14 Years, 1.4 Million Square Feet and Going: The U.S.’s Largest LEED for Neighborhood Development Project
July 7th, 2023
Article originally published by ICSC, written by Joe Gose
Grandview Yard has earned the official LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) for Neighborhood Development certification by the U.S. Green Building Council. The LEED-ND designation recognizes and encourages the development of healthy neighborhoods that meet the highest standards of smart growth and new urbanism. LEED is the most widely used green building rating system in the world, and Grandview Yard serves as the largest LEED-ND project in the U.S. and the first in Ohio to receive the designation.
Grandview Yard earned the certification thanks to green building infrastructure, energy efficiency, sustainable site development of an infill neighborhood, access to public space, five individual LEED-certified office and mixed-use buildings and walkable, tree-lined streets, among other elements.
Post-World War II warehouses had filled the site when Nationwide Realty Investors began acquiring properties for the project, and the developer salvaged or recycled 80% of those structures. It reused 60% of the recycled materials, primarily as concrete placed under the streets, parking lots and building foundations.
“Grandview Yard started as a decision to do an urban infill project on a contaminated and blighted site, and doing those kinds of projects in and of themselves tends to be sustainable and environmentally conscious,” said Brian Ellis, president and COO of Nationwide Realty Investors. “Over the last 10 years, Grandview Yard has become a point of pride for people who lived there, as well as for the businesses that have located there.”