Regency Centers selected to develop USGBC's new Green Retail Guide

Jan. 25, 2010 - PRLog -- Regency Centers (www.regencycenters.com), a national owner, operator and developer of grocery-anchored and community shopping centers, has been selected as a project consultant to create the new Green Retail Guide: Integrating LEED® into your Leasing Process by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC).  This new resource will support USGBC’s strategic work in the retail sector and will complement the LEED for Retail rating system by providing a practical resource that helps integrate green thinking into the way that retail space is selected, leased, built-out and occupied.

According to Mark Peternell, Regency Centers’ vice president of sustainability, Regency joined forces with Green Building Services, Inc., a sustainable development consulting firm, and Ecoxera, a green business strategies and communications firm. The group will research, develop and write content for the publication while following specific guidelines set forth by the USGBC and its Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System.

“By collaborating with Regency Centers and a team of industry leaders, the guide will provide invaluable guidance for retailers and their service providers, allowing all parties to make informed and mutually beneficial green decisions,” said Marc Heisterkamp, director of commercial real estate, USGBC. “One among a suite of LEED integration guides, the Green Retail Guide expands the discourse and offers retail real estate professionals resources and guidance for the green leasing process.”

The guide is slated for publication in mid-2010 and will be available for sale at www.usgbc.org/publications.  Topics will include setting the stage for tenant and landlord relationships in prospective and existing LEED certified buildings, how buildings affect the environment and tenants, common types of lease transactions and the impact on LEED goals, tenant guidelines, sample site assessments and case studies, among others.

We were thrilled to add Regency’s leasing, operating, and sustainability expertise to our team” said Ralph DiNola, principal with Green Building Services. Regency has 7,448 active retail tenants throughout its portfolio and completed over 1,604 leasing transactions of renewed or newly leased space, totaling 5.3 million square feet, in 2009.  According to Peternell, “Regency’s sustainability brochure for retailers is the most popular file downloaded from the company website every month, which is a strong testament to the growing interest in this topic.”  

“Our efforts supporting the USGBC to develop the Green Retail Guide will continue to advance Regency’s expertise in the sustainability and green building arenas,” he said. “We expect the Green Retail Guide to help retail real estate professionals better understand the various leasing implications for achieving high performance green buildings.”

About Regency Centers
Regency is the leading national owner, operator, and developer of grocery-anchored and community shopping centers.  At September 30, 2009, the Company owned 409 retail properties, including those held in co-investment partnerships. Including tenant-owned square footage, the portfolio encompassed 54.1 million square feet located in top markets throughout the United States.  Since 2000 Regency has developed 194 shopping centers, including those currently in-process, representing an investment at completion of $3.0 billion.  Operating as a fully integrated real estate company, Regency is a qualified real estate investment trust that is self-administered and self-managed.

About Green Building Services, Inc.
One of the nation’s most comprehensive sustainable development consulting firms, Green
Building Services Inc. helps clients successfully adopt green building and facility management
practices. With offices in Portland, Sacramento, Orlando and Houston, GBS serves clients across
the United States as well as in Canada, Latin America, Europe and Asia Pacific. To date, the company has managed the certification of over 160 LEED® projects and has well over 300 other green building projects in process.

About Ecoxera
Ecoxera, based in Austin, Texas, is an innovative team of sustainability strategists that work with retailers, manufacturers and suppliers to develop green business models that make business sense. Comprised of LEED(R) accredited professionals who have developed retail sustainability programs for prominent retail corporations as well as the U. S. Green Building Council, Ecoxera's proven track record of green thought leadership, strategy & execution enables any company within the retail supply chain to identify and implement the optimum green strategy for their business, in the process strengthening their brand and bottom line while staying one step ahead of the competition.

About the U.S. Green Building Council
The Washington, D.C.-based U.S. Green Building Council is committed to a prosperous and sustainable future for our nation through cost-efficient and energy-saving green buildings.

With a community comprising 78 local affiliates, more than 20,000 member companies and organizations, and more than 131,000 LEED Accredited Professionals, USGBC is the driving force of an industry that is projected to contribute $554 billion to the U.S. gross domestic product from 2009-2013. USGBC leads an unlikely diverse constituency of builders and environmentalists, corporations and nonprofit organizations, elected officials and concerned citizens, and teachers and students.

Buildings in the United States are responsible for 39% of CO2 emissions, 40% of energy consumption, 13% water consumption and 15% of GDP per year, making green building a source of significant economic and environmental opportunity. Greater building efficiency can meet 85% of future U.S. demand for energy, and a national commitment to green building has the potential to generate 2.5 million American jobs.

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