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Equastone-Owned Building Awarded ENERGY STAR
San Antonio, TX - Equastone, a private real estate investment firm, announced today that the firm's San Antonio-based office building, Northwood Tower has earned the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) prestigious Energy Star Rating, the national symbol for protecting the environment through superior energy performance. Located at 1777 NE Loop 410 San Antonio, Northwood Tower is now joined by over 10% of the Equastone portfolio recognized by the Energy Star.
By earning the Energy Star, Northwood Tower is recognized for being in the top 25% for energy efficiency for office buildings across the nation, while still providing quality service and comfort to occupants. By making cost-effective improvements to the building, Equastone lowered their energy use and reduced CO2 /greenhouse gas emissions 42% below the national average for similar office buildings.
Cory Cunningham, Director of Operations, reported, "The Energy Star rating achieved at Northwood Tower demonstrates our commitment to making a difference in our environment. We believe that through energy efficient and value oriented approaches we can simultaneously add value to our tenants, our investors and the environment."
Acquired in October 2005, Northwood Tower is a 256,875 square foot, 15 story, Class A office complex with a six-story parking garage. The property is situated along Loop 410 Expressway on the Starcrest exit turn around and Harry Wuzbach exit. Northwood is currently 76.4 percent occupied and includes major tenants such as Lockheed Martin and Jefferson Bank. Northwood Tower is a 2005 BOMA Toby Award winner.
Equastone made significant operational improvements to Northwood Tower to earn the Energy Star, including: participating in the Plumbing Retrofit Rebate program sponsored by San Antonio Water Systems, building lighting retrofit completed 2006, installing automatic light sensors in common areas, adjusting the Energy Management System by three hours (adjusted the start time/ shut down, which equates to a reduction of 18 hours p/wk and saving cost for 540 hours per month), shutting down the HVAC on vacant floors and implementing a recycling program throughout the building.
Energy Star is a government-backed program that helps businesses and consumers protect the environment through superior energy efficiency. In 2006 alone, Americans, with the help of Energy Star, saved $14 billion and prevented greenhouse gas emissions equal to those from 25 million vehicles. Equastone is Energy Star partner and actively utilizes the Energy Star program throughout the majority of a 58 building portfolio.
About Equastone
Equastone specializes in the acquisition and asset management of opportunistic and value-added real estate. Equastone's affiliated funds currently own 58 office and flex buildings encompassing over 9 million rentable square feet in California, Arizona, Colorado, Georgia, Louisiana, Nevada, Oregon and Texas. Equastone manages investment capital on behalf of Equastone Real Estate Funds, which are private equity funds for high net-worth and institutional investors. For more information about Equastone visit www.equastone.com.
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