Bozeman Montana's Story Mill Neighborhood to Pursue LEED Certification.

Historic Revitalization Project to Integrate Neighborhood Development, National Green Design, Building and Land-Use Standards

BOZEMAN, Mont. -- Blue Sky Development, working in conjunction with nationally known architects and engineers in the design and creation of the Historic Story Mill

The LEED Green Building Rating System is already the nationally accepted benchmark for the design, construction and operation of high performance green buildings. LEED promotes a whole-building approach to sustainability by recognizing performance in five key areas of human and environmental health: sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials selection, and indoor environmental quality. LEED certified buildings have lower operating costs and increased asset value, reduce waste sent to landfills, conserve energy and water, reduce harmful greenhouse gas emissions, and demonstrate an owner's commitment to environmental stewardship and social responsibility.

The new LEED-Neighborhood Development certification program expands the Green Building Rating System to integrate the principles of smart growth, new urbanism and green building into the first national rating system for neighborhood design. It is being developed by USGBC in partnership with the Congress for New Urbanism (CNU) and the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC). LEED-Neighborhood Development will include best practices in: smart location and transportation linkage; environmental preservation; compact, complete and connected neighborhoods; and high performance green construction and technology.

LEED Neighborhood Development certification will provide independent, Third party verification that the entire neighborhood development meets the highest performance standards and will validate a project as an environmentally responsible, energy-efficient and healthy place to live and work.

The 90-acre Story Mill Neighborhood currently consists of the historic, but deteriorating Story Mill itself, closed stockyards and various associated buildings, a mobile home park and wetlands. The project will transform this area into a state-of-the-art clean and green neighborhood which will provide 1100 residential units and single family homes, 200,000 (gross) square feet of light industrial, retail, commercial, and live-work spaces, and approximately 35 acres of open space including publicly accessible foot/bike trails.