Independence Plaza
1050 17th St.
Denver, CO 80265
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Independence Plaza is a 716,000-square-foot Class-A office building with a 332,000-square-foot heated underground parking garage in downtown Denver’s Central Business District, near the Theatre District. The property is owned by Independence Plaza Investment Group, Inc. and, as of November 2009 managed by Jones Lang LaSalle. The lobby opens onto both Seventeenth Street and the Sixteenth Street Mall with a 20,000-square-foot plaza. The building offers a variety of retail amenities including several restaurants, sundries, a bakery, a copy center, mail services, dental services, and vision care services. An electric vehicle charging station is available for parking garage patrons. Tenants enjoy excellent thermal comfort and indoor air quality with above-average illumination throughout the building.
Independence Plaza has made significant strides in revitalizing this more than 40-year-old project. LED lobby lighting retrofits, as well as flooring, common area, and exterior sidewalk renovations, have been completed. The building is undergoing a complete elevator modernization project with destination dispatch technology. Independence Plaza’s success in competing with newer buildings in the market is in large part due to its commitment to be one of the most energy efficient properties in Denver. The property received LEED Gold certification in 2012.
Investments in energy efficiency include the following:
--Currently, a complete elevator modernization project is underway, including installing computerized control with destination dispatch and variable speed drives that are much more efficient and that reduce energy consumption.
--Building cooling is delivered with ultra high efficiency York chillers. These chillers use oversized cooling towers to produce chilled water at an average rate of 0.38 kilowatts per ton. Recently the main cooling towers were replaced with high efficiency towers. With outside air temperatures up to 70 degrees Fahrenheit, a plate and frame type heat exchanger provides free cooling.
--T8 lighting technology with a two-lamp reflector system maintains lighting levels while reducing power consumption by more than 350 kilowatts. Variable speed drives have been installed on major fan systems and cooling towers. All motors have been replaced with premium high efficiency motors.
--The installation of a new state-of-the-art energy management system is currently underway, which is a major piece of the energy puzzle in the quest to reduce energy consumption and increase tenant comfort. This system utilizes new control strategies that optimize all HVAC equipment. The engineering team is constantly reviewing these strategies and changing them as necessary to assure optimum performance that does not interfere with tenant comfort.
--The original aluminum tenant electrical bus duct was replaced with a reliable engineered copper bus duct with a 3,000 amp bolted pressure switch. A new mechanical bus duct was also recently installed. High speed roll-up doors were installed for the heated parking garage, which has decreased steam energy usage. Also, the original domestic water pumping system was replaced with a highly efficient system with variable frequency drives (VFDs). Other water saving measures that were implemented decreased water usage by over two million gallons annually.
--All building roofs were replaced with ENERGY STAR certified high-reflectivity membranes with additional insulation installed. A complete building curtain wall wet seal project ensures that the building is airtight.
--Safety upgrades include a state-of-the-art fire life safety system retrofit, a security video camera system, and fall protection.
Communications:
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Testimonial:
Unavailable
Please note: Narrative information in this profile has been provided by Alaska Permanent Fund or a representative of this facility. Other building information was verified and submitted to EPA at the time of application. Building energy performance, operating characteristics, and ownership/management may be subject to change over time.
Building Owner:*
Alaska Permanent Fund
Property Manager:*
N/A
Year(s) Labeled (Rating):
1999 (96)
2002 (80)
2003 (85)
2004 (99)
2005 (96)
2007 (90)
2008 (80)
2009 (84)
2010 (91)
2011 (95)
2012 (94)
2013 (80)
2014 (76)
2015 (76)
2016 (82)
Facility Type: Office
Total Floorspace: 501705 sf
Year Constructed: 1972
Contract Type: None
Technologies Used:
Unavailable