Unico Properties LLC, a Seattle-based real estate investment, operating, and management company, says its 20-story Bank of America Financial Center, in downtown Spokane, has earned special environmental recognition from the U.S. Green Building Council.

The 358,000-square-foot structure, at 601 W. Riverside, received Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification in a category called Existing Buildings Operations and Maintenance, Unico says.

It claims the financial center, which is Spokane's largest office building, is the first multitenant, Class A office structure in Eastern Washington to garner the LEED-EB: O&M rating.

"We are very conscious of the long-term effect buildings have on the environment, and it takes effort and leadership to upgrade an existing structure to green standards," says John Lamb, Unico's senior vice president of property management.

He adds that the certification "benefits our tenants and our community by providing a more efficient place to work."

Unico says it will receive cash incentives totaling $179,000 from Spokane's Avista Utilities for obtaining the certification and for making various energy-efficiency improvements. Avista offers a variety of energy-management tools, services, and cash rebates for commercial and industrial customers in Washington state.

Unico bought the Bank of America Financial Center from a publicly traded real estate investment trust for $36 million in early 2007. Since then, it has made significant capital upgrades to the lobby entry, other common areas, and elevators; replaced all incandescent bulbs with compact fluorescent light bulbs; installed "low-emissivity" window film; and put in new heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning controls.

Additionally, it began using consolidated cleaning times to reduce lighting use, set up atrium lighting timers to reduce heavy electricity usage, and added showers for tenant use to encourage alternative commuting. Also, it did a plumbing retrofit that has reduced annual water consumption by 1.5 million gallons a year.

"Through Unico's various sustainable achievements, we are demonstrating our commitment to environmental stewardship while also lowering our energy costs," says Brett Phillips, Unico's sustainability project manager, who worked with the property management team to achieve the LEED certification.

With that certification, Unico says it now owns or manages about 20 percent of all LEED-EB buildings in Washington State.

Unico was also the first commercial office property owner in Spokane's central business district to launch a comprehensive recycling program in partnership with the City of Spokane. Officially launched on Earth Day, April 22, 2009, Unico offers a complete recycling program for aluminum, plastic and mixed-office paper to all of its tenants at the Bank of America building.

While cardboard recycling always has been offered, Unico claimed this was the first time that a commercial property owner offered a comprehensive recycling program throughout its office building. Today, the company says, 56 percent of all waste generated at the building is recycled and diverted from landfills.

Also in 2009, Unico earned the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Energy Star recognition, the national symbol for protecting the environment through superior energy performance. The Bank of America Financial Center, which now has an Energy Star rating of 76 on a 1-to-100 scale, was the first building in downtown Spokane to receive this honor, the company says.

From the beginning of the retrofitting process, Unico property managers calculate that the building has lowered its energy consumption by 1.49 million kilowatts, or 17 percent, per year.

That savings, it estimates, is equivalent to the amount of electricity required to power about 140 homes each day for a year.