How LEED Platinum Boosts 600 Brickell

MIAMI—I recently visited 600 Brickell and I was impressed with everything—including the green features. Apparently, so was the U.S. Green Building Council. The building just received LEED Platinum certification.

The 40-story, 600,000-square-foot mixed-use commercial tower in the heart of Miami's financial district is the only building of its kind in Florida, and one of only a handful of its class and size in the world, to be so designated. It received the designation in the core and shell category, which applies to new construction.

Loretta Cockrum, founder, chairwoman and CEO of Foram Group, developer of 600 Brickell, spoke about the LEED Platinum certification at the launch of the University of Miami's Impact Real Estate Conference last week. She said she's often asked about the constant benefit of going LEED Platinum.

“We've been open for just over a year,” she said. “We have been on a record pace from a leasing standpoint as well as record setting in our leasing rates. We've been validated by the quality of the tenants that have come and how they feel about it. I think as that continues, more and more developers will be motivated to take those extra steps and considerations.”

600 Brickell was recognized by the U.S. Green building Council for its work in achieving efficiencies in energy, lighting, water and material use, as well as incorporating a variety of other sustainable strategies to reduce its carbon footprint.

Cockrum said every detail of 600 Brickell was planned and examined before one shovel of dirt was ever turned. The $300-million eco-friendly, smart building features include central monitoring and control of air quality, temperature and lighting, resulting in a healthier, more comfortable and more secure working environment, and fully redundant electrical backup systems designed to eliminate tenants' business interruptions and technology worries in a 24/7 world.

600 Brickell offers both public and secured WiFi and direct access to the world's Internet backbone through underground, redundant fiber-optic connections linking directly to the NAP (Network Access Point) of the Americas less than one mile away. 600 Brickell is the first class A office building of this magnitude to be ISO 27001 Certified, the internationally accepted benchmark for information security.

 “We wanted to build something that would be as relevant 50 years from now as it is today,” added Cockrum. “We have achieved our goal.”