Relatively few of the challenges in development Somersett Town Center as a green project arose from the requirements established by the U.S. Green Building Council.
Instead, the challenge came because the decision to pursue silver certification in the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design program more commonly known as LEED only after the design was three-quarters completed.
The 38,560-square-foot, two-building project in the Somersett Development in west Reno appears to mark the first time that LEED designation will be sought for a core-and-shell development in northern Nevada.
Somersett Development will develop the shell of the two-story buildings to LEED silver standards, then mandate environmentally aware rules for the improvements undertaken by individual retailers and office users before they move in.
While final figures aren't in, the developer estimates the environmentally sensitive construction may add about 4 percent to the project's total cost.
Mark Hauenstein, president of Technical Designs Consulting Engineers of Reno, says the project's design was well under way when the development company decided in late 2006 to seek LEED certification.
In part, that decision marked an effort to qualify for state tax incentives available to LEED-certified building a hotly disputed program that was retooled by the Legislature this year.
"The design team revised many areas to incorporate LEED strategies into the final design," Hauenstein says.
Doug Browne, the project manager for Devcon Construction Inc. on the Somersett Town Center job, says few of the changes were particularly difficult. Instead, he says, they required rethinking of some traditional construction practices and substantial amounts of ongoing training of work crews.
"Every week, it seems you have different people on the job," Browne says.
And because the design-build project involved substantial input from subcontractors, executives of Devcon, Somersett and Technical Designs found themselves asking far more questions than usual about the materials and techniques that subcontractors would be using.
Among the steps taken by the developer in its pursuit of LEED certification:
* A program to recycle concrete and asphalt surfaces at the site. Traditionally, that material is hauled to landfills.
* Development of steps to ensure that construction waste ranging from wood to cardboard, plastic and sheet rock will be recycled.
* Continuation of a program in place throughout Sommersett to protect dark skies and limit light pollution.
* Use of low-flush toilet and waterless urinals to reduce water use.
* The use of materials from local or regional sources to reduce the energy costs that arise from trucking materials to Reno from more distant suppliers.
* Relocation or donation of trees that didn't fit the landscape plans. The landscaping plan, meanwhile, was redesigned to use more native vegetation and better irrigation techniques.
* Pervious surfaces that allow rainwater to percolate into the ground were used to reduce runoff.
* Installation of Solatube skylights in tenant spaces to increase daylight and reduce electric use.
* Installation of better-quality windows and more insulation in the building envelope to improve energy efficiency. That work, like other exterior elements of the project, also needed to comply with the covenants of the overall Somersett community, says Jeff Schroeder, director of vertical development for Somersett Development.
Among the biggest tasks involved in the revision of the project to meet LEED standards was redesign of its mechanical system, Haeunstein says.
Initially, the design called for a simple outside air duct using a louver at the outside wall.
With the redesign, however, the louvers were replaced with fan units designed to bring measured amounts of filtered outside air to the fan coil unit of each individual tenant.
Large fan coils, meanwhile, were replaced with smaller coils that will allow larger tenants to have multiple-zone controls allowing them to use less energy to heat or cool some parts of their space.
And a Web-based control system was added to integrate water, electrical and gas-meter readings giving tenants more information so they can more carefully monitor their energy consumption.
Somersett Development believes those steps to control energy costs will help market the space.
On the other hand, the extra cost of developing a green project may be a hurdle to getting Somersett Town Center leased.
"It wasn't as costly as we expected it to be," says Schroeder. "Most of it was just good management practices."
That's important in a market in which retail tenants watch their pennies closely.
Gary Johnson, a senior vice president in the retail properties group of NAI Alliance Commercial, says retailers in northern Nevada currently are very sensitive to higher rent costs, and few are willing to pay more for the cachet of leasing in a LEED-certified building.
"Tenants are still hurting from higher land prices, higher construction costs, and fee increases coming down the pike," Johnson says. "They can only pay so much."
NAI Alliance Commercial is handling leasing of Somersett Town Center.
The project is scheduled for completion this summer. Tenants so far include Roundabout Market and Whispering Vine.
