"The LEED Gold rating puts the office towers among Charlotte'selite green facilities," says Pam Padgett, vice president ofproperty management with locally based Crescent Resources. Thebuildings were developed in 2006 by Crescent and Lincoln Harris,also based in Charlotte, and are now owned by Des Moines, IA-basedPrincipal Real Estate Investors.

Crescent's property management team worked over the past 16months to achieve LEED certification. Dallas-based LORD Green RealEstate Strategies Inc. served as consultant to the buildings, whileHouston-based Transwestern provided commissioning services andensured that all building systems and components were designed,installed, operated and maintained efficiently.

Located on Fairview Road in southeast Charlotte, Piedmont TownCenter also includes open-air retail space mixed with stylishresidences and structured parking. In addition to the officetowers, which include the headquarters of Piedmont Natural Gas,there is 75,000 square feet of retail and 180 luxury livingunits.