Baltimore-based commercial real estate development company achieved LEED certification for 19 buildings totaling more than 1.7 million square feet of space nationally in 2019

BALTIMORE, MD (January 24, 2020) – St. John Properties, Inc. was recognized by the Maryland Chapter of the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) with the “Community Change Agent” award at the annual Wintergreen Awards Celebration. The recently-held event honors accomplishments in high performance, healthy design and building, environmental stewardship and community impact achieved by companies and individuals working in the commercial, residential and retail real estate industries in Maryland. St. John Properties, a Baltimore-based commercial real estate development company active in eight states, achieved LEED certification for 19 buildings totaling more than 1.7 million square feet of space nationally in 2019.

Since initiating its LEED program in 2009, St. John Properties has developed more than four million square feet of LEED Gold, Silver or Certified space throughout its Maryland, Virginia and Utah portfolio, including 2100 W Pleasant Grove Boulevard, a nearly 190,000 square foot, six-story commercial office building that represents the company’s largest project constructed. Over the past 11 years, the company has achieved LEED Gold certification under the Core and Shell rating system representing more than 75% of the total projects, and nearly every new building developed by St. John Properties is now designed to earn LEED certification. This philosophy extends to projects developed throughout the national portfolio, and has led to St. John Properties being ranked in the top five LEED developers in the nation, and as the top LEED developer in Maryland.

Projects that achieved LEED certification in 2019 include 10 class “A” commercial office buildings, eight flex/R&D buildings and The Berkleigh, a 400,000 square foot multifamily development located within Greenleigh at Crossroads in Baltimore County. The Maryland projects are located in Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Carroll, Howard and Prince George’s counties.

“St. John Properties has significantly raised the bar in their continued efforts to uphold USGBC’s belief that better buildings lead to better lives; their work to improve building sustainability has positively impacted the many people that interact with these buildings and spaces in our communities and cities,” stated Cindy Zork, U.S. Green Building Council’s Community Director for Maryland. “St. John Properties has demonstrated leadership in sustainability at exceptional scale with actions and accomplishments over an extended period of time that should be a model to other companies focused on doing good for people and the planet.”

In USGBC’s annual ranking of states based on the number of LEED-certified square feet per person, Maryland placed 6th with 96 projects certified in 2019, encompassing more than 15 million square feet of space. Colorado placed first with nearly 24 million square feet of space certified among 102 projects. Maryland rose four spots after finishing 10th in 2018.

“Local developers typically do not design single-story flex/office buildings to achieve LEED certification, but it has become standard practice for our company, as we have been able to successfully scale this concept across our portfolio,” stated Jeffrey Gish, Senior Vice President of Construction for St. John Properties. “Many of these initiatives are based on input from our clients, who recognize the valuable energy and resources savings achieved when executing a green strategy. We have been able to definitively measure the dividends of this practice which extends to our mid-rise office product across the portfolio.”

St. John Properties, Inc., founded in 1971, owns and has developed more than 20 million square feet of Flex/R&D, Office, Retail and Warehouse space in Maryland, Colorado, Louisiana, Nevada, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Utah and Wisconsin. The company was named “2018 Developer of the Year” for the Nation by NAIOP, the Commercial Real Estate Development Association. For more information about the company, visit sjp.mu9b0uf9-liquidwebsites.com.