Downtown DC’s LEED anchor

The old Hecht Company Building at 575 Seventh Street in Washington, DC, is one of the East End’s preeminent architectural mainstays and now has the unique distinction of being the first Trophy Class office property in the city to achieve LEED Platinum certification for existing buildings. Originally built in 1924 by Jarvis Hunt, the Hecht Building forms the cornerstone of the present-day Terrell Place, a 522,000-square-foot, multiuse development made of the 650 F Street Tower, South Wing, and 575 Seventh Street wings in downtown DC.

In 2010, affiliates of Beacon Capital Partners and General Electric Pension Trust purchased Terrell Place, and soon engaged Cassidy Turley, a national company with local roots, to oversee its leasing and property management. After assuming management, Cassidy Turley supported its ownership’s goal to achieve LEED Platinum certification for the building by implementing energy-efficient initiatives and other sustainability efforts. The improvements would help Terrell Place maintain its role within the East End landscape while setting a precedent for large-scale, LEED-EB certifications in the city.

“Our goal was to work with Cassidy Turley to find a cost-effective, nonintrusive way to improve the energy efficiency and sustainability within the building,” says Jeff Kovach, a managing director at Beacon. Evan Tyroler, vice president of Cassidy Turley, adds, “As part of the improvements, we worked closely with Beacon and created an aggressive energy-management plan that involved retro-commissioning of the existing building systems.” The energy solutions implemented at the building led to Energy Star certification for two consecutive years.

Because Terrell Place is a prominent downtown DC landmark, it had been well-preserved aesthetically, but it was important to take a detailed look at the operations of all systems compared to the intended design. “The in-depth retro-commissioning allowed the owner to assess and ensure that all systems in the building were running as efficiently as possible,” says Nicole Snarski, sustainability project coordinator at Cassidy Turley.

Cassidy Turley and Beacon partnered to develop an energy management program that made the 85-year-old building as efficient as possible.

Education also plays a major role in Beacon’s and Cassidy Turley’s LEED initiatives. The tenants at Terrell Place are not only understanding of the building’s sustainable goals but are active in articulating their own contributions. “Many of the tenants at Terrell Place are incredibly engaged with our efforts and, among other things, incorporate sustainability into their individual office practices,” Snarski says.

Terrell Place is Beacon’s third LEED Platinum building in the country. “Beyond the environmental impacts,” explains Fred Seigel, president and chief operating officer of Beacon, “we believe that the LEED program rewards our tenants with better infrastructure, enhanced control of indoor climate conditions, more efficient use of energy and water resources, and more consistent operating expenses.”

Beacon enrolled Terrell Place in a renewable energy program, where 100 percent of the building’s energy consumption is offset through the purchase of renewable energy certificates, inputting an equal amount of sustainable wind energy into the national power grid and carbon offsets.

By implementing sustainability into the best practices of the building’s operations, Beacon Capital Partners and Cassidy Turley have been able to ensure the continued distinction of Terrell Place within its historic East End context. “Terrell Place’s LEED-EB Platinum certification has been a key project for Cassidy Turley and the City of Washington, DC,” Kovach says, “because it shows that even large trophy office buildings can achieve high-level LEED status.”