Where History Meets Green

Butler Square, a nine-floor, 500,000-square-foot historic structure in the Minneapolis Warehouse District, is already a landmark in the Twin Cities. Built in 1906, the imposing brick building was originally a mail-order, retailing company’s warehouse.

After it fell into disuse in the 1960s, the block was purchased in 1972 by a Washington D.C.–based developer who wanted to recast it as an office-retail complex. But it would not suffer the fate of so many historic buildings that were marred or destroyed by urban renewal. Instead, Butler Square had the good fortune to be remodeled thoughtfully and sensitively, with a center atrium that brought light to the center of the massive structure. It won a slew of awards and became a catalyst for the renewal of the Warehouse District.

Butler Square is now about to make history again. Bloomington-based NorthMarq Real Estate Services, Inc., (previously known as United Properties), which manages the building, is seeking LEED-EB certification for the 100-year-old structure. LEED-EB is the U.S. Green Building Commission’s Leadership In Energy and Environmental Design rating system for existing buildings. It encompasses all facets of a building’s structure and use, from ventilation and plumbing to employee transportation and janitorial procedures.

When it attains its certification, Butler Square will be the oldest LEED-certified building in existence. “We’ve looked it up,” says NorthMarq’s senior property manager for Butler Square Denise McCormick. “The only hundred-year-old building we found [with LEED certification] was a complete restoration, where they gutted the entire building. Ours, on the other hand, is a building on the National Historic Register. We are confined in what we can do, structurally, to the exterior. But we feel that we can do this, just by changing our habits, our equipment, and the way we do things to create a greener environment. I think it’s really cool, and the ownership here is gung-ho. We want to be an encouragement to others, to show them what can be done with an older building.”

Because the HVAC system of the building recently reached its life expectancy, NorthMarq elected to replace the chiller and boiler with efficient Energy Star–rated versions, thus gaining LEED points.

The building’s water use is also a major focus. “Our biggest challenge as an older building has been water efficiency, and I think for most older buildings that would be the case,” McCormick says. “We have a lot of old toilets that flush a lot! [We] will be changing out a large number of toilets to the one-and-a-half-gallon flush. We have to do that just to qualify for the prerequisite for water efficiency. So that’s probably the biggest chunk of money that we’ve had to dish out for going LEED-certified.”