Monthly e-Newsletter September 2009

With an Italian Tuscan Appeal, its sculpted features and upscale amenities, this is a place to live and thrive. One of the most important features of the Bellettini is that it is located in the middle of urban Bellevue, not shut out of the community. Another really important feature is the sense of independence that the residents have, to eat when they please and come and go as they please. These factors are especially important as the baby boomers reach retirement age, and wish to continue their active, challenging lives.

Bellettini was able to maximize every square foot of space to offer their guests hotel quality service and amenities, including a: restaurant and café, fitness center, salon and spa, massage therapy service, transportation service, library, media lounge, brain fitness center, full service travel agency, underground valet parking, a place for pet walking and more. Abossein has had a long lasting and rich relationship with Leisure Care, and was proud to provide the MEFP engineering for the landmark Bellettini. WG Clark was the General Contractor and Wattenbarger Architects was responsible for an outstanding architectural design. We like to think of the project as embodying the intention of the Bellettini: "Life without compromise”.

Celebrating with Tommy Bahama

Abossein is approaching its 100th Tommy Bahama's Design. Currently Tommy Bahama combines retail and restaurant establishments in five states, and has stand alone retail outlets in 17 other states. With an open door, open café layout, some of the locations require special considerations for humidity control and others for open door AC or outdoor heating – to give their guests a little taste of summer, year round, whether in Hawaii, Texas or in colder climates.

Abossein has worked closely with Merrick Lentz Architects in designing the Tommy Bahama's stores and restaurants over the last decade and has witnessed their superb talents in local adaptation and creative design. These upscale casual spaces evoke a sense of laid back luxury, with the use of special materials for finishes and flooring, creative display, lush local vegetation wherever possible, great food and, of course, great service, matching their fine product line to deliver the best that island culture has to offer. We are proud of our long term relationship with Tommy's Corporate, and to be a part of this growing, nationwide brand. We look forward to our celebration of the next 100 stores.

If you see an Energy Star logo on an existing building, it signifies that the building is in the top 25% of similar types of buildings in their zip code. These credentials are issued by the joint effort of the EPA and the Department of Energy and are designed to help clients achieve actual energy savings while still meeting usability standards for workability and comfort. ASHRAE environmental requirements must be met and documented as part of the review process. The rating may vary according to the building usage and geographical area. An Energy Star office building in Chicago might be significantly different than an Energy Star office building in Phoenix, as one will be concerned with extreme cold, and the other with extreme heat.

The process of acquiring an Energy Star Evaluation may require specialized Energy Star rated equipment, such as water heaters and heat pumps, however these fixtures can be rebated to defray the costs, usually through local utility programs. Other features may or may not play into energy savings depending on geography. However, once the building is occupied, the building owner can collect the data for the energy savings over a 12 month period, which is then verified by a licensed Certified Energy Manager (CEM) such as Abossein Engineering.

This review compares actual building performance against the theoretical building design. The building must also undergo an onsite inspection and certification to confirm the compliance with ASHRAE Standards 55, and 62.1, as well as IESNA Lighting Handbook. The CEM may also make suggestions to help further improve energy savings. The Energy Star Registration is then good for 12 months, and can assist the owner in making (or saving) more money per square foot. At Abossein Engineering we are currently in the process of performing the Energy Star Evaluation for several buildings. The documentation and site reviews are in various stages of completion. We anticipate a significant increase in this type of certification which allows several incentives for the building owners to save money as well as creating opportunities to reduce global energy usage.

Last Month's Answer: See Article Above

Question of the month (see next month's issue for the answer):

Which Sustainable Site (SS) credits can earn your project additional points for Regional Priority (Bellevue area), and how many?