CoStar Group, Inc. (CSGP), commercial real estate's leading provider of information, analytics and marketing services, revealed that the remodel of its headquarters at 1331 L St., NW has been awarded LEED Platinum Certification for Commercial Interiors (CI), the U.S. Green Building Council's highest level of LEED certification. "I am very pleased we earned this distinction from the U.S. Green Building Council," stated Andrew Florance, Founder and CEO of CoStar Group. "We are deeply committed to sustainability and to creating world class, environmentally conscious workspaces throughout the CoStar office network. LEED Certification is an important factor we consider when touring for new office space and once we commit to a lease, we look to improve the space with sustainability as a primary objective." CoStar uses among the most progressive best practices in green building technology. In addition to its newly Platinum-Certified space in Washington, CoStar's 25,000-square-foot Boston office was awarded LEED Platinum CI in 2010, and its 27,000-square-foot office in Atlanta and 29,000-square-foot office in San Diego are both pending LEED Platinum CI certification. Currently, CoStar's offices in Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Boston, Atlanta and Washington, DC, are maintained in LEED Gold-Certified buildings. CoStar is also an ENERGY STAR(TM) Partner and was honored in 2009 with an Excellence in ENERGY STAR Promotion Award. The Company's Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, Denver, Phoenix and Boston offices are all ENERGY STAR certified. CoStar's commitment to sustainability extends well beyond its office space. The Company also provides significant transit subsidies to encourage employees to take advantage of public transportation options, reducing automobile use in and around the metro areas surrounding many of its offices. In addition, CoStar uses a fleet of customized, eco-friendly hybrid field research vehicles, equipped with state-of-the-art technology to collect comprehensive commercial real estate information and high-quality property photography. Each Toyota Prius in the CoStar fleet gets approximately 50 miles per gallon in the city, reducing fuel consumption by approximately 161,000 gallons per year. In 2010, the Company added the fully electric Chevrolet Volt to its fleet of field research vehicles, further reducing CoStar's carbon output while enhancing its extensive field research capabilities. CoStar incorporates the U.S. Green Building Council's list of LEED-Certified and Registered buildings, ENERGY STAR(TM)-Certified buildings and BREEAM-assessed properties into its database. Buildings are tagged in CoStar's database with these designations to enable CoStar clients in the U.S. and U.K. to perform specific queries for green buildings, and icons for each designation are incorporated into search results to make the properties easy to review during broader searches. "Approximately 90 countries on all continents now have emerging or established green building organizations and are beginning to create significant incentives for adhering to green building practices," stated Florance. "As green building expands rapidly across the U.S. and abroad, the ability to easily identify and search for green space in CoStar's database provides tremendous value to our clients." CoStar also supports sustainability and green building in academia, sponsoring the academic journal and website, the Journal of Sustainable Real Estate, which promotes research and awareness of sustainability issues in the commercial real estate industry. The journal is produced annually and the website provides links, case studies and resources that provide great value to industry professionals, academics and anyone interested in learning more about sustainability. To earn Platinum Certification from the U.S. Green Building Council, a project must satisfy a number of requirements during a rigorous evaluation process, including criteria related to efficient building systems, sustainability, water efficiency, building materials and indoor environmental quality. Construction on 1331 L Street NW was completed in multiple phases, earning an exemplary score and several innovation credits from the U.S. Green Building Council. The build-out of the space boasts numerous green building features that contributed to CoStar's high marks during the review process, including: -- Exclusive use of fluorescent and LED light fixtures -- Workstations and offices that are Greenguard-Certified for indoor air quality -- Extensive water conservation measures in office pantries and restrooms to reduce water consumption -- Smart Building System (SBS) technology -- Green roof garden that captures rain run-off and minimizes heat gain -- Charging stations for electric cars in the building's garage