BOLINGBROOK, IL
Promenade Bolingbrook
|
Sustainability is one of Forest City Enterprises Inc.'s core values ranking alongside with community involvement, entrepreneurial spirit, teamwork, diversity and integrity. In fact, sustainability has been part of the company's culture since Sam Miller, co-chairman and treasurer, placed stickers on office light switches urging people to "kill-a-watt."
Today, Forest City focuses on balancing environmental resources, economic objectives and social systems—the so-called triple bottom line of people, planet and profit. Forest City's sustainability activities are managed by Director of Sustainability Jon Ratner, who reports directly to the company's president and CEO Charles Ratner.
All of Forest City's new developments are required to submit a "Sustainability Report Card" as part of an internal review process based on the LEED rating system.
|
Forest City, which develops, owns and manages commercial and residential real estate across the nation, has incorporated the principles of sustainability into the projects it develops, as well as the properties it manages. The company also is focused on improving its own internal operations and encouraging its employees to get involved in sustainability.
"The fact that sustainability is one of our core values really legitimizes our commitment to it," says Jill Ziegler, program manager of sustainability initiatives for Forest City.
Additionally, Forest City created a first-of-its-kind program to encourage its town center tenants to embrace green building technologies and to address the unique challenges and opportunities facing green retail facilities. The program, the Northfield Stapleton Sustainability Tenant Incentive Program, is a set of green recommendations and requirements with 51 total points. Forest City requires each tenant to achieve at least 17 points, and tenant participation is enforceable by the lease.
Also, all of Forest City's new developments are required to submit a "Sustainability Report Card" as part of an internal review process based on the LEED rating system, according to Ziegler. Additionally, the firm is working on its own set of sustainability guidelines. "LEED is not perfect," she says. "In theory, a building can be LEED certified without doing anything related to energy efficiency. We want to determine which of the strategies are the most important to us and which ones have the most impact on the environment."
For its existing portfolio, Forest City has been conducting energy audits and has brought in consultants to help make the company's properties more sustainable and green. Moreover, the firm recently finalized a national contract for green cleaning supplies.
Internally, Forest City has rolled out a program called WorkGreen to engage employees and tell the sustainability story internally, Ziegler says. Within WorkGreen, the areas of focus are energy conservation, water conservation, recycling/waste management, transportation, procurement/purchasing, health/wellness and community. The program was launched in November 2007 and, since then, approximately 100 Forest City employees have volunteered to work on the program.
"Keeping on top of sustainability while making sure that we stay true to our internal goals is a huge challenge," Ziegler says. "We started doing this before it was popular, and we want to make sure we stay true to what we've been doing."
— Jennifer D. Duell
