CoStar Group (Nasdaq:CSGP), which provides data for the commercial real estate industry, has achieved LEED-Platinum certification for Commercial Interiors (CI) for the renovation of its headquarters in Washington, DC.
"We are deeply committed to sustainability and to
creating world class, environmentally conscious workspaces throughout the CoStar office network. LEED Certification is an important factor we consider when touring for new office space and once we commit to a lease, we look to improve the space with sustainability as a primary objective," says founder and CEO, Andrew Florance.
The company’s Boston office was awarded LEED Platinum
CI in 2010, and is awaiting certification of its Atlanta and San Diego offices, about 29,000 square feet each. Other offices around the country are LEED-Gold. CoStar is also an Energy Star partner.
Besides green building practices, CoStar subsidizes mass transit for employees and has a fleet of customized Priuses that are equipped with state-of-the-art technology to collect
commercial real estate information in the field.
Perhaps most importantly, CoStar was the first to incorporate green-rated buildings into its database, enabling clients to easily find high performing buildings.
It includes LEED-Certified and Registered buildings, Energy Star-certified
buildings and BREEAM-certified properties in the database (for buildings in the UK). Clients can search for green buildings, and icons
for each designation are incorporated into search results to make the
properties easy to review during broader searches.
"Approximately 90 countries on all continents now
have emerging or established green building organizations and are beginning to
create significant incentives for adhering to green building practices,"
says Florance. "As green building expands rapidly
across the U.S. and abroad, the ability to easily identify and search for green
space in CoStar’s database provides tremendous value to our clients."
CoStar also sponsors the Journal of
Sustainable Real Estate and its website, which promotes research and awareness of
sustainability issues in the commercial real estate industry.
CoStar’s renovated headquarters has a green roof and electric vehicle charging stations in addition to standard features such as exclusive use of fluorescent and LED light
fixtures; offices that are
Greenguard-Certified for indoor air quality; extensive water conservation measures; and smart building technology.
Founded in
1987, CoStar maintains the largest database of commercial real estate information enabling clients to analyze property values, market conditions and current
availabilities. It has more than 7 million
registered members and receives about 10 million
unique monthly visitors to its websites.
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