2007 The Year in Business, No. 5: Green building becomes all the rage

Discovery Center blazed the green trail as Springfield’s first project to work toward Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification. It celebrated LEED Gold certification in April.

Matt O’Reilly, owner of Dynamic Earth, emerged as the poster child for private developers after breaking ground on his Green Circle Shopping Center early in the year.

The $3 million, 18,000-square-foot center at 1110 E. Republic Road is shooting for platinum LEED certification when it is complete in February.

O’Reilly told Springfield Business Journal in July that one of the advantages of green building is lower utility costs – savings that, in a building with leased space, can be passed on to the owner.

“In the long run, you’ve got a space that is making $18 or $19 a square foot instead of $14 a square foot after the building is paid off,” O’Reilly said. “It is more profitable in addition to being more environmentally friendly.”

The city of Springfield in October began publicly discussing a green building policy for city-owned buildings. The policy originally called for new city construction to achieve LEED certification, causing some to balk.

“Our first request is that they would make the policy broader than just one standard,” Home Builders Association of Greater Springfield Executive Officer Matt Morrow said in October.

The policy was sent to the city’s Community Involvement Committee for further review.

Drury University is making its own strides to cozy up to environmentally friendly practices.

The school in April named Wendy Anderson its first director of campus sustainability.

The university expanded its recycling program and replaced showerheads, sink faucets and toilets with more efficient models.

The school also was one of the leaders of the Central Street Recycling Coalition, comprising Ozarks Technical Community College, Springfield Public Schools, Springfield-Greene County Library District, City Utilities, the city and county. The coalition is promoting a centralized recycling effort on Central Street, funded through federal grants.

Springfield City Council considered a bill to officially recognize the group in December and is expected to vote on the bill in January 2008.

Others following in the green footsteps include Ashley Burchfield, who is seeking LEED certification for his 5,000-square-foot Cycles Unlimited on East Republic Road, which opened in August.

Also, a joint venture between Rob Murray, vice president of commercial real estate firm R.B. Murray Co., and Bud Hogan, principal with Hogan Land Title Co., is spawning TerraGreen, a nine-acre office park at Blackman Road and Seminole Street.

The developers say the intent is to explore the cost-effectiveness of building green.

The 90,000 square feet of office space is nearly all spoken for, though the first space will not be ready for tenants until March.

“The real goal behind this is to be able to show that you can build an environmentally sensible and sustainable green building that does not cost any more than a (regular) Class A office building,” Murray told SBJ in November. [[In-content Ad]]