Building upgrades include LED lighting in the common areas. Plumbing constraints come with the territory, but so do years of remodels. Its age also means a bunch of work has been done on the building in the last century. In addition to preserving character, there are just some old building quirks (if you’ve ever flushed a toilet in an extremely old building, you have a sense of what challenges were presented here). “There’s an extra level of care required.” “The primary issue is that as a historic building, the look and feel of the era must be maintained, so fixtures must fit in aesthetically, and HVAC work needs to be hidden or camouflaged,” says Phillips. Modern technology can be installed, but only very carefully. ![]() The company still operates and manages the building, and has been doing a series of remodels to the building, including switching its manual elevators to automatic.Ģ0 iconic Seattle buildings Smith Tower’s elevators are going automatic The 26 best things to do in Seattle this summerĪ landmarked building this old presented a unique set of challenges, says Unico VP of Sustainable and Responsible Investments Brett Phillips. Unico Properties has owned and managed the building since 2015, and still has a stake in the building after it sold as part of a portfolio deal with Goldman Sachs. Out of the Seattle projects catalogued in USGBC’s directory, around 12.5 percent were platinum-certified. The Smith Tower was built between 19, but achieved a higher LEED status than most, new construction or no: platinum, or basically an A+. ![]() While it’s not unheard of for older buildings to do a remodel and go for it-midcentury Fire Station 9 was recently awarded LEED Gold, the 1930-built Exchange Building was awarded LEED Platinum in 2016-it’s something typically new-construction buildings strive for, like the brand-new Hyatt Regency downtown or Sitka Apartments in South Lake Union. Additional merits can add up to higher grades of silver, gold, or platinum certification by adhering to stricter standards. Green Building Council (USGBC) that grades projects on emissions, energy efficiency, and other environmentally-friendly standards. LEED certification (that’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) is a widely-used green building standard awarded by the U.S. ![]() The Smith Tower, one of Seattle’s most iconic landmarks, just got a thoroughly modern green-building certification-even though it’s 105 years old.
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