Parking, Transportation, Infrastructure Stuff—Not as Sexy, but Cool to Know

OK, so we’ve discussed some sexy topics like smog-eating walls, demo-&-diversion, and LEDs.  But sometimes, there are just a bunch of not-as-sexy, but cool smaller items that add up to a neat package.  And that’s what we have for you today.

Public Transportation
We have a number of awesome people who work at Pacific Audi—and they need, and have, different ways of getting to us.  Hawthorne Blvd. is a major East-West route and has quite a number of buses and even Metro stops in the vicinity.  First, we are lucky to be able to surpass the basic bus stop requirements for our LEED® goals.  It’s highly important to the U.S. Green Building Council which created LEED®, that there be two separate bus lines within ¼ mile of a LEED® building site (which we have in Lines 8 and 334 both stopping at Del Amo Blvd.), because that means that public transportation is available to workers in our building…and even visitors.  (Another option is a Metro within ½ mile, but we didn’t quite hit that.)

We’ve also provided secure bike racks along with separate gender-based shower/changing areas in the building for those who choose to bicycle there.  This is another  “Alternative Transportation” LEED®  credit that we really like.

Side note: You may be wondering if we ‘get’ the irony of talking about public or alternative transportation as we build a car dealership, Yes, yes we do.  But we live in a car-based city, and celebrate both all kinds of transportation…there should always be options for everyone!

Parking
If you don’t come via bus, Metro or foot to check out our new snazzy showroom, maybe you come by car with a friend (or a few friends).  Well, you’ll need to park, won’t you?!  So between LEED® and city requirements, we’re doing a couple things that again add to our “green” building-ness:

• we’ll have 5% of our parking space designated for low-emission and fuel-efficient vehicles (LEVs and FEVs, respectively); and
• we’ll have another 5% of total parking set aside for carpool and vanpool spots, as well as parking in tandem.
• And of course, there is always a lot of street parking!

Connected to the Community
There’s a LEED® credit we all really like called the SSC2 (Sustainable Sites Credit 2) – Development Density and Community Connectivity.  Quite a mouthful, but it basically means that to develop a pre-developed site (which we did), it has to be within ½ mile of a residential neighborhood of a certain density (OK, check), and within ½ mile proximity of basic services, like where people can go to work, go to get laundry done, get a sandwich, etc.  We love our neighborhood with neighbors that include BE Hubbard Computer Store, KFC, The Little Gym, Pacific View Church and a 7-Eleven.

Savings By Design:
Finally today, we realized we forgot to mention until now that we are involved with Southern California Edison’s “Savings By Design” program.  It’s succinct and helpful, and anyone can and should check it out for both residential and commercial projects.  A number of our posts already refer to things that will help us get savings from this program, from our LEDs and occupancy sensors for lights, to what will result from installing a cool roof, paying attention to building orientation and using a high efficiency water heater.  So a quick tip of the hat to SoCal Edison, in addition to our LEED® credits list, for inspiration and savings!