lee of Lee Real Estate Development. “We’re looking for silver.”

Lee is one of the project’s six partners, along with Bill Reynolds, Larry Soll, John Wittemeyer, Woody Eaton and Nancy Maron.

Lee said the final tally of the new building’s LEED score will be completed in June or July.

The building has a wide variety of green features including sustainable materials, a light-colored roof to help counteract the urban heat island, a photovoltaic solar system, water-efficient fixtures, a comprehensive recycling program since groundbreaking, and the site’s pedestrian-friendly location itself.

Developers also earn a point for putting together a detailed manual for tenants explaining the building’s sustainable features and services.

“I’ve been trying to do LEED certification for the last five years,” Lee said, adding that the specifications for core-and-shell projects only became official last June, two months after groundbreaking at 1155 Canyon. “We were ahead of the curve. We knew it was coming.”

Before 1155 Canyon, three new buildings and two commercial interiors were certified in Boulder.

“Institutional and government has led the charge,´ said Vasatka, noting that the North Boulder Recreation Center is the country’s first LEED-certified recreation center and Boulder Community Foothills Hospital is the country’s first LEED-certified hospital.

While the city of Boulder and University of Colorado at Boulder have internal directives stating new buildings must be LEED certified, private developers are just now getting into the act. Beyond being the city’s first LEED-certified private building, 1155 Canyon is Boulder’s first LEED-certified core-and-shell project.

Molly Clarke, associate engineer and LEED project manager at Boulder’s Architectural Energy Corp., has worked as a LEED consultant for the 1155 Canyon project. She said the “marketability” of green buildings is driving the project and the  broader trend, noting that LEED-certified buildings “have higher tenant retention and lower turnover.”

Better marketability has been the rule with 1155 Canyon: All 18 of the building’s condominiums were sold by fall 2006, and the office space was under contract in its entirety soon after. Each condominium unit averages 2,100 square feet and sold for an average of $800 per square foot, Lee said.

While they are more marketable, LEED buildings also cost more to build.

“A certified or a silver rating can be done at a 2 percent cost premium,´ said Architectural Energy’s Clarke.

Gold ratings cost 3 percent to 5 percent more than an uncertified building, and platinum buildings cost even more. Higher construction costs are quickly countered after the building is completed, Clarke added.

“Once you get into gold and platinum certification, you have significantly higher upfront costs, but significantly lower operational costs,” she said.

Lee believes the return on the investment at 1155 Canyon will get better in the future, but that its LEED certification is not purely about dollars.

“I always felt that it was the responsible thing to do as a developer,” he said. “In future years, more and more people are going to demand, desire and look for LEED certification. Every building we do in the future will be a LEED building.”

City officials are hopeful other developers will grab the torch from Lee and build more LEED-certified buildings, Vasatka said. Besides Lee, only Westcor, a subsidiary of The Macerich Co., considered integrating LEED standards into Twenty Ninth Street, but the extra costs were too steep, Vasatka said.

“It’s a learning curve for any developer. A paradigm shift has to happen in terms of energy use,” she added. “If you look at passive solar and day-lighting, you can cut energy costs sizably.”

Vasatka also argued higher indoor environmental quality directly leads to a boost in productivity. “People are happier, and they show up more often.”

1155 Canyon’s LEED certification is not a mandate for its tenants. “(Tenants) don’t have to abide by LEED specifications,” Lee said. “We are suggesting it and encouraging it, but they aren’t required.”

Regardless of what tenants decide, Vasatka praised 1155 Canyon and its developers. “I think Jerry Lee’s setting the stage for more competition for green office space in downtown Boulder. (1155 Canyon) seems like the perfect opportunity. I’m hopeful it will be a big success.”