-- 2000 Tower Oaks Boulevard highlighted in a new book about the value of sustainable design and environmentally friendly buildings

ROCKVILLE, Maryland, May 6, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- The Tower Companies and Lerner Enterprises announced today that 2000 Tower Oaks Boulevard in Rockville, Maryland, has been selected as one of the most sustainable buildings in the world in the recently published book, The World's Greenest Buildings: Promise vs Performance in Sustainable Design, written by green building experts Jerry Yudelson and Ulf Meyer.

"What I especially admire about 2000 Tower Oaks Boulevard is the adaptation of ancient Indian (Vedic) architectural principles to a modern office design and the commitment of the owners to both a super green building and also one that is alive with energetic connections to the site outside and the people inside. We need more innovations of this type to deal both with climate change issues and the growing need for healthy, productive workspaces," said Jerry Yudelson, PE, LEED Fellow, and Principal, Yudelson Associates.

The building was the first U.S. Green Building Council LEED® Platinum certified multi-tenant commercial office building in the Nation's Capital area when delivered in 2008. It also incorporated the first and largest application of Maharishi Vastu Architecture design principles that promote nourishing, life-supporting relationships, through the use of natural materials and the placement, function, and orientation of the building.  The building became the subject of a Harvard Business Case Study, Design Creates Fortune:  2000 Tower Oaks Boulevard because of its energy efficiency and intrinsic value of Vastu – that enhances the greatest cost of any business, its human resources.  Architectural firm, KGD designed the building.  It was included in the publication for its high performance on multiple green building attributes and its measured energy efficiency.

Over its four years of operation 2000 Tower Oaks Boulevard met its design goal of being over 28% more energy efficientthan an average office building. Through a real time monitoring system started in 2012, the owners have realized a 12% reduction in building energy use this past year.  Some of the sustainable building features include:  an enthalpy wheel that captures energy in heated and cooled air from the building exhaust to preheat or precool incoming air depending on the season, a frictionless magnetic bearing centrifugal chiller/compressor that consumes 700,000 fewer kilowatt-hours than a typical chiller, a high efficiency curtain wall with low-e glass, a unique four-stage outside air filtration system that removes 95% of airborne pollutants and CO2 monitors in high-density areas exchanges fresh air every 55 minutes only when occupied.  Despite its LEED Platinum status, the owners continue to implement sustainable solutions for this award winning building as well as for their other properties.  

A total of 57 projects in 18 countries were included in the publication (17 buildings from the United States).

The hottest topic today for architects, contractors, building owners and developers in the green building industry is, "How well do green buildings actually perform? How do we know that these environmentally-friendly designs significantly reduce energy consumption and produce measurably better water conservation?"

Leading green building author Jerry Yudelson of Tucson, Arizona (USA) and his co-author, Professor Ulf Meyer of Berlin, Germany, decided to find out.

The World's Greenest Buildings, published in January 2013 by UK publisher Routledge Taylor & Francis, looks at buildings constructed since 2003, which provided at least one year's worth of energy-use data and, where possible, water use data.  To be included in this leading-edge green building book, projects must have received a LEED Platinum (or equivalent) top rating from a national green building rating program, represent a non-residential typology, and contain at least 5,000-square meters, or 50,000-square feet in building area.

Yudelson is the author of 12 previous green building books presenting design and planning options for increasing sustainability in the built environment. He is co-founder of the first USGBC Chapter Cascadia in the Pacific Northwest, was one of the first class of LEED Fellows and one of the first LEED faculty members, and is co-founder of GreenBuild conference, the nation's largest green event.  While he advocates for technological solutions, Yudelson also claims, "We must dramatically change our approach to design, construction and operations to meet urgent carbon reduction goals for the built environment. These projects represent models for where we need to go."

About The Tower Companies
The Tower Companies is a family-owned, award winning real estate development company founded by Albert Abramson in 1947, which ranks #16 on the 2012 EPA Green Power Purchasers List. Tower received the "2010 Awards of Excellence Development Company of the Year," by Multi Housing News for their corporate green initiatives.  Tower is a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) certified ENERGY STAR Leader and member of the Green Power Partnership Leadership Club.  Tower was the first real estate development company to become Climate Registered with The Climate Registry. Tower has developed 4.5 million square feet of office buildings, office parks, 1,400 apartments, regional malls, residential communities, lifestyle centers, and hotels within the D.C. area.  Ninety percent of their properties are LEED® certified sustainable buildings – four are Platinum.  Tower Companies built Blair Towns, the first U.S. Green Building Council LEED® certified (2004) apartments in America, in Silver Spring, MD, which were certified LEED Platinum (2011) -- the first in the world.  Among their other signature certifications are: Tower Companies Corporate Headquarters with LEED Platinum CI certification (2009), Rockville, MD; The Blairs with LEED Gold EB certification (2012), Silver Spring, MD; The Tower Building with LEED Gold EB Re-certification (2013), Rockville, MD; 1909 K Street with LEED Gold EB Re-certification (2013), Washington, D.C.; 1828 L Street with LEED Gold EB certification (2011), Washington, D.C.; 1707 L Street Fitness Center with LEED Platinum CI certification and 1707 L Street with LEED Silver EB (2011) certification, Washington, D.C. and 1050 K Street, co—developed with The Lenkin Company, with LEED Gold certification (2009), Washington, D.C.

About Lerner Enterprises
Lerner Enterprises of Rockville, Maryland, founded by Theodore N. Lerner in 1952, is Washington, D.C.'s largest private real estate developer and is involved in all phases of commercial, residential, retail, hotel and mixed-use real estate.  This includes planning, development, construction, leasing and asset and property management.  Lerner has developed and currently manages more than 20 million square feet of office buildings, retail centers and residential communities.  Lerner's office portfolio is comprised of many well-known developments including: 2000 Tower Oaks Boulevard with LEED® Platinum Certification, Rockville, MD; The Corporate Office Park at Dulles Town Center, Dulles, VA; Washington Square with LEED® Silver EB Certification, Washington, D.C.; The Corporate Office Centre at Tysons II, Tysons Corner, VA; Fallsgrove Village Office Center, Rockville, MD; White Flint North, North Bethesda, MD; 20 M Street, SE with LEED® Gold Certification, Washington, D.C.; 1133 Connecticut Avenue, NW, Washington, D.C.; Flint Hill Park, Fairfax, VA; 7799 Leesburg Pike, Falls Church, VA, among many others. Lerner has also commenced construction on Fallsgrove Plaza in Rockville, a state of the art 110,000 square foot medical | office building designed for LEED® Gold certification.  The building is scheduled for occupancy in early 2014.

Contact: Elizabeth Oliver-Farrow
Elizabeth@TheOliverGroupInc.com 
Direct: +1-202-494-1977

SOURCE The Tower Companies and Lerner Enterprises