D.C.'s First Design for Platinum-Certified Office Building Unveiled

D.C.'s First Design for Platinum-Certified Office Building Unveiled

		The lobby of 800 17th Street/PNC Place, at the corner of 17th and H Streets in Downtown Washington. PNC Place is designed to be the district's greenest office building. (PRNewsFoto/The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc.) WASHINGTON, DC UNITED STATES

WASHINGTON, June 24 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- The joint venture of The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. (NYSE: PNC) and Vornado/Charles E. Smith today unveiled its plan for Washington, D.C.'s first office building designed to achieve U.S. Green Building Council LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Platinum certification. LEED Platinum reflects the highest level of environmentally sustainable building design recognized by the council. (Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080624/NETU102 ) 800 17th Street/PNC Place, a new 365,000 square foot office building, will be built at the corner of 17th & H Streets, NW, just two blocks from the White House. PNC's regional headquarters and offices will occupy a portion of the building, with approximately 300,000 square feet available for lease. A PNC branch bank will be located on the retail level. "800 17th Street/PNC Place brings to the Washington market a building that combines the highest levels of sustainable design with one of the most strategic and prestigious locations in the city," said Mitchell N. Schear, President of Vornado/Charles E. Smith, the developer, leasing and management company for the new building. "This high-performance Gensler-design in the heart of Washington demonstrates PNC's commitment to the Washington region and our ongoing leadership in sustainable design and development," said PNC Bank Regional President Michael N. Harreld. PNC currently has more LEED-certified buildings than any other company in the world. In London on June 16, the Financial Times and the Urban Land Institute presented PNC with an international award for its green building efforts. The Sustainable Cities Award recognizes PNC's leadership in environmental sustainability. "800 17th Street/PNC Place, the first LEED Platinum office development in the District of Columbia, sets a new bar for environmentally responsible, quality development in our city," said Mayor Adrian Fenty. The Mayor has recently led new legislation requiring LEED certification for DC Government buildings. Through the collaboration of Gensler architects and green building consultant Paladino & Company, the building design envisions unique, environmentally focused attributes. These include the Eco Lobby, featuring a three-story climate wall that radiantly cools the lobby with flowing water. The climate wall parallels a glass walking bridge over the open portion of the concourse below. 800 17th Street/PNC Place will be capped with a green roof to increase energy efficiency and filter storm water. Completion of the new 12-story building is expected in the 2nd quarter of 2010. An online media kit containing background information, images and video is available on PNC's website at http://www.pnc.com/go/presskits. Media can access broadcast quality video for editorial use, free of charge. The Vornado/Charles E. Smith team has developed many of Washington's landmark buildings including 2099 Pennsylvania Avenue, The Warner, 1999k, The Investment Building, The Bowen Building, and 2101 L Street. Vornado/Charles E. Smith is a division of Vornado Realty Trust, a fully integrated equity Real Estate Investment Trust (NYSE: VNO). The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. (http://www.pnc.com) is one of the nation's largest diversified financial services organizations providing retail and business banking; specialized services for corporations and government entities, including corporate banking, real estate finance and asset-based lending; wealth management; asset management and global fund services.