The Stamford 2030 District has set ambitious goals for businesses operating in this Connecticut city’s bustling downtown. Formed in 2014 by the Connecticut Fund for the Environment and the Business Council of Fairfield County, the public/private initiative has challenged companies and property owners to reduce their energy use, water consumption and transportation emissions by 50 percent by the year 2030. Stamford Town Center is doing its part.

The mall received a Change Maker Award at the District’s 2016 awards dinner for upgrading all of the lighting in the adjacent multi-level parking garage. New LED lights – 3,100 fixtures in all – have reduced energy costs by 56 percent, saving one million kilowatt hours annually; enough to power 100 midsize homes.

“The Stamford corporate community has a long history of shared commitment and cooperation,” said Stamford Town Center General Manager Dan Stolzenbach. “We play an important role in the economic health and vitality of the city, and it’s nice to receive this recognition.”

In 2017, the mall will undergo yet another lighting upgrade, this time in the common area of the center. And, by partnering with Eversource, the electrical utility provider, they have identified even more energy savings with a mechanical upgrade to the cooling systems. This project will not only brighten the center, it will also provide better cooling, all while saving more than 600,000 kilowatt hours annually. Stamford Town Center is quickly moving towards the 2030 District’s ultimate goal. “New technology and improved systems are allowing us to control our energy use like never before,” said Stolzenbach. “That’s a big part of what makes the Stamford 2030 District goals achievable.”

Stolzenbach is also proud of the positive impact Stamford Town Center is having on its community through such sponsored outreach programs as: Read With Me, a program sponsored by Eversource, where corporate executives read to children in the center each Tuesday morning throughout the summer; Summer Stage, a concert series featuring local talent run by the center’s media partner FM radio station Star 99.9; Meet the Neighbors, in partnership with RFR Realty, UCONN, and nearby residential buildings that bring local office workers, students, and residents together for VIP events at the center; and Holidays in Harmony, where local schools perform approximately 20 times throughout the holidays in the center’s Grand Court. In addition, the center has several health and wellness events throughout the year. These include sponsored events with Excel Urgent Health Care, weekly yoga sessions during cooler months, and Fit4Mom workout sessions before mall hours.

“Vibrant marketplaces have been at the heart of sustainable cities for centuries,” said Stolzenbach. “Stamford Town Center is embracing that role at every level. The year 2030 is right around the corner.”

Tampa’s International Plaza draws customers from communities up and down the west coast of Florida. Shoppers living beyond the primary trade area have been driving considerable distances to experience the center’s distinctive shops and restaurants since the property’s grand opening in 2001. A few years ago, the International Plaza management office began receiving phone calls from out-of-market customers asking an interesting new question: “Do you have a place for me to plug in my car?”

“I’ve seen projections that by the year 2020 more than 10 percent of the cars in our parking lots will be electric vehicles,” said International Plaza General Manager Gary Malfroid. “That’s a trend we want to embrace, so in 2015 we installed four charging stations to test the demand. The response has been outstanding.”

Charging your electric car at International Plaza while you shop or dine is free. The average plug-in session is two hours and 13 minutes. Over a recent 190-day period, usage was at 100 percent of capacity approximately 40 percent of the time. “In 2016, we logged 1,624 charging sessions, and in just the first six months of 2017 we hit 1,500,” said Malfroid. “Knowing our shoppers, we expect the demand to accelerate. This is a very ‘techie’ shopping center. Apple, Microsoft and Tesla are three of our most popular tenants. We’re in the process now of reviewing plans for additional units.”

More than being just a popular customer amenity, the car charging stations play an important role in International Plaza’s sustainability commitment. “We estimate that in the 18 months after we installed our first four units, 10,714 kilograms of greenhouse gas emissions were avoided,” said Malfroid. “That’s equivalent to planting 407 trees and letting them grow for 10 years.”

Additional sustainability initiatives under way at the center include the upgrading of lighting to LED in interior common areas as well as the parking decks. “We recognize that there are opportunities to lessen our impact on the environment in big and small ways,” said Malfroid. “For example, we offer convenient water bottle refilling stations for shoppers to reduce the use of soda cans and bottles. And we save great volumes of water with our property’s retention ponds that capture rainwater runoff and reuse it to keep our landscaping looking good with our efficient drip-water irrigation system.”

Malfroid points out that, “Tampa is a very energy-conscious community. All solid waste from our center is used by our public electric utility, Tampa Electric Company, to fuel a power-generating incinerator. And that energy flows back through our charging stations to recharge the batteries in our customers’ cars. I think that’s recycling at its best!”

In bold letters, the inscription on a prominently displayed plaque at City Creek Center reads: “LEED Certified.” LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. The certification is a source of pride for everyone associated with the 20-acre mixed-use development in downtown Salt Lake City. “This is a very special project,” said Senior Facilities Director Jack Romaine, “and earning that prestigious designation from the U.S. Green Building Council is an important validation of our commitment to sustainability.”

City Creek Center’s retractable skylight roofing system has attracted the attention of architects and engineers from around the world. Open to Utah’s clean mountain air when weather permits, this innovative architectural feature is also a significant energy saver. HVAC costs are 50 percent lower than would be required to heat and cool the same areas with permanent roofs. “Shoppers and tenants love the way the space functions like a convertible retail street,” said Romaine. “We can open or close the skylights in less than 5 minutes.”

Romaine joined the City Creek Center management team in 2011, a year before the shopping center’s grand opening. “Sustainability and revitalization were priorities well before we opened our doors,” said Romaine. “For example, 80 percent of the steel recovered from the buildings demolished to make way for City Creek Center was reused in the new structures throughout the City Creek master-planned, mixed use development. And it would be an understatement to say there were high expectations for this center. Retail, office, hotel and residential uses were brought together here to strengthen the heart of Salt Lake City. Looking back over the last five years, that’s exactly what has happened.”

