Atlanta Office Tower Earns LEED Gold Certification

Prominence. Image courtesy of Crocker Partners

Prominence, an 18-story office tower in Atlanta’s Buckhead district has achieved a LEED Gold sustainability rating with mostly no-cost modifications. New York Life Real Estate Investors owns the building at 3475 Piedmont Road. The high-rise offers 433,237 square feet of Class A office space, as well as a variety of amenities, including a newly renovated fitness center, a conference facility, a cafe and a covered seven-story parking deck that can be directly accessed from the building.

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Scott Barr, senior vice president of Crocker Partners, told Commercial Property Executive that the overall effort to obtain LEED certification began around September 2019. Crocker Partners, which is the property manager for Prominence, undertook mostly no-cost modifications to building controls and scheduling to achieve the LEED Gold status.

Barr also explained to CPE that Crocker Partners modified the HVAC system to increase fresh air intake by calibrating flow sensors on the outside air VAVs and installing CO2 sensors and EMS interface controllers on each floor. Servidyne, an Atlanta-based energy consultant, performed an energy audit of Prominence to identify any other energy consumption savings. The office building’s parking garage lighting was retrofitted to LED tubes from the previous fluorescent lamps and lighting controls with a photosensor were installed, according to Barr. Crocker Partners also diverted 50 percent of its waste through its recycling program.

“For Prominence to achieve LEED Gold, [it] required prioritizing sustainability,” Barr told CPE. “Those efforts and investments are well justified in addressing matters of increased importance for companies and individuals, especially in today’s environment.”

Prominence is now part of the nearly 170 LEED Gold certified buildings in Georgia, including the Georgia World Congress Center, the Salesforce Tower and the State Farm Arena.

Earlier this year, Prominence also secured a Wired Certified Platinum designation, a rating that measures internet connectivity in office buildings. The office’s major tenants include GE and USI Insurance and Cushman & Wakefield’s Aileen Almassy and Andy Sumlin are in charge of the building’s leasing efforts.

Acquiring prominence

Crocker Partners, which sold Prominence to New York Life Real Estate Investors, originally acquired the property in August 2012. In December 2018, New York Life Real Estate Investors acquired Prominence for $166 million on behalf of a joint venture between New York Life Insurance Co. and Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Co. The purchase of the Georgia office tower represented the eighth acquisition of the partnership. New York Real Estate Investors’ portfolio also includes an office asset in Sacramento and a shopping center in Sarasota, Fla.