(Save the date: RealShare Industrial 2012 comes to The Bankers Club, Miami, December 5 - 6.)

MIAMI—As it inches toward LEED certification, the iconic Miami Tower is making a statement in Downtown Miami’s skyline with a new modernized lighting system. The system promises to reduce related lighting energy usage by 92%. That will save tenants and the building’s owner more than $260,000 a year in operating costs and reduce CO2 emissions by more than 1.2 million pounds.

The LED lighting also makes possible custom light shows at the push of a button to support tenants, holidays, civic and charitable groups, and other groups that want to promote or commemorate special events. Building management can change the colors with an iPhone app. The building is 85% occupied.

“This significant upgrade is just one of several projects planned at Miami Tower,” Ty Spearing, managing director at LaSalle Investment Management, the building’s owner, said in a statement. “Our goal is to re-establish Miami Tower as a leader in technology, architecture and design, environmental sustainability, and on-site amenities; all of which Miami’s top tenants demand.”

The installation team replaced 382 metal halide lights that consumed 1,000 watts each and were limited to only a few static colors, with 216 ultra-modern LED fixtures able to produce 16 million colors and hundreds of dynamic lighting effects. A software application that allows operators to change the tower lighting at a keystroke and virtually in real-time manages the system on the 47-story tower.

“We are in the middle of the LEED certification process and the new LED lighting is part of our efforts to upgrade the building’s systems,” Jones Lang LaSalle’s Tom Matese, general manager of Miami Tower, tells GlobeSt.com. “Several of our existing tenants in some of the more high profile tenants in the marketplace are placing an emphasis on the importance of LEED certified buildings.”