According to Rick Fedrizzi, President, CEO, Founding Chair, of the U.S. Green Building Council, “The best-practices case of The Christman Building has helped expand the boundaries of what’s possible in high-performance, energy-efficient buildings, and should provide an inspiration for others.”

One LEED Platinum certification by any standard is extremely commendable. Dual LEED Platinum certification in conjunction with the same project, until now, is unprecedented. Dual LEED Platinum certification in the context of a historic preservation project involving historic tax credits is almost unimaginable. Yet, this is precisely what the owner and design team were able to accomplish at The Christman Building, by earning a Platinum rating under two LEED rating systems: Core and Shell and Commercial Interiors.

Developing a New Headquarters

Initially motivated by its need for additional space, The Christman Company, a Lansing, Mich.-based construction firm, immediately realized that it was faced with a unique opportunity and elected to take a holistic approach to the development of its new corporate headquarters. Having been located in Lansing for most of its 114 years, Christman was firmly committed to the community and, spurning the trend of others favoring the suburbs, elected to become an integral partner in the city’s ongoing downtown revitalization. Almost by accident, Christman became aware of a vacant six-story building in the shadow of Michigan’s capitol in downtown Lansing. Upon further investigation, the company came to discover that the building was the landmark Mutual Building, a circa 1928 Elizabethan structure that was on the National Register of Historic Places.

Shortly after acquiring the building, Christman and members of the design team embarked upon a visioning and organizational development study that led to the establishment of five guiding principals that drove the design process: represent the company’s core values of people, energy, expertise, accomplishments and history; encourage team collaboration; create an environment that shares successes and energy, and also provides for mental and physical breaks; maximize comfort with individual thermal and lighting controls, ergonomic workstations, and daylighting; and plan adaptively for growth, change and space needs of short-term on-site project personnel. Beyond creating an “ideal” work environment for its employees, Christman realized that this was a golden opportunity to demonstrate its commitment to integrated and sustainable design and construction, to historic preservation, and to the downtown revitalization of its home city.

The Mutual Building, now known as The Christman Building, proved to be an excellent candidate for fulfilling all of the stated objectives.

Originally designed and built to house the headquarters of the Michigan Millers Mutual Fire Insurance Company in 1928, this landmark downtown building and brownfield site proved to be an irresistible candidate for a milestone green and historic preservation project. Aside from its rich history and beautiful interior, reusing an existing building is one of the most “green” initiatives possible in that we can tap the inherent embodied energy and resources within the structure, help to reduce urban sprawl, and contribute to the revitalization of downtown and its existing infrastructure.

A renovated historic landmark offers sustainable office space. Photo by Gene Meadows, courtesy of The Christman Company.

Sustainability Goals

Including the addition of a conference center at the original rooftop level, the renovated building contains approximately 60,000 gross square feet. Given that the owner’s corporate offices and support functions only required 50 percent of the building’s available area, three floors are being leased to other tenants. Due to the use and configuration of the building, the owner’s initial sustainability goals included pursuing LEED Gold certification for two of the USGBC rating systems, Core and Shell (LEED-CS) for the entire building and Commercial Interiors (LEED-CI) for its own corporate offices, with the caveat that there be no appreciable increase to the cost of construction.

As the project progressed, it became clear that Platinum certification was well within reach. According to the owner’s records, the cost for all sustainability initiatives added approximately 2 percent to the cost of the project, of which half of the added costs are attributed to the LEED certification process. Ignoring the financial benefits of increased occupant comfort, health and productivity, the owner expects to see a two-year return on its initial capital investment through the building’s increased energy efficiency.

Not withstanding the owner’s sustainability goals, a key challenge to the design team was that the financial success of the project was dependent upon the acquisition of approximately $2.5 million in historic tax credits. Accordingly, all work had to be completed in accordance with the rigorous and often conflicting requirements of the Secretary of Interior’s Standards for Historic Preservation. In the end, the owner received all of the tax credits and the world’s first dual LEED Platinum certified build.

Sidebar: The Christman Building

Location: Lansing, Mich.

Size: 60,000 square feet

Opened: January 2008

Certifications: LEED-CI Platinum and    LEED CS Platinum

Design Services: SmithGroup

Construction: The Christman Company  (www.christmanco.com)