JoCo plans "green" office building

[trailerkid]

County expects payback in ‘green' building

By FINN BULLERS The Kansas City Star

Johnson County planners have unveiled their $30 million vision for a landmark government campus in Olathe that they say holds the promise of environmental stewardship and civic pride.

County commissioners are expected to select a designer and builder on Thursday for the 127,000-square-foot building at Ridgeview Road and 119th Street. It will contain the following county offices: appraiser, environmental, county extension, human services and aging, county ambulance service, wastewater and water-quality laboratory.

The building could save the county $650,000 a year in lease payments as pricey satellite offices are abandoned, said Joe Waters, the county's facilities director. In addition, utility bills could be cut in half.

If approved, the building would sit on property that once housed the county poor farm and is projected to handle government growth for the next 14 years.

“We are pushing the envelope here; this is very unusual,â€

[ComandanteCero]

looks pretty sweet, hopefully it will inspire others to make the shift towards "green" principles when designing their buildings

[Brooksider]

I thought Olathe was trying to create a government center in their downtown. Why would they build this out in the middle of the woods?

[Slappy the Wang]

The first one has already been built in Southlake Business PArk in Lenexa. LEED's certified (only the 2nd or third in the metro). While it's cool that windmills power certain parts of the facility and that the materials were deliberately selected for their ecological values, they've found the building very difficult to lease at the rates required to break even on the extreme cost of the building. Most prospects have said they love the principles, but the notion of saving the environment isn't as exciting as saving a couple of bucks a square foot.