News Release
8200 Tower First Pre-certified Gold Level LEED-CS Building in Minnesota
TIAA-CREF Expands Normandale Lake Office Park
MINNEAPOLIS (Jan. 30, 2008) – The 8200 Tower, currently under construction as the fifth office building in Normandale Lake Office Park in Bloomington, was awarded Leadership in Energy and Design Core and Shell (LEED-CS) Gold Level pre-certification by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC). Developed for TIAA-CREF by United Properties, the tower will be an 11-story, 275,000-square-foot office building and is scheduled for completion in spring of 2009.
”Striving to reduce the environmental footprint of our real estate portfolio across the United States, through pursuing LEED standards and other initiatives, is key to our investment philosophy which seeks to deliver consistent growth, and reflects the values of our clients,” said Steven Bither, Director, Real Estate Asset Management, TIAA-CREF. “We believe implementing sound environmental practices creates a win-win situation for TIAA-CREF clients and the Minneapolis-area business community.”
LEED-CS certification is a USGBC green building rating system to evaluate building project exteriors. The certification includes base building elements like structure and building-level systems like central HVAC. Pre-certification is formal recognition by the USGBC of the goal to develop a LEED-certified building.
“Normandale Lake has a reputation as the premiere office park in the Twin Cities and it is important for the Park to retain its market leadership. Increasingly, the best new commercial developments incorporate green design, so a LEED building was a necessity,” said Bill Katter, vice president for United Properties. “It is United Properties’ first green building and we believe sustainability will be a market-driven priority for future office projects. Green is not only a socially responsible choice, but will prove to be a smart business choice over the long run.”
The 8200 Tower will also be included in TIAA-CREF’s energy benchmarking program based on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s EnergyStar program. Through this program, encompassing its office property holdings, TIAA-CREF has evaluated the energy usage of each of its properties in order to identify viable strategies to reduce their energy intensity. The program will serve to lessen the organization’s impact on the environment as well as save energy costs and in turn help increase returns on it’s investments for the benefit if its clients.
“The building has already generated interest from a number of tenants who want to be in a green building,” said Tom Tracy, vice president – office brokerage, United Properties. “It offers tenants cutting edge design while being energy-efficient and socially responsible.”
The building's high-efficiency mechanical systems, stormwater design and low-emitting materials were among the key contributing factors to the LEED pre-certification. The 8200 Tower will be skyway-connected to the other buildings within the office park and feature an adjacent six-level parking deck. The design will reflect the style of other buildings within the office park, which offers landmark-quality architecture. The amenity package includes Kincaid’s Steak, Chop & Fish House, New Horizon Academy, conference/training facilities, exercise facilities, additional full-service restaurants and delis, convenience stores, an easily accessible location and, nearby walking trails and paths.
Adolfson & Peterson Construction is the general contractor and Edward Farr Architects is the architect for the project. United Properties will handle the leasing and property management of the tower, as it currently does for the office park.
Benfield, the world’s leading independent reinsurance and risk intermediary, will be the anchor tenant of the 8200 building, occupying more than 100,000 sq. ft. The location will serve as the London-based company’s U.S. headquarters.
Long-term tenants of the office park include Microsoft Corporation, Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, Watson Wyatt Worldwide, Wachovia Securities and LSI Logic.
About United Properties
United Properties is a full-service commercial real estate company with more than 500 employees and 30 million square feet of office, industrial, retail and multi-family properties under management. The company specializes in diverse real estate services, including brokerage, property management, corporate real estate services, construction management and development. Based in the Twin Cities, United Properties serves other markets through its affiliations with ONCOR International, an organization of commercial real estate companies serving more than 200 markets throughout the world, and ChainLinks Professional Resource Network, the largest retail-only full-service real estate provider in North America. The company has been recognized by the Business Journal as one of the Great Places to Work in the Twin Cities for the last four years. United Properties is located on the Web at www.uproperties.com.
About TIAA-CREF
TIAA-CREF is a national financial services organization with more than $435 billion in combined assets under management (12/31/07) and is the leading provider of retirement services in the academic, research, medical, philanthropic and cultural fields. With an approximate $69 billion global portfolio of direct and indirect investments, TIAA-CREF is one of the largest institutional real estate investors in the nation. TIAA-CREF Global Real Estate, through the accounts they manage directly, own over $25 billion in real estate assets made up of primarily high-quality properties in the office, retail, industrial, and multi-family sectors. Investments are both domestic – covering more than 40 states and the District of Columbia – and foreign – in Canada and Western Europe.
Securities distributed by TIAA-CREF Individual & Institutional Services, LLC, members FINRA/SIPC.
Media Contacts
Martha Nevanen
Vice President, Marketing Communications
952-893-7539
mnevanen@uproperties.com
Jessie Folkens
Sr. Communications Consultant
952-837-8516
jfolkens@uproperties.com