February 14, 2008
By Bill Wilson
Published with Permission from The Wichita Eagle

SOCIAL SECURITY OFFICE BUILT GREEN

A new building for the Social Security Administration in northeast Wichita will be designed with the environment in mind.

Vantage Point Properties is building one of the first LEED silver-certified buildings in Wichita, a new home for the Social Security Administration's district office.

The one-story, 24,573-square-foot building at 3216 N. Cypress will be the first certified LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) building occupied in Wichita, according to the National Resources Defense Council. The Hunter Health clinic expansion under way on East Central also is LEED certified.

Construction will begin this spring with occupancy scheduled for later this year.

The building is the first venture into green design for Vantage Point and its designers. And it's a continuation of the General Services Administration's effort to centralize government functions in energy-efficient buildings.

"Building green can have a positive impact on Wichita, when you look at waste recycling, use of local and regional materials and the like," said Paul Jackson, president of Vantage Point.

"We want to be responsible in the way we conduct our business... and whenever we can work these practices into a new building, we will."

The Social Security office is moving a quarter-mile from its current location at 8533 E. 32nd St. North for more space, said Bob Leiter, Wichita district manager.

But in the meantime, the Vantage Point project is creating new business opportunities for the building's designers.

"It's our first, and there's definitely a learning curve," said Randy Davis of MKEC Engineering Consultants, a LEED-accredited landscape professional.

"The president of our company (Kenneth Bengtson) is very enthusiastic behind the environmental movement, and we think there's a big future in it."

Davis said the building will be 17 to 21 percent more energy-efficient than a typical building, use 20 percent less water and will have water-efficient landscaping.

The General Services Administration's Midwest division operates out of 11 LEED-certified buildings, said Charlie Cook, a GSA spokesman.

"We find now that a lot of the concepts and building materials that go into a green building have come down in cost," Cook said.

"And now, when we move into a building we're willing to put a little more in up front with the operations savings on the back end. We consider the costs of these green buildings good investments, and we'd like to lead the way in that area."

The building's design by Krehbiel Architecture includes several subtle energy-saving features, such as lighting.

And Commerce Construction, the project contractor, will recycle about 75 percent of the building waste, sorting trash into separate recycling bins for metal, wood, concrete and cardboard.

In addition, about 20 percent of the materials used in the building will be regionally obtained recycled products.

Jackson said Vantage Point will remain focused on office space construction, with an emphasis on multi-tenant buildings like its work at the Waterfront.

"This isn't the first build-to-suit we've done," he said. "We did a building for Preferred Health Systems, what is now the T-Mobile call center, other buildings for the federal government."

Vantage also is building a mixed-use development in Andover, including a retail component that is its focus.