In Seattle, Real Estate Sector to 'Green' Its Buildings as Economic Fix-It

Seattle is greening its cityscape in a bid to boost its sluggish real estate market — all while cutting global warming emissions and slashing energy costs.

Industry leaders have banded together to spearhead a high-performance building initiative — the first of its kind nationwide — that sets ambitious sustainability and efficiency goals for privately owned buildings in the heart of the city.

The Seattle 2030 District aims to drive up property values, reduce vacancy rates, lower operating costs and create ongoing employment in retrofitted and newly constructed buildings downtown.

The idea is to rebrand the city as a hub for environmentally conscious businesses and residents and inspire similar urban development efforts across the country.

"Building owners and operators see it as a competitive advantage for the city," Brian Geller, the initiative's executive director, told SolveClimate News.

"Architects and engineers see it as an economic opportunity just to drive initial work. All of the stakeholders are excited about what it can do for the city as a whole," he said.

More than 40 real estate companies, property owners and city agencies in Seattle representing around 23 million square feet have agreed to participate in the district so far. A total of 81 million square feet — or nearly 1,160 buildings — will be included in the project's first phase.

The initiative, which Geller first proposed in late 2009, is set to celebrate its formal launch on Sept. 8.

Properties will follow voluntary benchmarks based on the guidelines of the 2030 Challenge for Planning, a project of the Santa Fe, N.M.-based nonprofit Architecture 2030 that urges the global building sector to dramatically scale back its greenhouse gas output and water consumption.

In the United States, commercial and multifamily buildings account for 40 percent of the nation's energy use, at a cost of over $400 billion in electricity bills and operational expenses, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.

Existing buildings in the Seattle 2030 project will incrementally scale back energy and water use and  transportation emissions to 50 percent below the national average in 2030.

If goals are met, new buildings and major renovations should consume 60 percent less energy than the national average upon construction and eventually become carbon-neutral by 2030 — meaning that their net contribution of CO2 emissions to the atmosphere would be zero.

Targets are set for the district as a whole and are not measured building by building.

Energy-efficiency improvements alone are projected to cost roughly $17 million each year and employ nearly 330 full-time workers in Seattle, said Vincent Martinez, director of research for Architecture 2030, who leads the organization's participation in the Seattle district.

Brett Phillips, the sustainable director for Unico Properties, a regional property owner and manager, said: "We really look at this as a dual benefit." The program will "not only work toward climate stabilization," he said, "but [it will] also create a more competitive economic market for potential business and tenants."

Like most real estate markets nationwide, Seattle's industry took a hit from the economic recession, with property values and occupancy rates declining as unemployment figures ticked up.

According to budget data from King County, which houses Seattle, the value of all new construction is projected to fall more than 60 percent, from $1.7 billion to $667 million, between 2010 and 2011.

At the same time, Seattle's traditionally low electricity rates are steadily rising. Phillips said the main culprit has been a drop in water supply, which has restricted the amount of hydroelectric power the city's utility can sell at an out-of-state premium.

He added that encouraging district-wide energy efficiency is "an opportunity for us to engage our peers on a common interest — to make our market more competitive to attract businesses."