"The Alter Group has registered its headquarters office with the USGBC under the LEED for Existing Buildings (LEED-EB) rating system. It is one of 11 Chicago-area structures now recognized as an environmentally responsible, green building under a new certification program for existing facilities," Alter said.

"The process reflects The Alter Group's own 50-plus-year-old corporate culture of fostering environmentally responsible development. Providing healthy, high-performance and sustainable buildings for our clients is best demonstrated by adhering to those principles for our employees within our own corporate headquarters."

LEED, which is short for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, has been adapted for existing buildings by the USGBC, a nonprofit, Washington, D.C.-based coalition that promotes green development.

Scheduled for certification in 2008, The Alter Group's headquarters will be Skokie's first LEED-EB-certified building. The two-story building has 64,000 SF, and features fully moveable office systems (including walls, doors and interior glass); flexible meeting spaces; dining facilities; and an employee wellness center.

According to Mark McDowell, Vice President of Development, The Alter Group, and a LEED-certified professional, "One of The Alter Group?s strategic objectives is environmental leadership in the commercial real estate industry. Earning LEED certification from the USGBC helps us meet this vital objective. Michael Alter is deeply committed to environmental leadership, because he knows that it is not only the right thing to do, but it also makes good business sense."

The 8.8-acre building site has a very low environmental impact by preserving more than four acres for ecological integrity, enhancing diversity and protecting wildlife. It also supports the building's performance and integrates it into the surrounding landscape.

The Alter Group's headquarters building's sustainable and green features include: site improvements to reduce negative impacts on water and air quality; low-impact building maintenance; greenfield protection; stormwater collection; reduced water use; high-performance cleaning program; 90 percent interior space that receives reflected daylight; outside views for 90 percent of occupied space; environmental controls; and solid-waste recycling.

"In addition to our corporate headquarters building, The Alter Group is seeking LEED certification on all new developments and analyzing other existing buildings within our real estate portfolio," McDowell said.

Based in Washington, D.C., the U.S. Green Building Council is the nation's foremost coalition of more than 4,000 leading organizations from across the building industry that work to promote buildings that are environmentally responsible, profitable and healthy places to live and work.

The Alter Group is a national corporate real estate development firm with five vertically integrated affiliate companies. Each offers specialized services including office and industrial development, healthcare-facility development, construction and property management.

The Alter Group, founded by William A. Alter in 1955, has developed close to 100,000,000 SF of speculative projects for its own portfolio and build-to-suit facilities for corporate users. This year, the company has 6,700,000 SF of space, worth $758,000,000, under development in national markets.

The firm was recently ranked #5 in the National Real Estate Investor survey of America's top office developers.