Creating a Climate-Conscious Workplace from a Vintage Office Project

Upgraded building will have 40 percent lower carbon emissions than a typical Atlanta office property.

CBRE’s April 2022 survey of office occupiersfinds that companies are emphasizing environmental concerns in their decision-making, with more than 70 percent of survey respondents prioritizing carbon reduction. This is even more important for large companies (89 percent), likely because many have agreed to achieve net-zero goals.

Climate-conscious office buildings are better positioned to target companies with environmental commitments and a workforce who care about protecting the environment. With both increasingly pronounced consequences of climate change and office vacancy rates at some of the highest levels in recent memory, there’s an even greater incentive to invest in sustainable initiatives as a new way to market available space.

Consider Amazon’s helix-shaped HQ2 rising in Arlington, Virginia that will be 100 percent powered by renewable energy, or Google’s Bay View campus in Silicon Valley, where the tech giant is advocating for a carbon-free workplace. These leading companies are committed to attracting the best and brightest of the next generation, who want to work at places that are contributing to a healthier world.

However, even a brand new “green” building typically emits as much carbon during construction as during 40 years of operations for an existing building. Atlanta Property Group has committed to a strategy of upgrading its existing building stock to align with modern sustainability standards.

The Climate-Conscious Building

There are innumerable ways to integrate sustainability into building operations, from small changes like building signage that emphasizes the importance of recycling to on-site renewable power generation.

Atlanta Property Group has incorporated environmentally friendly features in office properties for nearly two decades. In 2006, we were one of the first office owners in Atlanta to install a solar array at an office property in Atlanta’s Buckhead neighborhood.

Today, we are embarking on the repositioning of Palisades, a four-building, 640,000 square foot (59,458 sq m) office park in the Central Perimeter submarket of Atlanta. The park was developed in two phases, with approximately half of the property delivered in the early ‘80s, and the other portion delivered in 1999. Palisades offers a framework for retrofitting existing office properties into climate-conscious workplaces.

Early on, we recognized that the most sustainable building is the one that already exists. Atlanta has a deluge of existing 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s-vintage office space, and there’s an opportunity to make these buildings more efficient and better for the environment.

Transforming Palisades

In retrofitting Palisades, it was necessary to rethink what it means for a workplace community to be a purposeful and responsible steward of our planet.

During our ownership, we have invested millions of dollars at Palisades to transform it into one of the most climate-conscious workplaces in the southeast. By Fall 2022, Palisades’ carbon emissions will be 40 percent lower than a typical Atlanta office property.

One of the most significant aspects of the renovation is The Plant at Palisades, a 1-megawatt solar array that will be the largest solar plant installed at a multi-tenant office property in the southeast. Consisting of solar panels spanning building rooftops, a parking deck and a surface parking lot, The Plant will reduce the carbon footprint at Palisades by approximately 15 percent. Once fully energized, The Plant will offset carbon emissions equivalent to 1.6 million (2,574,950 km) miles driven by average gasoline-powered passenger vehicles each year. The installation is scheduled to be completed later this year.

In addition to The Plant, Palisades also integrates a wide variety of other climate-conscious elements, including:

• All-Electric
  • Palisades is an all-electric property with no combustion (or Scope I emissions) on-site.

• HVAC
  • Palisades installed a Trane Agility Magnetic Bearing water-cooled chiller, which produces energy efficiencies 40 percent better than industry-wide standards. Palisades is one of less than a dozen buildings in the U.S. to feature this technology.
  • Palisades also includes three contiguous mid-rise buildings that previously had three separate central chiller plants. We connected the chilled water loop across the three buildings. As a result, the buildings can operate on one chiller, rather than three, for the majority of the year.
  • Atlanta Property Group has made a large number of upgrades to controls, pumps, and air handling devices to maximize efficiency.

• Lighting
  • All of the lighting used in the common area, exterior, and parking deck are LED and controlled by the building’s automation system. We are currently implementing a program to convert the occupied tenant and amenity space to automated LED fixtures in 2022.

• Water Conservation & Recycling
  • Irrigation at Palisades draws exclusively from an existing on-site retention pond. This pond also efficiently handles stormwater runoff and serves a carbon sink. Low-flow plumbing fixtures, a property-wide recycling program, a green purchasing policy, composting and environmentally friendly packaging at the on-site café, and water bottle filling stations all contribute to sustainability.

• Designations
  • The property is LEED Gold and Energy Star certified and will receive a Fitwel designation this year. Palisades won the 2021 BOMA Toby Earth award.

• Walkability
  • Palisades is located 1,000 steps from one of Atlanta’s MARTA rail stations and is within walking distance to nearby retail and dining.

Leveraging Sustainability as a Leasing Tool

While Phase II of the solar plant will not be completed until later this year (Phase I was energized in 2021) and the tenant-space LED lighting retrofit is ongoing, we have begun marketing the property’s sustainable features and are already seeing an increase in leasing interest.

For others in our industry who are considering this strategy, know that decisions big and small matter. While the solar plant can be considered a major investment, LED lighting and HVAC upgrades are also change makers. Any and every climate-conscious investment is a step in the right direction and can be leveraged as a tool to lease office space.

Today’s companies are motivated to lease space that supports their environmental, sustainability, and governance initiatives and talent recruitment efforts. Making these decisions today will bring new life to older office buildings, while serving as an opportunity to invest in a healthier future for our planet.

JONATHAN RODBELL is cofounder and partner at Atlanta Property Group.