Pantheon Properties

NEW YORK CITY—Pantheon, New York-based developer of industrial, office, and mixed-use real estate projects has taken its Green initiative to unprecedented new heights.

Ken Cohen, CEO of Pantheon and long-standing supporter of the Green movement, unveiled a program yesterday that prioritizes the energy efficiency of its tenants—emphasizing eco-friendliness and the success of business associates over payback periods and ROIs.

In 2005, Pantheon Properties began experimenting with environmental friendliness in the Miami Free Zone—realizing the financial benefits, and commencing portfolio-wide retrofits thereafter. By 2008, Pantheon completed its first ground-up Green, LEED-certified property: 1 Coach Way, in Jacksonville, Florida. Mr. Cohen commented that the project is one step in a program designed to overcome the challenges of global warming, resource depletion, and economic downturn.

Zack Hitchcock, Vice President and overseer of brokerage operations and portfolio management, explained that being socially responsible in the corporate arena is perceived as a rarity, but, “Demonstrating this degree of altruism and responsibility during a global economic crisis—now that defines ‘bucking the trend’.”

Pantheon’s revised initiative will continue in Woodbridge, New Jersey at newly acquired, 325,000 SF establishment; 1500 Rahway Ave. The installation of one twelve-foot-diameter ceiling fan is projected to reduce heating costs for the user by 40% per annum. If expectations are met, the extended initiative will be implemented portfolio-wide.

“We are a future-oriented enterprise, and it’s tough enough out there for our tenants,” says Mr. Cohen. “As a portfolio manager our concern revolves around the increasingly challenging economy and its effect on our affiliates. As developers in a degrading environment, we need to consider the bigger picture—the well-being of the land we hope to develop.”

As an industry standard, Pantheon does not assume the energy costs of its owned property—the benefitting parties of reduced consumption being the environment, and the tenant, who now enjoys decreased utility expense. For Pantheon, the return on the investment is unquantifiable.

Mr. Cohen explains, “It has been our philosophy to do everything in our power to take the worry out of our tenants’ real estate needs so that they can focus on growing their businesses. We are focused on our business, and we want our tenants to be focused on theirs.”