The Tower Companies Leads With Six LEED Projects

ROCKVILLE, Md., June 4 /PRNewswire/ — The Tower Companies (towercompanies.com), the largest Green Builder in our Nation’s Capital and an early proponent of the US Green Building Council’s LEED certification, today announced that Tower’s corporate offices at 2000 Tower Oaks Boulevard, designed by Kishimoto.Gordon.Dalaya PC (KGD), were awarded LEED Platinum certification under the USGBC’s Commercial Interiors green building rating system. Additionally, The Tower Building (towerbuilding.com), an Energy Star building named 2003 Green Office Building of the Year by Apartment and Office Building Association (AOBA), was awarded LEED Silver certification under the LEED for Existing Buildings rating system, making it the sixth LEED certified project for the company.

Tower’s award-winning LEED certified buildings include: 1050 K Street (1050kstreet.com), a co-development with The Lenkin Company, an 11-story jewel-box office building in DC incorporating the natural elements of air, water, earth and light, is LEED Gold; The Millennium Building/1909 K Street, (millenniumbuilding.com) is the first and only multi-tenant commercial office building in DC to achieve LEED certification through LEED for Existing Buildings and was the first green office building in Washington, DC; The Blair Towns (blairtowns.com) is nationally recognized by the US Green Building Council as America’s first LEED Certified multi-family development in the United States. The new corporate headquarters, 2000 Tower Oaks Blvd, is a 200,000 square foot Fortune-Creating(SM) Vedic building, also designed by KGD, and is the area’s first multi-tenant commercial office building to be certified LEED Platinum. In 2009, Tower began one of the largest LEED renovations in the country at The Blairs, including 1,400 apartment units on a 27-acre live-work-play community in Silver Spring, Maryland. Tower now has 7 buildings under renovation for LEED EB.

“The 64 billion square feet of real estate, consumes more energy than any other sector in the US — including cars. If we are serious about making America healthier and more prosperous, and putting people back to work, then government needs to quickly enact legislation offering tax incentives to accelerate this process because climate change is everyone’s responsibility,” states Tower Partner, Jeffrey S. Abramson.

“Helping create a more sustainable company which will continue to be an example to others has allowed me to begin to realize one of my personal goals,” states David Borchardt, LEED AP, and Tower’s Director of Sustainable Development. Over 25% of the staff are LEED APs.

The Tower Companies is the only real estate developer on the US Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) National Top 50 US Green Power Purchasers’ List, ranking #42, and is EPA-certified carbon neutral. Tower is a member of EPA’s Climate Leaders, Energy Star and Green Power Partnership programs.

The Tower Companies’ dynamic green education and outreach initiatives continues to garner the company numerous local and national awards: 2009 National Association of Industrial and Office Parks (NAIOP)/Best Green Building of the Year/2000 Tower Oaks Boulevard, 2009 Smart CEO, 2009 DC Mayor’s Environmental Excellence Awards, 2009 Peerless Rockville Preservation Awards, 2008 USGBC of the National Capital Area, Member Firm of the Year, 2008 Environmental Excellence Award, City of Rockville, 2008 Corporate Green Award, Multi-Housing News, 2008 Spirit of Free Enterprise Award, Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce, 2008 Green Company of the Year, Washington Business Journal, 2008 Corporate Green Leader of the Year, Washingtonian Magazine, 2007 Business of the Year Award, DC Chamber of Commerce. In 2006 and 2003, Tower received the Leadership Award for Green Power Purchasing from the Environmental Protection Agency and the US Department of Energy, alongside national leaders such as Toyota Motorcars, Whole Foods, and Johnson & Johnson.

Their award-winning portfolio includes 4.5 million square feet of office buildings, office parks, 1,400 apartments, regional malls, residential communities, lifestyle centers, and hotels within the DC area, of which one million square feet are Green or sustainable projects, and another 2.5 million square feet are in the planning stages.

Contact: Elizabeth Oliver-Farrow

The Oliver Group, Inc./Direct: 202 494 1977

SOURCE Tower Companies