Builders Eye LEED Platinum Rating for Denver's 1800 Larimer

By Paula Moore
Denver Business Journal

DENVER- Builders of the new 1800 Larimer office building in downtown Denver said Wednesday that they expect to get a LEED Platinum certification for the structure soon after it’s finished this spring.

The 545,000-square-foot, 22-story building located at 1800 Larimer St. is expected to be finished in April.

“We anticipate a formal LEED Platinum certification in mid-May,” John McCorkle, senior project manager for the project’s general contractor, M.A. Mortenson Co. in Denver, said in a March 17 statement.

LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, and is the U.S. Green Building Council’s designation for sustainable, energy-efficient buildings. Platinum is LEED’s top rating.

If 1800 Larimer achieves LEED Platinum, it will be one of only a handful of buildings in Colorado to get the rating. One of the others is the Signature Centre office building in Golden.

The 1800 Larimer building broke ground in May 2008, and initially was scheduled to be finished last fall. Estimated total construction cost is $120 million.

Westfield Company Inc. of Denver, which is affiliated with the local Frederick Ross Co. commercial real estate brokerage firm, is the project’s owner/developer.

Other major firms involved in building the office property, in addition to Mortenson, include property manager Westfield Property Services LLC, architectural firm RNL Design PC and glass contractor Harmon Inc.

Minneapolis-based Xcel Energy Inc. (NYSE: XEL) will be the structure’s largest tenant, taking 350,000 square feet for its Colorado headquarters. Xcel plans to move 1,300 employees into the building in June.

Early on, RNL thought it would strive for a LEED Silver certification for the building. “As we got further into the design process, [Westfield] would challenge us by asking, ‘What would get us to Gold? Platinum?’” Ron Izzo, RNL associate principal and project designer for 1800 Larimer, said in a statement.

Green specifics of the building recently released by Harmon include:

  • Floor-to-ceiling glass that will allow for significant amounts of natural light.
  • Part of the building’s power will come from Xcel’s Windsource wind-energy program.
  • An under-floor air distribution system, designed to save energy and provide good air quality.
  • Twenty percent of materials used in the building’s core and shell have recycled content.
  • Twenty percent of building materials came from local sources.
  • Video-conferencing capability will cut vehicle use and transportation costs, by allowing people to communicate without leaving the building.
  • Tenants’ power will be submetered, which will allow tenants to use their own energy-efficiency and conservation practices.