Profit Meets Purpose: Building the Case for Sustainability in Mixed-Use Development

The PAE Living Building in Portland, Oregon, is the first developer-driven Living Building in the world. Phase 1 of the Bridge District in Washington, D.C., will be the world's largest multifamily building to achieve ILFI's Zero Carbon certification. Both projects prove the viability of developing mixed-use commercial structures that improve their urban and ecological context while delivering financial returns. With each project, the teams tackled seemingly unsolvable problems with practical solutions, building the case for balancing sustainable solutions with for-profit models, laying out a roadmap for others to follow. Key to both approaches is the premise that specifying sustainable and resilient strategies, including lowered embodied and operational carbon, reduced energy use, and improved air quality, daylight, and a biophilic interior, provide not only a better place to live and work, but also may translate into higher leasing rates, increased occupant satisfaction, better retention, and higher residual value. From design to construction to financing, presenters will share strategies that build the case that sustainability aspirations and developer returns do not have to be mutually exclusive.