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2016 LEED Rankings – Houston Nears 500, But Losing Ground

January 16, 2017 By tmurray

Whether it was the effects of the oil & gas downturn slowing local construction or a lack of local green building initiatives, Houston ended 2016 with decelerating LEED project certifications. Houston had substantially lower growth than national averages in all categories.

Houston added 50 LEED projects in 2016, an 11.57% increase and down from 63 in 2015. The average for the top 50 cities was 14.08%. This increase brings Houston to a total of 482 projects, nearing the 500 project milestone.

The top 50 cities added 1,193 projects. The top 50 metropolitan statistical areas (MSA) added 2,453 (14.97%). The top 50 cities added 258.1 million square feet (msf), a 15.76% increase and the top 50 MSAs added 395.20 msf, a 15.58% increase. Percentages were down in 2016 for all categories while project numbers and areas were up in all categories.

 

Number of Certified Projects in City Limits

Houston held its rank as #5 in certified projects for cities, but is losing ground to #6 Los Angeles which certified 18 more projects then Houston in 2016. Houston is also falling further behind #4 San Francisco, now lagging by 48 projects, down from only 14 projects in 2015.

Portland fell from #10 to #12 with Boston and Denver moving up to #10 and #11 respectively. New York City stayed #1, adding 141 projects, most of them multi-family, retail and existing building certifications. With a robust benchmarking mandate in place, it also had many LEED for Existing Building projects register in 2016, so we expect NYC to be the leader again in 2017.

Miami was the biggest rank jumper, soaring from #22 to #19. The biggest rank dropper was Colorado Springs, falling from #38 to #43. Memphis had the biggest percentage increase with 52.63% and Richmond VA was the second biggest percentage gainer at 24.55%. Other cities with significant gains were San Francisco (18.8%), Washington D.C. (18.56%), Los Angeles (18.53%), and Columbus (18.18%).

City Number
1 New York City 816
2 Wash. D.C. 760
3 Chicago 695
4 San Francisco 530
5 Houston 482
6 Los Angeles 435
7 Seattle 371
8 San Diego 356
9 Atlanta 337
10 Boston 278
11 Denver 272
12 Portland 264
13 Dallas 232
14 Charlotte 196
15 Philadelphia 194
16 Austin 187
17 Pittsburgh 175
18 Sacramento 145
19 Miami 144
20 San Antonio 143
21 Cincinnati 142
22 Albuquerque 136
23 Phoenix 133
24 Grand Rapids 124
25 Baltimore 121

 

Number of Certified Projects in Metropolitan Statistical Areas

The Houston MSA added 70 projects, a 12.89% increase, for a total of 613 projects and maintained the #8 position overall. Miami and Philadelphia switched places to #12 and #13 respectively. Pittsburgh fell from #20 to #22. While Washington D.C. widened its #1 lead by adding 274 projects, New York City added 253 projects and Los Angeles added 217. Riding on it significant city limit gains, the biggest percentage gainer was Memphis again at 35.56%.  Tucson was second at 20.78%, thanks to higher education, government and retail building types earning certification. Other big gainers were Raleigh (20.59%), Miami (20.55%) and San Francisco (18.99%).

MSA Number
1 Wash. D.C. 1,801
2 New York City 1,588
3 Los Angeles 1,382
4 Chicago 1,212
5 San Francisco 1,065
6 Boston 777
7 Seattle 700
8 Houston 613
9 Dallas 590
10 San Diego 560
11 Atlanta 554
12 Miami 522
13 Philadelphia 506
14 Denver 481
15 San Jose 441
16 Baltimore 440
17 Portland 407
18 Phoenix 367
19 Minneapolis 294
20 Sacramento 288
21 Riverside 283
22 Pittsburgh 272
23 Charlotte 234
24 Cleveland 227
25 Austin 223

 

Area of Certified Projects in City Limits (in million square feet)

Houston added 13.5 msf in certified projects, a 10.63% increase. Houston kept the #3 ranking in this category, but Washington D.C. is quickly catching up, closing what was an 8.8 msf separation in 2015 to only a 4.8 msf difference in 2016. New York City is still #1 and added an amazing 41.4 msf (24.9%). Boston moved up to #7, knocking Atlanta down to #8.  San Diego moved from #15 to #13. Columbus was the biggest rank jumper going from #29 to #25 by adding many higher education and K-12 school certifications. Columbus also had several large LEED- Existing Building certifications such as 1 Riverside Plaza at 831,000 s.f. and the JP Morgan McCoy Center Polaris project at 2.3 million square feet.  Big percentage gainers were: Cincinnati (37.27%), the leap-frogging Columbus (35.5%), Richmond (32.18%), Memphis (30.46%), Philadelphia (29%) and Dallas (26.96%).

 

City Area-MSF
1 Chicago 218.60
2 New York City 207.60
3 Houston 140.50
4 Wash. D.C. 135.70
5 San Francisco 116.80
6 Los Angeles 101.00
7 Boston 77.55
8 Atlanta 76.15
9 Seattle 71.98
10 Denver 64.79
11 Dallas 62.12
12 Las Vegas 47.88
13 San Diego 40.16
14 Portland 39.73
15 Minneapolis 38.72
16 Charlotte 34.50
17 Philadelphia 32.12
18 Sacramento 28.77
19 Austin 27.75
20 Miami 27.68
21 San Antonio 22.67
22 Phoenix 20.73
23 Pittsburgh 19.43
24 Cincinnati 18.01
25 Columbus 16.92

 

Area of Certified Projects in MSAs (in million square feet)

Houston retained the #6 rank in this category, however there were big changes at the top. New York City gained 56 million square feet in certified projects moving up from #3 to the #1 spot, passing Washington D.C. and Chicago. Miami moved from #14 to #13. Portland was the biggest dropper, falling from #13 to #20. Riverside jumped the most spots, leaping from #21 to #15 by adding 13.82 msf (34.87%). Philadelphia moved up from #18 to #14. Another significant gainer was Cincinnati (28.26%) with many large LEED for Existing Building certifications such as P&G World Headquarters (1.3 msf), Atrium Two Recertification, Peck Federal Building and Scripps Center. Other leading MSAs were Nashville (23.82%), Richmond (23.14%), Miami (22.19%) and Columbus (22.63%).

 

City Area- MSF
1 New York City 290.00
2 Wash. D.C. 289.70
3 Chicago 284.20
4 Los Angeles 214.80
5 San Francisco 178.80
6 Houston 155.50
7 Dallas 129.70
8 Boston 128.70
9 Seattle 108.20
10 Atlanta 102.80
11 Denver 90.19
12 Minneapolis 64.92
13 Miami 58.74
14 Philadelphia 55.53
15 Riverside 54.15
16 Las Vegas 53.26
17 San Diego 52.63
18 Phoenix 52.14
19 San Jose 51.97
20 Portland 51.96
21 Baltimore 48.96
22 Sacramento 39.18
23 Charlotte 36.51
24 Austin 30.96
25 Pittsburgh 29.10

 

Source: www.gbig.org, data taken on 12/31/2106

These rankings are calculated for the largest 65 U.S. cities based on population, but we only show the top 25 for brevity. Let us know if you want detailed information on your city

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Filed Under: LEED Buildings, Local LEED Statistics / Rankings Tagged With: BD+C, Certified Buildings, Houston, LEED, Rank, Rating Systems, USGBC

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