News
The Greening of Charlotte
April 26, 2012
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| How does Charlotte stack up in the quest to develop (and redevelop) its building stock into more sustainable properties? According to NAI Southern Real Estate's Michael Altieri, who was recently hired to expand the company's CRE portfolio in the Carolinas, the short answer is "outstanding for a city of our size." Charlotte has close to 100 LEED-certified projects and is also one of the top US cities in terms of LEED projects under way, he tells Bisnow. "That said, we need to continue to make strides, and as the economy improves, I hope we'll see see more owners and managers putting green projects back on the front burner," he says. Michael is a LEED Green Associate and is working toward LEED AP; in a previous position he oversaw the LEED silver certification of the Morehead Square building in Midtown. | ||
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| Green is also an important part of the redevelopment of Innovation Park, which recently bagged another sizable tenant (120k SF) in Wells Fargo. The business park's two largest buildings are in the process of being LEED certified, but there's more to it than that: all of the structures utilize lots of natural light, highly efficient light bulbs when natural light isn't strong enough, green HVAC systems, landscapes that aren't so thirsty (the plants don't look very thirsty at all, do they?). The property also sports two electric vehicle charging stations. According to the US Department of Energy, there are only about 20 EV stations in Charlotte, meaning that Innovation Park has 10% of them. |
