(SACRAMENTO) – The Sacramento office of Hines, the international real estate firm, announced today that three of the firm’s assets in the Point West submarket—1545 River Park, 1601 Response Road and 1610 Arden Way—have earned the ENERGY STAR® from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in recognition of exemplary energy performance. Acquired by the Hines U.S. Office Value Added Fund II L.P. in 2007, this is the first time these buildings have achieved this distinction.
With an average ENERGY STAR score of 89, the Point West buildings are 38 percent more energy efficient and save $0.94 in energy costs per square foot per year when compared to the national average building.
This translates to estimated annual greenhouse gas reductions equivalent to removing approximately 195 passenger vehicles from the road.
In addition to implementing Hines’ best practices of operations and engineering, the firm undertook the following specific measures: installed new direct digital controls; optimized boiler reset and start times on all HVAC equipment; installed controls for outside lighting; and worked with tenants to implement Hines’ GREEN OFFICE for Tenants program to enhance overall sustainability. At 1610 Arden Way, Hines also reprogrammed zone controllers to reduce energy consumption in unoccupied spaces.
 Hines General Property Manager Ted Campbell said, “Working toward the first ENERGY STAR label can be intimidating at a new building, but it simply takes a little time, focus and effort.
We started by benchmarking the properties and upgrading them to the Hines Standard of facility operations.
We then looked at strategic systems upgrades that offered reasonably fast paybacks.”
1545 River Park is a five-story, 119,000-square-foot building constructed in 1983.
1601 Response Road is a three-story, 73,000-square-foot building built in 1982.
1610 Arden Way is a two-story, 145,000-square-foot building constructed in 1984.
Together, these properties are 73 percent leased to: Cornish & Carey; the U.S. General Services Administration; Grubb & Ellis; and Umpqua Bank.
In 2010 Hines was recognized by the EPA, for the third time, with the ENERGY STAR Sustained Excellence Award; Hines has labeled more than 147 buildings, representing approximately 75 million square feet, through the ENERGY STAR program. Twelve Hines development or redevelopment projects, representing more than six million square feet, have been designated as Designed to the Earn the ENERGY STAR.
Hines is also a leader in the U.S. Green Building Council’s programs, with 192 projects, representing more than 100 million square feet that have been certified, pre-certified or registered under the various LEED rating systems. Hines was a founding member of the German Sustainable Building Council and the Russian Green Building Council, is a member of the Brazilian Green Building Council, the Indian Green Building Council and the Italian Green Building Council, and is active in the BRE Environmental Assessment Method program in the United Kingdom and the Haute Qualité Environnementale program in France.
Hines is a privately owned real estate firm involved in real estate investment, development and property management worldwide. The firm’s historical and current portfolio of projects that are underway, completed, acquired and managed for third parties includes 1,111 properties representing more than 451 million square feet of office, residential, mixed-use, industrial, hotel, medical and sports facilities, as well as large, master-planned communities and land developments. With offices in more than 100 cities in 17 countries, and controlled assets valued at approximately $22.2 billion, Hines is one of the largest sustainable real estate organizations in the world. Visit www.hines.com for more information. To learn more about sustainability at Hines, visit www.hines.com/sustainability.