For many commercial real estate owners, LEED is either not important or perceived unattainable, due to the excessive costs associated with attaining USGBC recognition for a job well done. I am writing today to dismiss that theory!
We started out almost 3 years ago with the intention of going LEED for our headquarters in Woodbury, many times we were discouraged by the process and ignorance that most people had around attaining LEED Status and on September 16th, 2015 we found out that our building was the first LEED building in Woodbury and the first LEED Platinum office building on Long Island! http://www.usgbc.org/projects/vanderbilt-financial-group
It started with a desire to make a difference as a business, an entrepreneur, as a member of the community and as an employer, LEED is a standard that many people dismiss as being either unimportant or unneccessary, I disagree, it is difficult, not an easy task, it takes passion, persistence, vision and a willingness to commit to having an Impact on business, the community, our clients and our employees.
As far as budget, I would challenge that there was NO cost difference, as a matter of fact, it possbly cost LESS than traditional construction if you factor in the long term return on investment for certain aspects of the projects. For example the White Roof we installed, we not only needed a roof, but the concept of making it the way we did would probably not have happened if we hadn’t installed solar panels through @empowersolar.
Please reach out to me if you are considering going LEED with your project and I am glad to share my experiences and resources.
Pictured above is @dianalillo, our LEED designer.
Special thanks to @mikeambrosino, @salferarra, @paulmeyer, @pammendez, @vanderbiltfinancialgroup