Every successful supplier or hotel owner has great success stories to tell. What I have discovered from my seat as an editor, however, is that most companies never bother to tell their success stories—at least in a well-documented and organized fashion. They are missing out on a great opportunity to educate our industry and drum up new business at the same time.
There are many great green hotel success stories but few have been as well documented as The Nines hotel in downtown Portland, Ore. I was recently sent a 10-page case study of the property by Gary Golla. Gary was an architect on the project as part of Portland, Ore.-based SERA Architects. The Nines occupies the top nine floors above a five-story Macy’s department store in the former Meier & Frank building. The 331-room property is managed by Sage Hospitality and the interior was designed by Cliff Tuttle and Rebecca Brownlee of ForrestPerkins.
The Nines opened last fall and, according to Gary, is expected to earn Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Silver certification in June or July. What the case study does is quantify the cost premium for LEED Silver when compared with doing the same hotel without pursuing LEED. The document makes a very strong case for the value in building new or renovating to LEED standards. Any hotel developer considering LEED should read the case study (a link to it is provided at the end of this column).
Marginal Cost Premium
Hard costs and soft costs were analyzed and incentives and utility cost reduction paybacks were also factored in. What were the most important findings of the study? It was determined that there was just a 1.2 percent soft cost and hard cost premium to the project to pursue LEED Silver. After factoring in the incentives, which are significant in Oregon, the premium is reduced to just 0.2 percent. Here is the real meat to chew on: The energy and water cost savings cover that remaining premium in 17 months and after 10 years the property will have saved more than $1 million in operating costs. The hotel will benefit from a 26 percent reduction in energy costs and 28 percent reduction in water and sewer charges.
What SERA Architects does most effectively in its case study is document the cost of every LEED-related item, cite the number of LEED credits in question, tell to what degree the investment will benefit the property in the long run, and finish up with a final analysis of the total costs versus incentives, and the payback period. SERA’s case study proves that you don’t have to write a book-long study to convey an important message.
If you are able to obtain financing for a new-build or renovation project in this challenging economy, how you could not build to at least LEED Silver standards is beyond me. The numbers behind The Nines story are very compelling. When you do build that project, document every step and tell your story just like SERA Architects has told its story. Once you have that case study written, send it my way. I will be sure to include it in a future column.
Click here to access The Nines case study.
Green Lodging News and ALIS
I will be attending the Americas Lodging Investment Summit (ALIS) from January 26 to 28 in San Diego. Be sure to visit the Green Lodging News website for coverage of the event. Speakers at ALIS will provide a revealing report on the state of our industry and you will not want to miss it.
Green Lodging News Adds Sonitec Case Study to Website
Green Lodging News has added a new case study to its Vendor Case Studies section. The case study focuses on the Mandarin Oriental, Washington, D.C., and how Sonitec’s Vortisand filter was able to solve its cooling tower sludge problem. To read the complete case study, click here. To learn more about Vortisand filters, call (888) 876-9655, e-mail martine.menard@sonitec.com, or go to www.vortisand.com.
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If you are a supplier selling green products, be sure to call me at (440) 243-2055 to discuss your advertising plans for 2009. Several premium spots are currently available, including the top banner position on the website. A 2009 media kit is now available by request or by clicking here. Thank you to all of those companies that consistently support Green Lodging News.
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