Segerstrom Co., the developer of South Coast Plaza and most of the Costa Mesa-Santa Ana-straddling South Coast Metro area, announced this week that its Plaza Tower, Center Tower and Park Tower achieved LEED-EB Gold Certification, the first multi-tenant buildings in California and three of the first four buildings in the U.S. to receive that particular U.S. Green Building Council distinction.
The Leadership and Environmental Design for Existing Building Operations N Maintenance (LEED-EB O&M) certification program accredits sustainable green buildings through the implementation of universally accepted criteria. The Segerstrom office towers will reduce the amount of CO2 released into the atmosphere by more than 9.5 million pounds annually and reduce water consumption by more than 3 million gallons yearly, according to the Offices of South Coast Plaza.
“We are pleased to be recognized for our company's ongoing commitment to reduce our impact on the environment,” says Stan Taeger, director of Office Property Management, in a company statement. “A company's role as a steward of the environment shouldn't end when you're done reading their mission statement, it should be a recognizable part of their day-to-day activities, and this award by the USGBC highlight's ownership's commitment to reduce our carbon footprint through sustainable practices and policies.”
The 468,550-square foot Plaza Tower, designed by world renowned architect Cesar Pelli, is the tallest building in Orange County.
OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.