Local Project Focused on Sustainability

If there’s one thing One Paseo is not, it’s certainly not being proposed without sustainability in mind.  The Carmel Valley project has been registered with the certification goal of LEED Silver (Leadership in Energy Efficient and Environmental Design) under the LEED for Neighborhood Development rating system.

LEED-ND certification provides independent, third-party verification that a developments location and design meets accepted high levels of environmentally responsible, sustainable development according to the United States Green Building Council’s website.

In order to receive a LEED Silver rating, the neighborhood development plan undergoes basic prerequisites addressing the entire lifecycle of a property taking into account such issues as: site design, water and energy efficiency, low-impact development, indoor environmental quality, materials and resources used in construction, innovative design, and environmental laws.

Kilroy Realty Corporation, the company developing One Paseo, strongly believes in LEED projects and after operating from Seattle to San Diego for over 60 years, Kilroy has taken it upon themselves to build almost all of their most recent new development projects to LEED specifications.

Sara Neff, KRC’s in-house Director of Sustainability said One Paseo’s silver rating came after passing LEED’s prerequisites, some of which were proving the project wasn’t being built on things such as farm land or flood plains and that it wasn’t disturbing any bodies of water.

“It’s also looking at your status – whether you’re previously developed or not previously developed – and then things like transit readiness, accessibility and walkability of the streets, access to services like shopping, schools and recreation spaces, and then we submit our plans for what the buildings will look like,” Neff said of the approval process.

Neff, who assures that Kilroy is very proud of this sustainability project, noted that today, 26 percent of Kilroy’s office portfolio is LEED certified and everything has achieved either Gold or Silver certification.

“That’s very important to us because it demonstrates to our tenants that we practice sustainability and those buildings tend to have higher occupancy rates,” she said.

With major projects up and down the west coast, KRC has also achieved high rankings after receiving a performance award in 2011 for having an average energy star score of 75 or better in their portfolio and was recently endorsed by MOVE Alliance in San Diego which provides a formal endorsement for proposed projects demonstrating a commitment to creating, preserving and enhancing sustainable transit-oriented communities in the San Diego region.

With LEED and KRC by its side, One Paseo is certainly a project that has its community and environment in mind.

 

The Carmel Valley Life is a community run and operated organization comprised of local leaders who come together to create a greater sense of community and to educate and inspire Carmel Valley San Diego towards a movement of community, connection and contribution.

Purpose: to serve as an example of what it means to be a community.

Mission: to create a movement of meaningfully contributing to our community by creating a resourceful site of valuable content that is managed and run by its community members.

Vision: to challenge the community to directly get involved in the development and continuation of the site by 1) sharing stories that inspire, 2) create projects that bring the community together to demonstrate compassion, and 3) unite in joint efforts to create an even better community.

Beyond Just Ourselves: to bring self-sustainability and self-sufficiency to communities that lack the ability to provide for the health and well-being of their members. Please see “Project Give.”