A Study of LEED vs. Non-LEED Office Buildings Spatial & Mass Transit Proximity in Downtown Chicago

Abstract

Although the number of Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certified office buildings continues to increase, research on their spatial distributions in comparison to non-LEED buildings and mass transit links need to be explored in depth. This paper focuses on these aspects using all the downtown Chicago Class A office buildings as the study area. The findings show that LEED buildings are 21% closer to each other, indicating possible proximity pressure. LEED-Gold buildings are also 18% closer to each other compared to Silver. Regarding mass transit, LEED compared to non-LEED buildings are on average 14% closer to a metro area commuter rail station (Metra) and 12% closer to a local commuter rail station (CTA). In addition, LEED and non-LEED buildings show some evidence of small group clustering in certain areas, while the econometric results indicate that buildings located along the most prominent office market street (Wacker Drive) achieved 12% higher LEED points compared to other LEED buildings. A similar result was experienced among buildings built after 1979 and those certified under LEED v.2009 (12% and 19%, respectively). Additionally, LEED-Silver buildings achieved a lower number of points compared to other certification levels by 20%.