Greening Lakewood Business Partnership is off and running.  Its first “extreme green makeover” will be a summer marathon that will result in immediate and significant savings for The Learning Source, a non-profit English literacy organization with its small urban headquarters at 455 S. Pierce St.

The Greening Lakewood Business Partnership was formed last year in Colorado’s fourth largest city and is acting locally to stimulate commercial building energy efficient upgrades while increasing the impact of the city’s “green” or new energy sector.

The group made a few major announcements at its first open house for commercial building owners and operators on Tues., June 2, at The Learning Source:

• The partnership has secured the building permit for its first “Extreme Green Makeover,” a $650,000 retrofit of the headquarters building of The Learning Source that will net the non-profit $2-3 per square foot in saved annual operating costs.  A construction plan is being finalized and an open house for the facility will be in the fall.

•    Building HELP Check Ups were introduced.  HELP stands for Helpful Energy-Efficiency Leadership Program.  The check ups, valued at up to $10,000 per property, will cost city commercial property owners no more than $750.  The check ups will give a building owner a complete understanding of the operating and maintenance health of a property, along with suggested efficiency upgrades and payback analyses.

•Interest in the Greening Lakewood Business Partnership is growing now that financing has been secured, according to Dean and Executive Director Joan Smith, Red Rocks Community College Rocky Mountain Education Center.  Presentations and partnerships related to the burgeoning program now stretch from New Mexico to the country of Jordan.

   The Learning Source will become a real-time learning campus this summer and, by its fall opening, it will take on the dual role of helping to increase the energy-efficiency literacy of Lakewood commercial building owners and others interested in the benefits and savings associated with going “green.”

The partnership is focused on commercial properties in the city with 200,000 square feet or less of floor space and is already underway with two more makeovers at the headquarters of Colorado Easter Seals and Jefferson County Board of REALTORs.  A variety of other properties are under study.

While acting locally, the partnership, launched by the City and managed by the Alameda Gateway Community Association and Alameda Corridor Business Improvement District (BID), has regional and national partners in what is seen as a U.S. model program – Red Rocks Community College; Energy Star; Xcel Energy; Governor’s Office of Energy; Better Business Bureau; Veterans Green Jobs and many private firms.

“That is big money,” says The Learning Source CEO Susan Lythgoe of the investment that the non-profit English literacy program is making in its small urban campus in Lakewood, located next to the city’s new 22-block Belmar redevelopment project and the Young American Center, a popular area financial training organization for children.   “My board of directors was faced with investing $500,000 in a band-aid fix or $650,000 with immediate and measurable benefits and a 12-year payback.”

According to First Bank Executive Vice President Steve Hart that will translate into an immediate increase in the value of The Learning Source campus located at 455 S. Pierce St.  “Banks in Colorado are still lending and we are happy to talk to customers about how improvements to energy efficiency will affect the value of their commercial buildings,” explains Hart whose firm helped finance the first Partnership makeover.  “The Learning Source is expecting an annual cost savings between $2 and $3 per foot, which will increase their net operating income (NOI) and translate to a higher appraised value for their building.”

Conventional financing was secured for the project, which also has tapped grants, rebates and other tools to make the payback and increased property value benefits associated with the makeover possible.

Sholar Architecture and Construction has been selected as the general contractor for the project and is completing the work schedule for the project, which will be announced shortly“This is hard work,” admits Lythgoe.  “But, it’s a straight forward business decision with immediate benefits and a complete payback on the original investment in just 12 years.”

Property owners and managers attending the first outreach meeting also heard about low cost and no cost options that are identified by HELP Check Ups.  “The Jefferson County Board of REALTORs makeover will provide good examples of no cost and low cost energy-upgrades associated with significant savings,” said George Valuck, executive director, Alameda Gateway Community Association and Alameda Corridor BID.

The check ups also provide a valuable comparison of a building’s performance, measured against hundreds of others in similar climates.  The report is akin to a credit report, showing how a building compares to others across the nation, said Glenn Morris Envergent Building Science, whose company has been a driving force in the partnership.

“These are tools that our businesses need,” explains George Valuck, which manages the partnership.  The association and BID are charged with re-development of eight miles of Alameda Ave. that stretches east to west across the center of Lakewood.

The city has its eye on many conversions; how many, it does not yet know.  “We are just getting going,” says Mayor Murphy.  “These early results are encouraging,” he notes.

To learn more about the Greening Lakewood Business Partnership, contact George Valuck, 303.274.1807, agcagv@qwestoffice.net or email info@greeninglakewoodbusiness.com