TIAA-CREF Global R.E.'s One Boston Place receives LEED-EB Gold for O&M

According to TIAA-CREF Global Real Estate, One Boston Place is the first building to earn the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold designation from the United States Green Building Council (USGBC) for Existing Buildings: Operations & Maintenance. LEED for Existing Buildings: Operations & Maintenance is a rating system that recognizes buildings with maximum operational efficiency and minimal environmental impact. In addition to being the first building to achieve LEED-EB: Operations & Maintenance Gold certification, One Boston Place joins fewer than 100 buildings in the world that have earned LEED-EB certification. Since the building was acquired by TIAA-CREF and SITQ in 2002, and managed by CB Richard Ellis, water consumption has been reduced by 12 million gallons per year or approximately 50% and the building's energy-related carbon footprint has been reduced by 3,000 tons per year or approximately 67%. "We continually seek improvements to our properties that add value for our tenants and clients and reduce the impact on the environment," said Tom Garbutt, managing director and head of TIAA-CREF Global Real Estate. "We are very proud to earn the first LEED-EB Gold certification in this area at One Boston Place and we remain committed to improving the energy efficiency of our 43 million s/f commercial real estate portfolio by 10% by 2010." "The partnership between CB Richard Ellis, TIAA-CREF and SITQ was integral to our success in improving the energy efficiency and operating performance of One Boston Place," said Emily Batchelder, general manager for CBRE at One Boston Place. "We look forward to continuing our work to maintain and further improve upon the gains we've made to date." To earn LEED-EB Gold certification, building staff performed a comprehensive review of building operations with a focus on occupant health and environmental sustainability. TIAA-CREF, with co-owner SITQ and property manager CB Richard Ellis, has incorporated green cleaning techniques, introduced a tenant recycling program, and performed a comprehensive re-commissioning of all base-building systems. In addition, the management team has offered in-house tenant sustainability consultations and established LEED-compliant standards for the construction of new office space within the building. The USGBC's LEED Green Building Rating System encourages and accelerates global adoption of sustainable green building and development practices through the creation and implementation of universally understood and accepted tools and performance criteria. Commercial buildings, as defined by standard building codes, are eligible for certification under six different categories. These include: *LEED for New Construction, *LEED for Existing Buildings, *LEED for Commercial Interiors, *LEED for Retail, *LEED for Schools and *LEED for Core and Shell rating systems. One Boston Place is the city's third-highest office tower, with more than 800,000 s/f of office space and nearly three dozen tenants, including Bank of New York Mellon, Boston Capital Corp., Robinson & Cole and Wells Fargo. One Boston Place is the 2008 Building Owners and Managers Association's Mid-Atlantic Office Building of the Year and received the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's ENERGY STAR award in 2007.