The council’s “Green Scene” event, which it holds at different locations across the state throughout the year, was attended by more than 120 people. They got to hear the council’s message about sustainability and environmentally-friendly construction. They also learned about the University of Louisville’s green practices.
A year ago, the council recognized The Nucleus, the University of Louisville Foundation’s newly constructed downtown office building, with a silver plaque for achieving Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification.
The building, since renamed the Atria Support Center in honor of its anchor tenant, Atria Senior Living, is located on the J.D. Nichols campus and hosted this week’s council event.
Vickie Yates Brown, president and CEO of Nucleus: Kentucky’s Innovation Center, told the crowd that the building is one of 11 UofL or UofL-affiliated properties to earn a LEED designation. Its environmentally-friendly features include a green rooftop terrace, smart HVAC and energy management systems and motion-activated lights and plumbing in all restrooms.
Nucleus is an arm of the UofL Foundation.
Brown said green building “is a priority of the University of Louisville because the university believes it’s the right thing to do.”
The Atria Support Center is home to aging care, research, entrepreneurial and health care-related companies and entities. It is one of five buildings with a total of 400,000 square feet that the foundation controls on the J.D. Nichols campus.
“We’re very proud of what’s being built here,” Brown said.
Atria chairman and CEO John Moore called the J.D. Nichols campus “a great place for us to do business,” and he praised the council for its work promoting green building.
“It’s not easy to build things in the right way,” Moore said. “This is when we need to gain momentum.”
