Mayor Hogsett Announces First City-Owned Certified Green Building
INDIANAPOLIS – Today, Mayor Joe Hogsett and the City's Office of Sustainability announced that the Assessment and Intervention Center (AIC) has been designated LEED Silver, making it the first city-owned certified green building in Indianapolis. The AIC is a piece of Mayor Joe Hogsett's criminal justice reform efforts within the larger Community Justice Campus (CJC), currently under construction.
"This certification further establishes the AIC as a first-of-its-kind facility and demonstrates our city's commitment to a sustainable future," said Mayor Hogsett. "Our entire community benefits when experts take a modern, holistic, data-driven approach to both the Indianapolis justice system and local climate action. Ensuring our city's facilities are resilient to the effects of a changing climate is another step toward achieving our goal of carbon neutrality by 2050."
The LEED certification process took into account factors about the AIC including light pollution reduction, water and energy efficiency, raw materials sourcing, indoor environmental quality, land protection, parking footprint, and access to transit.
Sustainable features of the AIC include:
Building materials selected for their sustainability, safety, and low emissions
Promotion of accessibility and walkability due to nearby bus stop, electric vehicle charging, bike racks, and direct access to Pleasant Run multi-modal trail
Low-maintenance and low cost energy and water efficiency systems
Light pollution reduction and parking footprint reduction
"Congratulations to the City of Indianapolis for its first LEED certified building - the Assessment and Intervention Center on its revolutionary new Community Justice Campus. LEED certified public buildings save money, ensure accountability, incentivize local investment and create jobs," said Lana Crouse, Regional Director of Market Transformation & Development for the U.S. Green Building Council. "This building also offers a unique opportunity to highlight the ways greener, cleaner facilities in our buildings benefit everyone who inhabits them and not only those who manage the utility bills."
A 2016 greenhouse gas (GHG) inventory revealed that buildings account for 66% of Indianapolis's community-wide GHG emissions. Constructing new green buildings and maximizing efficiency of how existing buildings use energy and water are critical opportunities to reduce energy waste and save property owners and tenants money.
"Today's accomplishment aligns with a key objective outlined in Thrive Indianapolis and demonstrates our administration's ongoing commitment to improving the resiliency of our entire community," said Morgan Mickelson, Director of the Indianapolis Office of Sustainability. "In 2010, there were 62 green buildings in Indianapolis. The total had climbed to 249 in 2018, and the City's AIC brings our current total to 289. Together through initiatives like energy benchmarking, we can continue to design and construct a sustainable future for not just city-owned properties, but all buildings across Marion County."
The property's parking lot includes one electric vehicle (EV) charging station for up to two users. For more information about the City's efforts to encourage EV education and adoption, visit behighlyevolved.com.
About the Assessment and Intervention Center (AIC) and the Community Justice Campus:
The AIC aims to divert non-violent, low-level offenders by providing mental health and addiction assessments and referral to appropriate treatment and community services as an alternative to arrest. It opened to clients on December 1, 2020 as the first of several buildings in the new Community Justice Campus (CJC); exterior and interior images are available here. The other components of the CJC are scheduled to open in 2022 and are also expected to be LEED certified.
The Community Justice Campus is being constructed in the Twin Aire neighborhood on the City’s southeast side at the site of the former Citizens Energy Group Coke Plant. Once complete, it will house the Assessment and Intervention Center, Adult Detention Center, Courthouse, and Sheriff’s Office. For more information, visit IndyCJC.com.
About Thrive Indianapolis:
Thrive Indianapolis, published in February 2019, is the first sustainability and resiliency action plan in our city's history. It contains 16 key objectives and 59 ambitious but achievable actions that stakeholders will strive to accomplish by 2025. It is a road map to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and ensure that all of Indianapolis is prepared for and resilient to climate change. For more information, visit thriveindianapolis.com.
