Seattle's Starbucks Center earns national green certification

Seattle's Starbucks Center is the largest and oldest building in the country to earn a national green certification for existing buildings, its owner announced Thursday.

The U.S. Green Building Council certified the building through its Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design program, giving it a gold rating -- the step below the top rating of platinum, Seattle developer Nitze-Stagen & Co. announced.

The Union Pacific Railroad built the original center in 1912 to lure Sears, Roebuck & Co. to Seattle. Owners added to the structure in subsequent decades, and it now totals 1.5 million square feet.

Green measures in the center include installation of energy-efficient lighting and waterless urinals; use of recycled office materials and green cleaning products; purchases of renewable energy for nearly 31 percent of the center's electricity; encouragement of alternative transportation with steps like providing storage and changing rooms for bicyclists, Flexcars for employee use and preferred parking for alternative-energy vehicles; and diversion of 48 percent of the center's waste from landfills.

Jim Hanna, environmental affairs manager for Starbucks, said the company worked with the U.S. Green Building Council since 2001 on a LEED standard that could certify a series of prototype Starbucks stores.