By Nathan Peck | MiBiz
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WEST MICHIGAN — A new homegrown sustainability standard for existing buildings hopes to offer owners an option as they green their operations and attract tenants.

More than 17 years after the LEED standard was introduced, the new upstart is looking to tap into areas of the building management market that’s not served by LEED. The U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED building standards created a common language for sustainability in the construction and design community.

The Society of Environmentally Responsible Facilities (SERF) is a year-old effort by East Lansing developer Joseph Maguire. The president and CEO of Wolverine Development Corp., Maguire also serves CEO of SERF, which wants to broaden the options for building owners to green their facilities’ operations. SERF targets existing buildings and encourages facility owners to find the low-hanging fruit in sustainable building management practices.

The two programs apply to different building types: LEED is largely targeting “class A” facilities, while Maguire admits SERF targets the “class A- and class-B” properties. More than 140 buildings in West Michigan are LEED-certified, while 36 facilities in six states have achieved SERF certification.

Maguire and Renae Hesselink, VP of sustainability at Nichols Corp. and chair of the U.S. Green Building Council West Michigan, recently spoke with MiBiz about their programs and whether they believe that there is room for new players in the certification game. The two will also take part in a roundtable discussion about the benefits and differences between the programs Nov. 10 in Grand Rapids.

MiBiz: What do you see as the benefits of LEED?

Hesselink: It has created a common language. It is a standard. The building owners, all that participate, architectural companies, subcontractors—especially in our region—can all talk the same language now. A decade ago in the building industry, we weren’t seeing RFP or proposals with any description of green building. Now, just about anything that comes through asks that question. It created a common language for everyone in that industry all the time. Although we still struggle with some metrics, it has moved us forward so far so fast. It has really made people think differently, design their products that go into buildings differently.

MiBiz: Why create a new green building standard?

Maguire: The genesis started three years ago with the Sprint Nextel on 28th Street. The clients told us that when the next (lease) renewal came around, we would be well served to have LEED certification for our building. I had been raised in an ethic of stewardship and sustainability and set out on the path with a 25-year-old building to get LEED certification. It didn’t provide a clear path. It didn’t seem like a suitable, cost-effective process. I looked for alternatives in the marketplace. To my astonishment, no other option existed.

MiBiz: What are the limitations of the LEED program?

Hesselink: There are still requirements that get questioned. One example: In our building, we have a big warehouse that measures 100,000 square feet and, at most, 20 people work in that space at any one given time. It has very high ceilings and naturally should be well ventilated, but we had to add ventilation to our building for LEED. Did that make sense? It was a prerequisite for that category that we had to do. There is a committee structure that reviews the current standard and receives input in order to make a decision. Whoever wants to be a part of the committee can give their input — anyone.

Maguire: Candidly, it is the expense and time. Those are ways of saying the same thing: a lack of resources. You see buildings built to LEED specs and not certified. The economy has only exacerbated the problems. The margins are so thin in office (real estate) that there may not be a business case for taking a class B building to LEED standards. Honestly, a class C building is not going to be SERF or LEED certified.

MiBiz: What do you see as the limitations for SERF?

Maguire: We’ve been through several certification processes, and there is an illusion that it is easy to get. It isn’t easy to get — it is rigid, but we feel it is more flexible. We go to great efforts to identify features that may not be recognized by anyone. We didn’t plan for the rapid growth that we experienced. We made a lot of strides in the last six to eight weeks. We are getting our arms around our growth. We need to keep our standards or else it will not be worth anything.

One challenge is name recognition. We are new. We’ve been out there about a year. It is still a new organization, and that is a hurdle when we go into new markets. It is hard to be the first (owner) in the area marketing a property with SERF certification.

Hesselink: I hear from them is that it is cheaper than LEED. I pulled one of their packages for manufacturing and distribution facilities and compared it with LEED for existing buildings. I’ve gone through LEED certification for existing buildings with our facility, (and) the (SERF) certification is more expensive. With LEED, once you get into consulting fees, that is where it can add up and be different.

MiBiz: Is there room in the marketplace for more than one green building standard?

Hesselink: If you think about LEED, the top 20-25 percent of the market will go with it because they want to be part of the leadership of that. There are 75 percent of building owners that may not be doing much of anything at this point. Anything that they can grasp onto … is going to raise the bar for everyone.

Maguire: There is room for LEED and SERF to coexist. There are a lot of people that get it. Property managers understand the game has changed. It is not an option anymore of whether or not to go green. It is something that the market expects. If you want to be in the game, you have to recognize it and get serious about it. There is a place for SERF in the market, as there is a place for LEED.