BALTIMORE, MD—St. John Properties, Inc. has earned certification from the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) for the 70th building in its national portfolio for achieving and surpassing Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) requirements.

Since initiating its LEED program in 2009, St. John Properties has developed more than 4.4 million square feet of LEED Gold, Silver or Certified space. Earlier this year, the Baltimore-based commercial real estate development firm was recognized by the Maryland Chapter of USGBC with the “Community Change Agent” award for outstanding efforts in designing and constructing healthy buildings and the company’s overall impact and leadership in the LEED movement. Last year alone, St. John Properties achieved LEED certification for 19 buildings totaling more than 1.7 million square feet of space.

In USGBC’s annual ranking of states based on the number of LEED-certified square feet per person, Maryland placed 6th with 96 projects certified in 2019, encompassing more than 15 million square feet of space.

The company achieved this latest milestone with the LEED Gold certification of 811 Pinnacle Drive, a single-story, 48,120 square foot flex/R&D building located within BWI Tech Park in Anne Arundel County, Maryland. An additional 27 buildings, comprising more than 1.2 million square feet of commercial space across the national portfolio are being developed for LEED certification.

“We believe that as businesses emerge from the current pandemic, people will be increasingly concerned about the health of the building they work in every day,” stated Jeffrey Gish, Senior Vice President of Construction for St. John Properties. “We are extremely proud of our approach to develop and maintain healthy buildings which include building materials that contribute to an eco-friendly environment. Our mission and thoughtfulness to develop nearly every building with LEED certification in mind keeps us ahead of the concerns that are gaining importance among companies and individuals.”

Over the past 11 years, the company has achieved LEED Gold certification under the Core and Shell rating system representing more than 75% of the total projects certified. This philosophy extends to projects developed throughout the national portfolio, and has led to St. John Properties being ranked in the top five LEED developers in the nation, and as the top LEED developer in Maryland.

“Since initiating our LEED program more than one decade ago, we have continually surveyed our clients to gain valuable input concerning the implementation of initiatives to conserve energy and resources,” Gish added. “As the interior health of buildings takes on renewed importance, St. John Properties plans to remain at the forefront in the implementation and execution of viable and measurable green strategies.”

Projects that achieved LEED certification in 2019 include 10 Class “A” commercial office buildings, eight flex/R&D buildings and The Berkleigh, a 400,000 square foot multifamily development located within Greenleigh at Crossroads in Baltimore County. The Maryland projects are located in Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Carroll, Howard and Prince George’s counties.

“St. John Properties has significantly raised the bar in their continued efforts to uphold USGBC’s belief that better buildings lead to better lives; their work to improve building sustainability has positively impacted the many people that interact with these buildings and spaces in our communities and cities,” stated Cindy Zork, U.S. Green Building Council’s Community Director for Maryland in reference to the company being recognized with the “Community Change Agent” award.

[Image via St. John Properties]