Shopping Centers Today is the news magazine of the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC)
Issue link: https://sct.epubxp.com/i/62026
Most sustainable retailer? GAZIT BRAZIL TURNED AN ABANDONED CENTER IN BRAZIL INTO THE GREEN AND ELEGANT SAN PELEGRINO SHOPPING MALL. s avings in the use of utilities and the cost of maintenance have been very significant," said David Toledo, executive director of the Cali, Colombia–based Único Outlet mall chain. "In some cases, we expect to recoup the investment in operational savings in less than a year." For developers unfamiliar with building and operating sustainable shopping centers, there is plenty of expertise for hire to be had out there. "If you have a good team to guide all the professionals — from the drawing all the way to the end — you can do it, even in Latin America, where LEED is not as known," said Ofer Stark, a Florida-based architect and president of Starkitect Studio. "They can guide contractors and suppliers on what kind of materials to use, how to recycle the water, et cetera," he said. Stark is global LEED consultant to Israel-based Gazit Globe; he advised subsidiary Gazit Brazil when it rebuilt and reopened an abandoned mall in the city of Caxias do Sul in 2010. Among Gazit Brazil's concerns was compliance with a LEED requirement that certain building materials come from within 500 miles of the construction site. To everyone's relief, regional suppliers were found, he says. Designing a center to be kind to the environment does not 202 SCT / MAY 2012 Chile's Falabella Group is blazing the trail for LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental De- sign) in Latin America. The retail company's Sodimac home-improve- ment chain boasted Latin America's first LEED-cer- tified store, in the Chil- ean city of Copiapó. Four other Sodimac stores are in line now for certifica- tion. And of the 75 Fala- bella department stores, eight across Argentina, Chile, Colombia and Peru are LEED-certified, with six more pending. "Our goal is to cer- tify all the new stores and the ones subject to a major remodeling," said Giancarlo Cibrario, corporate project man- ager of Falabella Retail, based in Santiago, Chile. Water consumption at the LEED stores is 40 percent lower than at the non-LEED ones. And, surprisingly, con- struction costs have been lower at the green stores too, in some in- stances by 20 percent or more, Cibrario says. Falabella Group owns nearly 60 percent of Chile's Mall Plaza, the developer-operator that owns the first Latin American LEED-certified shopping center, Mall Plaza La Reina, in Santi- ago. Mall Plaza has four shopping centers cur- rently under construc- tion in Chile, Colombia and Peru, all of which will be seeking LEED designation. — MBP ALL FALABELLA'S NEW STORES WILL BE LEED CERTIFIED.