The shopping center, a joint venture between Taubman and City Creek Reserve, Inc., (CCRI) a real estate arm of the LDS Church, has created 2,000 permanent jobs and stimulated downtown residential and commercial development. A new 2,500-seat performing arts center has opened nearby, and property values within a one-mile radius of City Creek Center have increased 80 percent in the last five years. Residents living in the project’s 440 condominium and rental units, owned and operated by CCRI, are contributing to the city’s 24-hour vitality.

Spend some time at City Creek Center and you’ll experience the property’s unique place within the fabric of the city. People are coming and going by many modes of transportation. There’s a stop onsite for the city’s TRAX light rail system, three GREENbike bike sharing stations along with several bike racks (with 200 spaces), and inviting street-level entrances that welcome a steady flow of pedestrians living and working in the residences and office buildings, also owned and operated by CCRI, within and surrounding the development.

“City Creek Center is a beautiful shopping and dining destination for this community,” said Romaine. “We are working every day to make it as sustainable as possible as well.”

The stores at Great Lakes Crossing Outlets in Auburn Hills, Michigan, are presented in nine themed districts, each with its own architectural character. So, when Senior Facilities Director David Boes began planning for the upgrading of the center’s interior lighting to LED, he knew the project would require a lot more than just flipping a switch.

“There are so many important advantages to replacing the florescent fixtures with LED lighting,” said Boes. “With the more efficient, longer-lasting lights we’re seeing a 40 percent reduction in energy consumption and we’re able to redeploy staff members who used to be constantly changing burned-out bulbs. You were lucky if a florescent light lasted two years. We’re expecting eight to 10 years with the LED fixtures, which are fully recyclable. But beyond efficiency and savings, we wanted to make sure we achieved the correct color rendition to capture the true colors and maintain the unique retail environment of our center.”

Testing was completed and replacement work started in early 2017. Boes expects all interior common areas to be 100 percent LED by the end of 2018. “The center never looked better, and we’re now addressing the exterior, including entrances and parking areas. Again, we’re doing our homework, analyzing the ideal height of our light poles to achieve the best result for our visitors with the new LEDs.”

In addition to new lighting, all 95 air conditioning units on the center’s roof are being replaced over the summer. “We’ve been operating with the original equipment installed when the center opened in 1998,” said Boes. “So, you can imagine how much more efficient these new custom units will be. They’re also far more environmentally friendly, using chlorine-free R-410A refrigerant.” A helicopter was onsite for several days to lift the units into place on the roof each morning before the center opened for business.

The Great Lakes Crossing Outlets property is 184 acres, of which 47.6 acres is a mitigated wetland area where the center’s storm water runoff is retained onsite in a series of settling ponds. “The system works as designed, with no water burdening any sewers,” said Boes. “In fact, our runoff is the lifeblood for a developing wetlands meadow, which we’ve seeded with natural marsh grass. We’re proud of the fact that it’s earned votes of approval from the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, as well as a few sandhill cranes and two nesting egrets.”

Boes points out that, “More than 21 million visitors come to Great Lakes Crossing Outlets each year, and we’re one of the state’s top tourist destinations. We don’t expect shoppers to notice all that we’re doing to reduce the center’s impact on the environment. They can concentrate on shopping and having a great time. But we know they respect the efforts of businesses committed to sustainability, and we’re proud of our programs and progress.”

Hawaii’s International Market Place, which opened in 2016, has a story to tell and a mission to fulfill. Located on six acres owned by the Queen Emma Land Co. in the heart of Waikiki, the center through its revenues directly supports the Queen’s Medical Center, the state’s largest private non-profit hospital. In addition to enjoying great shopping and dining, visitors to International Market Place learn about the area’s rich cultural traditions and the lasting legacy of the beloved woman known to Hawaiians and history as Queen Emma.

In 1856, Emma Kalanikaumaka`amano Na`ea Rooke married Alexander ʻIolani Liholiho, who a year earlier had assumed the throne as Kamehameha IV. The mid-19th century was a time of dramatic social and economic change for Hawaiians. There was a critical need for improved healthcare to help the native population struggling with deadly European diseases to which they had little or no resistance. With the public treasury already stretched thin, the King and Queen went door-to-door, walking the streets of Honolulu raising funds to establish a hospital there. In honor of Queen Emma’s tireless efforts, the King and his cabinet named the new hospital The Queen’s Hospital, which opened with 18 beds in 1859.

Today’s Queen’s Medical Center and The Queen’s Health Systems are supported through revenues generated by the lands, including the International Market Place site, bequeathed by Queen Emma when she passed away in 1885. “When we designed this center, we were guided by three objectives,” said Director Planning & Design Jeff Boes. “We wanted to honor the legacy of Queen Emma, continuing her mission to improve the health and well-being of the Hawaiian people; celebrate the history and culture of Waikiki; and revitalize this iconic commercial district. I think we’re succeeding on all three fronts.”

Visitors to International Market Place are able to take a cultural journey, assisted by a family of interpretive signs, plaques and graphics presenting the natural history of the area and the inspiring story of Queen Emma. Cultural programming and hula dancing on the Queen’s Court performance stage pay tribute to Waikiki’s unique traditions. And plantings throughout the center feature species Queen Emma incorporated into the landscaping at her residences.

“We’re proud of the role we play in this community,” said Boes. “The special character of Waikiki is woven into the architecture of the center, and it’s great to know that our efforts support such an important public need here in Hawaii. I hope that Queen Emma would be pleased.”