Lerner Enterprises’ Dulles 28 Centre Development will be partly powered by wind, the company announced Thursday.
Lerner, one of the region’s most high-profile developers with projects such as the Nationals baseball stadium in their portfolio, launched its Green Initiative Program last year in an effort to be more environmentally friendly in their building techniques.
The company will purchase wind power for its 300,000-square-foot retail center in Dulles, as well as for the Residence Inn near Dulles Airport. This is Lerner’s fourth wind-powered project. The 2000 Tower Oaks Blvd. development in Rockville and the 20 M St. development in Southeast Washington, which will serve as Lerner’s headquarters, are both being built with numerous environmentally sound features. The company also recently announced that Washington Square, a 1 million-square-foot trophy office building, will operate on 100 percent wind power.
Commercial and residential real estate combined use 40 percent of the nation’s electricity and 30 percent of the raw materials.
The Green Initiative also includes building with the LEED Gold Certification in mind. The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design rating system was developed by the U.S. Green Building Council, a nonprofit representing building industry leaders.
“We want to make a positive impact on the environment through changes in our business practice in both new projects and our existing portfolio,” said Mark D. Lerner, principal of Lerner Enterprises, in a statement. “This is a business priority that we are undertaking and encourage other developers to follow.”
