Up for the (Energy-Efficiency) Challenge

Lincoln Property Company Southeast is playing a leadership role in the President’s initiative to improve the energy efficiency of commercial buildings nationwide.

55 Allen Plaza, a 350,000-square-foot, Class A office tower in downtown Atlanta that Lincoln owns, manages and leases, has been accepted into the Atlanta Better Buildings Challenge. The challenge is part of President Obama’s Better Buildings Initiative, which seeks to make commercial buildings 20 percent more energy efficient by 2020 and accelerate private sector investment in energy efficiency.

55 Allen Plaza is one of 20 municipal and privately owned buildings in downtown Atlanta selected for the first phase of the challenge. Over the next few months, the buildings will implement upgrades and measure their impacts on energy and water usage in order to bring Atlanta closer to its energy efficiency goals.  Atlanta is one of three cities chosen by President Obama – Seattle and Los Angeles are the others – to kick off this initiative.

“Lincoln Property is deeply committed to the critical issue of sustainability and energy efficiency in all of the markets in which our properties are located,” said Shane Froman, vice president of management services for Lincoln.  “We are thrilled at the chance to show real leadership in this area.”

In 2010, the buildings in which Americans live and work consumed approximately 40 percent of the energy used in the United States. The Better Buildings Initiative is one component of President Obama’s effort to reduce businesses’ annual energy costs by $40 billion.

Lincoln announced in April that it had acquired 55 Allen Plaza on behalf of a pension fund client. The office tower originally opened in May 2007.

The building’s location on the Allen Plaza mixed-use development means tenants are surrounded by amenities including restaurants, the W-Atlanta Downtown Hotel & Residences, shopping and Centennial Olympic Park.