Millennium Partners Completes Worlds Largest Passive House Office Building In Boston

Millennium Partners' Winthrop Center has achieved Passive House certification, making it the world's largest sustainable office building.

The Passive House Institute has given the tower at 115 Federal Street a new name, confirming that it meets stringent energy efficiency standards. Millennium , a New York City developer led by principals Chris Jeffries, Philip Aarons, Philip Lovett, Mario Palumbo, Richard Baumert and Stephen Hoffman, has achieved WELL Building Certification and WiredScore Platinum certification for Winthrop Center.

It uses 150 percent less energy than a Class A office building in Boston and 60 percent less energy than the city's LEED Platinum Class A office buildings, according to a press release. The tower includes 317 luxury apartments.

In addition, and more importantly, the 691-foot tower is attractive to low-market Boston office tenants .

“We witnessed the largest contract signing in all of Boston,” said Brad Mahoney, the company’s chief sustainability officer. He's referring to the 138,000-square-foot site that Deloitte signed to build the tower this summer . This is in addition to the 116,000 sq. ft. Cambridge Associates, 95,000 sq. ft. McKinsey, 40,000 sq. ft. Income Research Management and 10,000 sq. ft ECG Management.

It was the first Passive House of the millennium ; Baumert said it likely won't be the last.

“We’re all fans of Passive House,” he said. “This is our responsibility, this is what we, the development community, must do.

Tough competition

Millennium's decision to build a passive office tower in 2016 is highly competitive for the city's financial district.

The Boston Redevelopment Authority was centered around a closed parking garage, and developers were piling up proposals. Trinity Financial, Lendlease, Hudson Group and Accordia Partners waved their checkbooks at the city, but Millennium's $151 million offer for the site doubled the next best offer, the Boston Globe reported .

“Frankly, I would be surprised if they went with anyone,” Northeastern architecture professor George Tourush said when Boston announced it won the Millennium Site competition.

“Even if the numbers are the same, it will be one of the two best options. And the money is wrong.

Baumer said Millennium's plan is to differentiate itself from competitors through Passive House certification. The project's architects, New York-based Handel Architects, were completing construction of a Cornell Tech-certified Passive House, 26-story student housing tower on the Roosevelt Island campus . Handel proposed that the Winthrop Center be passive.

“We never thought about creating a nursing home. It was a way to care for the health, well-being, happiness and productivity of our residents,” Baumert said.

The sustainability element of the tower's design is also attractive to tenants, Baumer said. Employers are looking to attract employees to green offices.

"Everyone wants to feel like they're making a difference," he said.

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