Atlanta Office Building Receives LEED Certification

The 171 17^th Street building located in the Atlantic Station redevelopment in Atlanta has been awarded Silver certification in the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Core and Shell Development program by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC).

The 500,000-square-foot office tower is the first LEED Silver-Core & Shell certified high-rise office building in the world and the first high-rise office building in Georgia to receive LEED certification.

The Atlantic Station redevelopment is also the first in the world to receive prototype credits for the entire site, which can be applied to future buildings as part of the USGBC’s draft campus application guide. Southface Energy Institute, on behalf of the Georgia Environmental Facilities Authority (GEFA) and Atlantic Station, worked closely with the USGBC to develop and document the campus pilot program.

“While originally attracted to this site to clean up an urban brownfield, our partnerships have allowed us to learn a great deal and take the mixed-use development to the next level of sustainable design and construction,” says Jim Jacoby, chairman of Jacoby Development Inc. Atlantic Station is being co-developed by Jacoby Development and AIG Global Real Estate Investment Corp. “While this award will be represented by a plaque that will be displayed in the building, it is really representative of the many years of work by a great deal of people. We look forward to this being the first of many opportunities to raise the bar in our goal toward environmental responsibility.”

To reach the LEED Silver level, Atlantic Station LLC worked closely with Southface Energy Institute and GEFA and employed The Epsten Group as its LEED consultant to coordinate details of the certification.