Seniors Complex Makes LEED Milestone for MD

EDGEWATER, MD-Brightview South River, a new assisted-living and memory-care facility here, has been awarded LEED Gold certification. The developer is touting it as a first for Brightview, and for the state of Maryland.

“We are thrilled to receive this distinction,” says Marilynn K. Duker, president of the Shelter Group, in a prepared statement. “Brightview South River is the first seniors housing project in Maryland to obtain LEED certification at the gold level.”

Factors that helped the project secure the designation included a variety of features that promote energy and water efficiency, a green roof, native landscaping, an electric car-charging station, bike racks and building materials made with regional and recycled content.

Other features that racked up points for the Gold designation included preferred parking for fuel-efficient vehicles and carpools, collection ponds for stormwater management, low-flow plumbing fixtures and appliances and storage and collection areas for recycling and paints. The facility is also adhering to green-housekeeping practices. Brightview South River has 23 senior living communities in nine states.

LEED certification—especially the Gold designation—is not as common in the healthcare sector as it is in office or other categories. However, it is growing as Brightview illustrates. Another example is Kaiser Permanente's Westside Medical Center, now under construction in Hillsboro, OR, which is also gunning for LEED Gold.

Also, in November 2011, Nordic Naturals became one of the first suppliers and marketers of dietary supplements in the US to build a LEED Gold-certified facility. At 87,000 square feet, the two-story Watsonville, CA-based office-flex building sits amid 108,500 square feet of undisturbed wildlife habitat. A trailblazer project, though, was the Health Care for the Homeless clinic on the East Coast in Baltimore, which was awarded LEED Gold certification in 2010.