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Raising the Silver Bar
By Shanta McGahey
Jacoby Development and AIG’s innovative stormwater system is just one part of a whole strategy to develop a cutting edge, smart and sustainable Live-Work-Play complex that serves as a model for commercial real estate investors, architects, engineers and builders worldwide. The two companies’ joint venture, Atlantic Station, LLC, replaces Atlantic Steel, which vacated in 1998 after 99 years of producing and recycling iron and steel. Hilburn Hillestad, senior vice president of Environmental Affairs at Jacoby Development, considered the old steel mill, "an impairment to the quality of the environment. We were not on a sustainable curve in a large section of Atlanta." Although Atlantic Steel was in compliance with environmental regulations, Atlantic Station’s redevelopment plan required extensive remediation. Says Hillestad, "We recycled a steel mill itself into a very new and vibrant community. We proposed a development plan in 1998—and the plan has changed very little since then, by the way—which prescribed retail on the eastern site, residential in the middle and retail on the western end. We showed the EPD (Georgia Environmental Protection Division) the development in the context of remediation." With the full support of the EPD, the EPA and the City of Atlanta, Atlantic Station spent two years cleaning up the site and preparing it for a New Urban complex.
This campus program is one of the first of its kind to be created for a commercial site. From this point on, every building in Atlantic Station will be built with at least all the efficiencies of 171 17th Street. According to Leary, that includes the use of 37% less water than a typical high-rise; no CFCs and 25% more efficient chilling equipment; and 28% of the building itself constructed with recycled material.
As of the end of 2005, Wachovia’s Atlanta headquarters anchors 171 17th Street. Law firms Arnall Golden and Gregory (one of Atlanta’s largest) and Burr & Forrman, real estate firms Carter and AIG are all leasing space in the building, in addition to the offices of Jacoby Development and Atlantic Station, LLC. "The unique environmental aspects and the high visibility of the Atlantic Station development" were key factors in Wachovia’s decision to locate its Atlanta offices at 171 17th Street, according to Wachovia Corporate Communications Manager David Oliver. "The LEED-certified building fits well within the company’s parameters for taking steps to make the communities where we do business better places to live and work," he adds. Leary and Bahouth consider 171 17th Street and the subsequent campus guidelines the next logical step in commercial development. "It’s the right thing to do, environmentally," Bahouth says simply. "The reduction and energy efficiency makes business sense. Taking the long view allows people to invest in a community such as this," he says. "We show people who say, ‘This is not what I normally do,’ that it works. I call it "blue collar green," which means getting it mainstream. Hopefully someday everything will be built to these standards, but somebody has to do it first. And when you walk in this building, you feel good." Leary hopes Atlantic Station will inspire other developers to follow their lead in creating sustainable large commercial sites. "We live in a built environment," he says, "so it’s very important what developers do." |
Back in the late 1990s, when the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was about to impose heavy fines on the City of Atlanta for having sewage overflows and violating the Clean Water Act, the city received some good news: at no cost to the municipality, Jacoby Development, Inc., in partnership with AIG Global Real Estate Investment Group, would create a $23 million separated storm and sanitary system-the first in Atlanta-on a 138-acre brownfield in Midtown. Completed in 2001, the independent and highly efficient system not only ensures clean water for residents and workers, it also reduces runoff.
Dozens of real estate developers around the country, and many more around the world, are developing Live-Work-Play centers that meet green building requirements. But Atlantic Station holds the distinction of being the first to incorporate a high-rise office tower, 171 17th Street, that adheres to the U.S. Green Building Council’s guidelines for Silver-level LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification, the second in a four-level tier. "This building is the next logical step," says Brian Leary, Atlantic Station’s vice president of Design and Development. "We have 12 to 15 more planned and all will be LEED certified." Peter Bahouth, a contractor for Atlantic Station adds, "We just registered 8.5 million square feet of future buildings with LEED. We’re about making green building an incentive to come here. [Tenants] pay no more for it." The group also created detailed Tenant Design & Construction Guidelines, which educate individual tenants about LEED and give them tools to pursue LEED for Commercial Interiors certification. 
"These become the standards for the next buildings," Leary says. "These will be the minimums." Plans for future buildings include the integration of photovoltaics and fuel cells in the power systems. "We’re working with the Southeast Fuel Cell Coalition to use fuel cells on site," Bahouth says. Printable Version | Email to a friend | Add to favorites | Larger font
