LEED Design: You Can’t Afford Not to Do It

Article by By Timothy E. Osiecki, President of Design and Construction, Concord Hospitality Enterprises as printed in Hotel Business Review.
LEED certification. For some in our industry, the mere mention causes a reflexive reach for wallets amidst protestations about ROI and guests who don’t care, don’t understand and won’t pay for it. In 2008, we at Concord Hospitality Enterprises had many of those same concerns about incremental costs and value to consumers when we embarked on our first LEED (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design) project, the Settler’s Ridge Courtyard by Marriott in Pittsburgh, Pa., And indeed, it did cost over $500,000 more to build, but the annual savings exceeded our expectations so we persevered in figuring out how to minimize cost to maximize our returns and make sustainability as much a part of our company’s culture as any of our cornerstones. Read the Full Article Here