LEED Gold Certification Awarded to Iconic Chrysler Building; LinkedIn Doubles Presence at Empire State Building

By the Editors of Commercial Property Executive

November 2, 2012

The U.S. Green Building Council has awarded the LEED Gold-EBOM designation to New York City’s iconic Chrysler building. The certification comes one year after owner Tishman Speyer, a leading real estate development and investment company, embarked on a complex retrofit project at the skyscraper located on the east side of Manhattan at the intersection of 42nd Street and Lexington Avenue.

By Veronica Grecu, Associate Editor

The U.S. Green Building Council has awarded the LEED Gold-EBOM designation to New York City’s iconic Chrysler building. The certification comes one year after owner Tishman Speyer, a leading real estate development and investment company, embarked on a complex retrofit project at the skyscraper located on the east side of Manhattan at the intersection of 42nd Street and Lexington Avenue.

A classic example of Art Deco architecture, the building was designed in 1928 by famed architect William Van Alen for Walter Chrysler, founder of the Chrysler Corporation. Rising 1,046 feet high, the 1,195,000-square-foot building became the tallest structure in the world in 1930 when it was completed, a record that was broken in 1931 by the Empire State Building.

To receive the LEED Gold-EBOM (Existing Buildings: Operations and Maintenance) certification, Tishman Speyer implemented several environmentally friendly strategies such as decreasing energy use by 21 percent by upgrading and adjusting the building’s operational system. Also, all water fixtures were replaced with more efficient equipment to reduce water consumption by 64 percent, while the building’s waste policy was reviewed and improved to raise the recycling rate to 81 percent.

With this new designation, Tishman Speyer currently has over 5.7 million square feet of LEED-certified office space in New York City and over 46 million square feet worldwide.

“Our commitment to sustainability is very strong, and our investment partners care deeply as well,” said Tishman Speyer co-CEO’s Jerry and Rob Speyer in a company press release. “In addition, we find that more and more of our tenants are looking to work collaboratively with us to maximize the results of our efforts. The LEED® and other equivalent designations tell us that we are succeeding in this very important area.”

In further CRE news, Crain’s New York Business reports that one of the most popular social networking company for business professionals has almost doubled its presence in the Empire State Building. Mountain View, Calif.-based LinkedIn signed a 10-year lease for another 40,780 square feet of space on the 23^rd floor. The new space adds to the existing 32,000 square feet—or the entire 25^th floor—that the tech company leased in mid-2011.