Property teams took home two prestigious awards for Stone 34 and 51 University
SEATTLE (December 18, 2019) – The property management and engineering teams of Stone34, one of Seattle’s highest-performing buildings, are the 2020 local winners of The Outstanding Building of the Year (TOBY®) Awards, presented by the Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA) Seattle King County. Stone34, owned and managed by Unico Properties LLC, a subsidiary of Unico Investment Group LLC, was recognized by the trade association in an awards ceremony Nov. 18 in the “Earth” category.
“Stone34 is one of the highest performing green buildings in the country,” said Dan Novack, Unico Director of Real Estate Services, who oversees the management of a building portfolio which includes Stone34. “But this achievement wouldn’t have been possible without the hard work of our property management and engineering teams.”
The organization also honored the 51 University St. building, owned and managed by Unico, with a “Golden Dumpster Award.” The award recognizes Seattle buildings for their significant achievements in the areas of waste reduction, recycling and composting.
[This achievement] really reflects Unico’s commitment to sustainability by empowering tenants to make small decisions each day towards a greener community
Both Stone34 and 51 University St. are managed and operated by the same property team that includes Senior Property Manager Ben Tweet, Property Administrator Chelsea Walker, Tenant Services Coordinator Tye Taylor, Chief Building Engineer Bryan McDonald, and Building Engineer Gerald Bolz. Stone34 team also includes Building Engineer Brandon Lehn. Award materials for both properties were assembled by Walker.
“The management and engineering teams have done an outstanding job communicating with the tenants in order to reduce energy usage and increase recycling rate,” said Tweet. “It really reflects Unico’s commitment to sustainability by empowering tenants to make small decisions each day towards a greener community.”
“Our tenants are a huge contributing factor in the success of these two buildings,” said Walker. “They believe in their buildings and go above and beyond to work with us to ensure that their building communities achieve high-performance standards.”
Stone34 is the first commercially developed building, and second building overall, to complete the City of Seattle’s stringent Living Building Pilot Program. By meeting and surpassing rigorous sustainability benchmarks during a 12-month performance period, Stone34 has proven how privately-owned buildings can deploy advanced green building features without sacrificing industry acceptable investment returns. The building has an ENERGY STAR score of 95 and has two LEED Platinum certifications: Building Design + Construction and Existing Buildings Operations + Maintenance. In 2018, the Seattle 2030 District honored the building and the companies responsible for Stone34’s design, construction, and operation, the Vision Award for Leadership.
Originally called the Pacific Net and Twine Company Building and developed in 1918, 51 University is a six-story historic creative office building in Seattle’s iconic Waterfront. In its early years, it served as a landmark depot for Seattleites and seafarers in need of marine and fishing supplies. It was later converted into Class-A offices and now occupies a central Waterfront location. Since the demolition of the Alaskan Way Viaduct in early 2019, it enjoys expansive views of the Puget Sound.
Fun facts
- Stone34 is the global headquarters for the fitness apparel brand Brooks Running.
- 51 University is home to Seattle-based distillery Copperworks Distilling. In celebration of the building’s centennial and the distillery’s 100th cask, Unico partnered with Copperworks Distilling to bottle a special, 100-proof edition of their award-winning whiskey.