Building green makes 'cents': Alaska owners pursue sustainable design as an avenue to reduce operating costs.

• Author: Resz, Heather A.
• Position: BUILDING ALASKA

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Against a dark night sky, the new 14-story JL Tower building on Centerpoint Drive shines especially bright with hundreds of undulating, colorful LED lights illuminating its top.

The JL Properties' project stands out from other Anchorage office complexes as Alaska's first privately owned, multistory commercial building developed to be LEED-certified, according to JL Properties partner Leonard Hyde.

He said the goal was to build a large private-sector project and have it LEED-certified to demonstrate that building to sustainable standards makes economic sense for Alaska.

"Our projects need to make economic sense," Hyde said. "We've shown through this project that it is possible."

JL Tower is not the first Alaska project designed to Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design standards. The Tsunami Warning Center in Palmer became the first LEED-certified building in Alaska on Dec. 23, 2003.

These are not the only Alaska projects registered with LEED. There are three certified buildings in Alaska, and 28 other buildings that are registered with the U.S. Green Building Council to receive LEED certification. They are the Denali Visitor Center and the Homer Public Library, which are certified silver, and the Tsunami Warning Center, which is certified at LEED's lowest level.

The $116 million expansion to the Anchorage Museum at the Rasmuson Center also is being built with LEED standards in mind.

Janet Asaro, director of marketing & Public Relations for the museum, said the museum building committee pursued an energy-efficient design as a way to reduce monthly operation costs for the museum. "It's more energy efficient than the existing building," she said. "Even though it's glass instead of brick and mortar."

A $100,000 grant from the Kresge Foundation's Green Building Program allowed the museum to investigate sustainable building options during the design process that would lead to certification.

Asaro said it was Mayor Mark Begich who encouraged the building committee to register the building with the U.S. Green Building Council and seek LEED certification. The city also helped pay the thousands of dollars in fees to enter into the registration and certification process, she said.

"We chose to go after the certificate because it makes a statement, in part, that we hope other people will follow," Asaro said. "We wanted to be a national leader on this."

IT'S FOR EVERYONE

John MacKinnon, Associated General Contractors of...