NAIOP Maryland 360

In the USGBC’s annual ranking of U.S. states “leading the way on green building,” Maryland ranked No. 5 last year, moving up two places from 2021.

5061 Howerton Way, a single-story building in Melford Town Center comprising 34,560 square feet of flex/R&D space, was the 100th building in the St. John Properties portfolio to earn LEED certification.

The rankings are based on LEED-certified gross square footage per capita in 2022. Eighty projects earned LEED certification in Maryland over the past 12 months, amounting to nearly 15 million square feet of space and 2.44 GSF per capita. The LEED rating system is the world’s most widely used green building program and was created by the U.S. Green Building Council as a leadership standard defining best practices for healthy, high-performing green buildings.

“LEED buildings are environmentally friendly, cutting their emissions and waste, and use less energy and water. At the same time, they also help reduce operational and maintenance costs, contributing to the bottom line,” Peter Templeton, USGBC president, said in a news release.

“Maryland has a long history of leadership in green building and has consistently ranked in the Top 10 states for LEED for the past 12 years,” stated Ryan Snow, Regional Director, U.S. Market Transformation & Development for USGBC. “The world’s first LEED Platinum project was certified in Maryland over two decades ago, and state and local governments have adopted policies to accelerate high-performance buildings. Additionally, Maryland-based corporations and developers like Marriott International, JBG Smith, and St. John Properties have also taken a leadership stance in the private sector in their commitment to LEED Certification.”

Worldwide, there are now more than 100,000 LEED-certified projects totaling 11 billion square feet of space in more than 180 countries, including several of the world’s tallest buildings. The Chesapeake Bay Foundation’s Phillip Merrill Environmental Center in Annapolis was the first project to earn LEED certification in the United States.

According to USGBC Maryland, the state is home to a number of LEED-certified cities and communities, including Howard County, which achieved LEED Platinum under LEED v4.1 for Cities and Communities in 2022, and Frederick County and the City of Frederick, which worked collaboratively to become a LEED Silver community and a LEED-certified city, respectively, in 2019.

St. John Properties, Inc. certified more projects in Maryland in 2022 than any other developer and celebrated its 100th LEED building certification in October.