Page 189 - The Green Building Bottom Line The Real Cost of Sustainable Building

6

3

EXISTING BUILDINGS: THE GREEN-

HEADED STEPCHILD OF THE

SUSTAINABILITY MOVEMENT

SCOTT DOKSANSKY

SUMMARY

The Crestwood, a 94,000-square-foot Melaver-owned and -managed office
building in suburban Atlanta with an occupancy rate of over 90 percent, is
Georgia’s first office building to receive LEED certification for an exist-
ing building (LEED for Existing Buildings, formerly “LEED-EB”), and
one of only a handful of multi-tenant office buildings in the country to
be renovated to LEED specifications. In this chapter, Scott Doksansky,
Melaver, Inc.’s Director of Portfolio Management, discusses the work that
was done at the Crestwood to achieve LEED for Existing Buildings certi-
fication, the costs, and the benefits.
After considering the overall need in this country to be better stewards
of our existing buildings, Doksansky focuses on making the most of
one particular building—the Crestwood office building. In section two,
the discussion drills down into the specifics of renovating this building to
LEED standards. Since many of these LEED features may seem abstract
when viewed through the lens of a LEED scorecard, section three entails
a virtual tour of the facility, highlighting its many subtle distinguishing
features. Section four considers the financial implications of this reno-
vation, touching on ongoing issues regarding building maintenance and
operations, and plans for additional improvements. Section five addresses

167