Petroleum Tower set to become 'an icon for renewal'

The concept of buildings running solely on solar power may sound like science fiction, but it is an emerging reality in Shreveport.

The Petroleum Tower on Edwards Street in downtown Shreveport is being extensively renovated into a "green" building -- a self-sustaining structure that will produce its own energy by using solar panels, recycle its wastewater and use state-of-the-art technology to create a toxic-free environment for its occupants.


The tower will become the National Center for Community Renewal, and the renovation is on track to create a platinum-certified building as designated by an industry standard called LEED -- Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design.

A green building of this standard will put Shreveport on the map of advanced energy-conscious cities in the United States. It will send out a signal that this area is a good place to live and work, proponents say.

"The physical presence of a platinum green building will be beneficial for the environment," said Mack McCarter, coordinator of Shreveport-Bossier Community Renewal and the man who is the driving force behind the new center.

"Secondly, the physical presence of the state's only platinum building will attract people to come to Shreveport to look at the building. ... Thirdly, it's going to benefit the whole downtown area because it is going to be an icon for renewal."

Given the current projections, the renovation project's total cost -- including equipment, escalation cost and construction costs -- is estimated to be $62 million. About $45 million of that will be construction costs.

Phase 1, asbestos removal, is under way; work began Jan. 3, with asbestos removal deadline set for Nov. 31. Phase 2 will involve creating a design that will produce a platinum-certified LEED building. Phase 3 will be development of curriculum and training for social renewal. Phase 4 will be the move into the building and marketing it nationally and internationally.

The move into the building is expected to take two to three years.

When completed, the National Center for Community Renewal will provide technical support to help stop the disintegration of cities by rebuilding the systems of caring relationships in communities in the United States and the world.

The Petroleum Tower, which was donated to Shreveport-Bossier Community Renewal by a group of 19 businessmen in 2000, is poised to become a major laboratory for social renewal.

"This will be the first center for renewal in the United States," said Virginia Shehee, chairwoman of the SBCR national board and CEO of Kilpatrick Life Insurance in Shreveport.

The renovation is also significant. Achieving platinum-level LEED certification isn't a given for every project. Kim Mitchell of the architectural firm of Morgan, Hill, Sutton & Mitchell, lead architects of the renovation, said there are barely 15 platinum-level LEED-certified buildings in the country.

And attaining such a designation requires preparation.

"There is going to be a wind study in downtown Shreveport, to see where to put the wind tunnels (in the building). Same for solar. The (Environmental Protection Agency) is going to do those studies," said Harold Ledford, director of resource development for the National Center for Community Renewal.

Rating buildings by LEED standards reveals the wasteful and toxic nature of traditional buildings.

The Petroleum Tower was a dying building as one after the other tenants left. Insty Prints, which occupied the ground floor, was the last to leave in 2002 "" having stuck it out alone in the building since 1992.

"We were the only occupants for a great deal of the time," said Gene Elliott, co-owner of Insty Prints, which is now in the United Mercantile Building in downtown Shreveport. But when Insty Prints moved in in 1981, the Petroleum Tower was nearly full.

Elliott cited problems beginning in 1991 such as elevators not working and leaks when it rained.

"Because of the asbestos, they couldn't remodel the building," he said. "People couldn't move walls, you couldn't redecorate "" because of the asbestos. There wasn't any asbestos on the ground floor, which is why we were able to stay there. But on the upper floors there was. And so, when anybody wanted to expand or move in, they had no choice."

Donna Curtis, executive director of Shreveport Green, said renovating a building with "green" standards is an "ethical" thing to do.

"Because it's a matter of giving back what has been given to you. "» Mother Nature gives to us, and this is a matter of preserving that, honoring it, and giving back to it," she said.

One of the first examples in which green-architecture principles were applied to a large urban office building is the 48-story Conde Nast Building in New York City.

The building uses a large number of energy-saving techniques. Special glass allows daylight in to reduce the need for interior lighting, keeps heat and ultraviolet rays out, and minimizes heat loss in winter. Two natural-gas powered fuel cells provide 400 kilowatts of power, enough to provide all the electricity needed at night and 5 percent of the building's needs during the day. Other features include gas-powered heating and cooling systems, photovoltaic panels and motion sensors.

Johnson Controls, an industry partner in the Petroleum Tower project, has proved the viability of green buildings with its Brengel Technology Center in Milwaukee, Wis. -- a building that incorporates state-of-the-art green building techniques. The construction of the center was done at a cost not more than traditional construction and building-management techniques. With energy and operational savings for the Brengel complex projected at more than $333,000 annually, Johnson Controls looks to save more than $4.2 million over the next 10 years.

In 2000, New York became the first state to offer an incentive package to developers who build environmentally sound commercial and apartment buildings. This "green building credit" was aimed at encouraging the housing materials and construction industries to adopt green practices on a large scale by providing tax credits to building owners and tenants who invest in increased energy efficiency, recycled and recyclable materials and improved indoor air quality.

And the General Services Administration, which oversees all non-military government construction, decreed in 2004 that all new projects and renovations must meet minimum LEED standards.

Patti Cox, a Shreveport-based environmental consultant, cited green building efforts in Little Rock, Ark., including the Heifer Project International, a humanitarian assistance organization that works to end world hunger and protect the environment.

"Little Rock ... has at least four green buildings that are LEED certified or are going to be certified," she said. "I think this has made a tremendous impact on their local economy as they are developing a culture of national and international public service."


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