Over the last decade, sustainable design has gone from catchphrase to prerequisite for property and building owners across the country. The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating system has effectively promoted sustainability across the office, educational and municipal landscapes. But for warehouse and distribution centers, implementation has been more challenging.

Amazon.com teamed with Vulcan Real Estate to build an urban office campus, enhancing the resurgence of a downtown neighborhood. Amazon.com (Amazon), one of Seattle’s most recognized companies, had been expanding in multiple office buildings, throughout various Seattle neighborhoods. It soon became apparent that the disparate locations of employees and work groups was inefficient. Amazon looked for a solution that would allow it to consolidate and expand in a single location. Rather than follow the path taken by many other tech companies, Amazon elected to stay in the city instead of relocating to the suburbs.

Building a new retail project in the midst of a persistent recession could easily have been a recipe for disaster. Fortunately, this was not the case with Legacy Place, a $200 million project by WS Development. The 675,000-square-foot mixed-use project proves that experience and perseverance — combined with solid demographics, location, an exceptional tenant lineup and a long-term hold strategy — can conquer even the most adverse economic conditions.

Too expensive to return to their place of origin, used shipping containers pile up by the thousands at ports in the United States. The abundance and relative cheapness of these containers comes from the deficit in manufactured goods departing from North America. So what can be done with used containers that have reached their final destination?

Owners and operators of historic buildings are finding ways to improve building performance while still preserving the unique physical characteristics of their landmark structures. Adopting high-performance building technologies can improve energy efficiency, reduce operating costs and provide a healthier and more comfortable place for people to live and work.

The term LED is an abbreviation for light-emitting diode, a semiconductor that emits light. Light fixtures that contain LEDs are available for most common commercial building lighting applications today, although LED product lines are less extensive than traditional lighting products.