FORT WORTH, TX (October 11, 2010) – Crescent Real Estate Holdings LLC announced today that Fulbright Tower and 1 Houston Center in downtown Houston received gold certification as Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design for Existing Buildings (LEED EB) from the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), giving Crescent more than 3 million square feet of LEED certified Class A office space in Texas. Last month USGBC awarded Trammel Crow Center LEED EB Silver certification, the first Crescent affiliated property to achieve LEED certification.
Trammell Crow Center is located in the Arts District of Dallas. Crescent reported that the bulk of its 35 premier office buildings across the United States are on course for LEED certification by the end of 2011. The 1 Houston Center and Fulbright Tower LEED EB Gold certifications follow the announcement last month that Crescent Real Estate Holdings LLC was named an ENERGY STAR 2009 Top Performer by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Crescent is one of only six commercial real estate companies in the U.S. and one of only two in Texas to be recognized by EPA for improving energy efficiency more than 10 percent. “Crescent has a long-standing commitment to being a leader in the commercial office industry for environmental performance and energy efficiency,” said Jim Wilson, managing director of asset management for Crescent. “The entire Crescent portfolio of 35 properties, 17 million square feet, is either registered or already certified for LEED EB. We expect most properties to be awarded certifications by the end of next year.”
Fulbright Tower, located in Crescent’s Houston Center complex, received LEED Gold certification for existing buildings, the second highest classification for existing buildings. Fulbright Tower is the first property in Crescent’s U.S. portfolio to receive gold certification. Fulbright Tower received LEED certification points for programs that minimize water use, reduce waste and improve indoor air quality. Fulbright Tower achieved 31 percent reduction in water use, saving nearly 2 million gallons of water through upgraded plumbing fixtures and improved irrigation systems. Fulbright Tower reduced overall electricity consumption nearly 30 percent since 2005, reducing usage from an average of 30 kilowatts per hour per occupied square foot in 2005 to an average of 20.4 kilowatts per hour per occupied square foot in 2010. Additionally, Fulbright Tower customers diverted waste from landfills through recycle and reuse policies, including electronic recycling. Fulbright Tower secured an 89 ENERGY STAR rating, placing it in the top 11 percent of commercial office buildings in the U.S. ENERGY STAR rated buildings in Crescent’s U.S. office portfolio rank in the top 13 percent of all energy efficient buildings.
Recently, 1 Houston Center joined Fulbright Tower as Crescent’s second office building in Houston Center to achieve USGBC’s LEED Gold certification for existing buildings. The Houston Center complex is located in the heart of Houston’s emerging development on the eastern edge of downtown. According to USGBC, 1 Houston Center earned the gold rating by securing every point applied for in the Crescent application.
USGBC awarded points for recycling and green cleaning programs, as well as water and energy efficiency programs. Since 2004, 1 Houston Center has reduced its annual electricity consumption by 4,672,700 kilowatt hours, equivalent to powering 230 homes per year. Overall electricity consumption has been reduced from an average of 26 kilowatts per hour per occupied square foot in 2004 to an average of 21.6 kilowatts per hour per occupied square foot in 2009. Additionally, 1 Houston Center customers diverted over 4,500 tons of waste from landfills through recycle and reuse policies, including electronic recycling, equivalent to 76,500 trees saved and 13,500 cubic yards of landfill not used. Already, 1 Houston Center has earned six ENERGY STARS and expects to receive its seventh ENERGY STAR which is currently under review. “Our customers and partners want LEED certified buildings,” said Frank Staats, vice president of property management for Crescent’s Houston Center portfolio. “We could not have achieved the LEED designation without the support and assistance of our customers.”
Some of 1 Houston Center customers include LyondellBasell, Merrill Lynch, and Haynes and Boone. Fulbright Tower customers include Fulbright & Jaworski LLP; Pulse Network LLC; Key Energy Services, Inc.; Walter P. Moore and Associates, Inc.; and Dynamic Offshore Resources, Inc. Walther P. Moore’s office space is rated Commercial Interiors LEED Silver as an energy efficient office that considers the environment and health of the building’s users.
Houston Center is a 4.2 million square-foot Class A office complex with four office towers located in the heart of the Central Business District in Houston, TX and is currently 90 percent leased. The multi-block complex has been artfully developed according to classic design principles as an exciting urban environment for people. For more information, visit the Houston Center website at www.houstoncenter.com.
ABOUT LEED
LEED is an internationally recognized green building certification system, providing third-party verification that a building or community was designed and built using strategies aimed at improving performance across all the metrics that matter most: energy savings, water efficiency, carbon dioxide emissions reduction, improved indoor environmental quality, and stewardship of resources and sensitivity to their impacts. Developed by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), LEED provides building owners and operators a concise framework for identifying and implementing practical and measurable green building design, construction, and operations and maintenance solutions. For more information, refer to www.usgbc.org or www.usgbchouston.org.
ABOUT CRESCENT
Crescent Real Estate Holdings LLC, headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, is a fully-integrated real estate company owned by Barclays Capital and Goff Capital. Through its subsidiaries and joint ventures, Crescent owns and manages a portfolio of 35 premier office buildings totaling over 17 million square feet located in select markets across the United States with major concentrations in Dallas, Houston, Denver and Las Vegas. Crescent also holds investments in resort residential developments in locations such as Scottsdale, Vail Valley, and Lake Tahoe; luxury hotels; and the wellness lifestyle leader, Canyon Ranch®. For more information, visit Crescent’s Web site at www.crescent.com.
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