Greensburg’s John Deere Dealer Go Green
By Phyllis Jacobs Griekspoor, The Wichita Eagle, Kan.
Feb. 20–When finished, the John Deere dealership in Greensburg could be the prototype for dealerships around the country.
Kelly and Mike Estes broke ground on their dealership last week and hope to start pouring concrete Monday or Tuesday.
The brothers, who also own dealerships in Greensburg, Pratt, Bucklin and Ness City, are working with Deere & Co. designers to build the dealership to new environmentally friendly standards.
Kelly Estes said the dealership is waiting on paperwork for its LEED certification.
“But we’re close,” he said.
LEED — or Leadership in Environment and Energy Design — certification by the U.S. Green Building Council is a standard that is being applied to many of the buildings being rebuilt after the May 4 tornado that devastated the town. The ratings are silver, gold and platinum.
“Right now, we’re at silver, working toward platinum, and John Deere is trying to help us with that,” Kelly Estes said. “It’s harder for us because we have a shop, not an office building.
“If we build to platinum standards, John Deere will be bringing in dealers from all over the country to tour our dealership. Their goal is to make it a prototype for 1,000 new dealerships of the future.”
The dealership, which is in its fourth generation, is building a 28,000-square-foot steel building with plans to expand in the future.
“We’ll have motion lighting, low-water-use toilets, wind generators, solar panels, oil waste heat and corn burners for heating the shop,” Kelly Estes said. “We’ll put in whatever else we can think of as we design and build.”
The brothers said the rebuilding of Greensburg is picking up speed.
“It’s coming along like you can’t believe,” Kelly Estes said. “You ought to see the stuff that’s getting built. Every day it seems we hear about something new, and there a lot of innovative things.”
The city has announced plans to build three city-owned buildings to LEED Platinum standards. The GM dealership is rebuilding to platinum standards.
“It’s been really gratifying to us to be part of the business group planning the rebuilding of our town. People have really stepped up to help,” he said. “We appreciate everything that everyone has done.”
Reach P.J. Griekspoor at 316-268-6660 or at pgriekspoor@wichitaeagle.com.
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