20051212 Black Oak Associates wants center to help the environment

Black Oak Associates wants center to help the environment

Developer wants center to help the environment

Carroll County Times

By John G. Westerman, Times Staff Writer

Monday, December 12, 2005

Michael Trenery is a vice president for Black Oak Associates, an Owings Mills-based commercial developer that owns three shopping centers in Carroll County.

Black Oak Associates is managing the development of Main Street Eldersburg, an outdoor shopping center that is targeted to be built on the south side of Londontown Boulevard, east of Brevard Road in Eldersburg. The developer is EMS LLC.

Black Oak is seeking an environmentally friendly certification for the Main Street Eldersburg project. This certification, called silver LEED certification, is expected to cut operating expenses for the building by 30 percent and ease water usage by up to 40 percent.

Q: What do commercial developers like Black Oak do?

A: Black Oak Associates and Black Oak Management are a development management company. Black Oak Associates owns and manages five shopping centers in the greater Baltimore area. One of those shopping centers is in York, Pa. The others are in the Baltimore metro area and three are in Carroll County.

[…]

Q: Why are developers like Black Oak interested in putting projects in Carroll County?

A: If you look at the demographics, it is a growing population and it is a well-off community, and I think we recognize that.

[…] and it has very favorable demographics and is to an extent "understored" for certain categories. There are not a lot of stores in the market. There's not a lot of restaurants, there's not a lot of women's ready-to-wear and there's not a tremendous amount of specialty retailers.

Q: Can you explain the Eldersburg Main Street project?

A: That project is going to be about 83,000 square feet. It will be housed in eight separate buildings that are oriented toward a main street or a pedestrian corridor. No building will be larger than 20,000 feet. They range in size from 20,000 to about 5,000 feet. […]

Q: What is LEED certification?

A: There is an organization called the U.S. Green Building Council, and they have established a set of standards for designating buildings and different types of buildings as green buildings. In that broader category of green buildings, there are different levels, and to achieve those levels of certification within LEED, there is a score sheet that is tabulated, and there are certain requirements that you have to meet in order to obtain the points associated with that score sheet. They revolve principally around developing sites that are energy efficient, that minimize the use water that minimize the impact on the land, and in some cases are located adjacent to public transportation.

There are, I think, principally six categories that are looked at and they range from freight selection for the construction, and they evaluate methods of construction so that you minimize waste on site. And recycling. And it also looks at the recycled content and building materials, and this movement has come into its own in the last 10 years. Manufacturers are now responding, and they are making sure that they have product lines that have recycled content.

So, all of these items are evaluated through the use of this score sheet, and then if you successfully meet the category and the level that you are applying for, you are awarded the LEED designation. In this case, we're looking at a designation that is LEED silver certified for core and shell buildings. The reason we are doing that is because we are building essentially the exterior of the building. We're going to do the walls, roof, parking lots. We're going to do the mechanical systems and the electrical systems, but not including tenant-specific items.

[…] and we will be eligible for that provided we get the certification from the U.S. Green Building Council.

Q: How do you think developers like Black Oak envision Carroll County in another 10 to 20 years?

A: I think there will be an increase in commercial development as the county grows. Retail typically follows residential. Residential is the leading edge in the development. When people come to an area, after they've arrived in an area, they would like to see the types of products and services available to them within a reasonable drive for them. So, I think, over time you will see an increase.

Reach staff writer John Westerman at 410-857-7876 or westermanj@lcniofmd.com.

Labels: Carroll County Businesses and Economic Development, Eldersburg, Black Oak Associates, Environmentalism