Muller Grabs LEED Gold for 82,000-SF Building

SANTA ANA, CA-The Laguna Hills-based Muller Co.'s 82,042-square-foot Tustin Centre II office building has been certified as LEED Gold, the first core and shell building to receive LEED Gold, according to the Muller. The four-story class A building at 1525 N. Tustin Ave., designed by Nadel Architects, is owned by an investment client of BlackRock Inc., and the Muller Co. is the developer and property manager.

The new building, which opened in October 2009, will be 100% leased in November 2010 by Regional Center of Orange County (RCOC), a state-funded nonprofit organization that provides life-long services and support for individuals with developmental disabilities and their families. The lease with RCOC was one of the largest signed in Orange County this year.

Tustin Centre also includes a 10-story 196,000-square-foot class A office building, which was constructed in 1991 and is Energy Star-pending. This building serves as the headquarters of real estate brokerage and investor Grubb & Ellis Co. and a host of other tenants. An investment client of BlackRock is the owner and the Muller Co. is the property manager for this building too.

According to Karen Winter, director of property management for Muller, the company will continue to apply its renovation and rehabbing expertise to the green-building market. “There's a growing interest among clients—especially government tenants—to occupy green buildings," Winter says.

The Muller Co. incorporated numerous green design and construction features in the development of Tustin Centre II. Nearly 96% of all construction waste was recycled and diverted from landfills, equating to more than 1,774 tons of waste, which earned a LEED exemplary performance credit; more than 21% of the materials used in construction contained recycled content.