Double Green Award Goes to Portland’s Pioneer Tower

By Anca Gagiuc

Pioneer Tower, Portland, Ore.

Pioneer Tower, a JLL Income Property Trust Class A office property in Portland, Ore., achieved LEED Silver certification. The building had also recently earned the U.S. EPA ENERGY STAR certification, for which the REIT completed an energy audit that identified several energy conservation measures to meet the prerequisite.

The 17-story, multi-tenant office building is located in Portland’s CBD, offering easy access to the Transit Mall and Pioneer Place. Pioneer Tower is currently 95 percent leased to a diverse roster of professional services tenants whose average tenure is about 14 years. JLL Income Property Trust acquired the asset in July 2016 and since early 2017 has been working toward the goal of earning the LEED Silver award. For the project to be eligible, various contributions were made from the local property team, a sustainability consultancy and in-house energy and sustainability experts.

What makes a tower green?

Project highlights include: 100 percent of durable goods diverted from landfills; green-cleaning program that minimizes the use of chemicals, while providing increased air quality; replacement of all lamps with higher mercury content with either LED or low-mercury content bulbs; replacement of older restroom fixtures to achieve maximum indoor water efficiency; increased recycling diversion rates among the tenants, as well as alternative transportation methods. In addition, the ENERGY STAR certification places Pioneer Tower in the top 25 percent of similar facilities nationwide for energy efficiency and meets strict energy efficiency performance levels set by the EPA.

“Much like the approach at Pioneer Tower, we will continue to seek out cost-effective methods to achieve certifications across JLL Income Property Trust’s portfolio through initiatives such as our LEED Volume Program, which achieves certification at half of the cost of historical LEED projects,” noted Eric Duchon, Global Head of Sustainability with LaSalle, in prepared remarks.

Image courtesy of JLL Income Property Trust