FAIRFAX, Va.—The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) recently awarded the Fairfax Village Neighborhood Center at Fort Belvoir with a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design – New Construction (LEED-NC) Platinum Certification. Developed by Clark Realty Capital and built by Clark Builders Group, the trend-setting project is the first among all U.S. military installations and the second in the state of Virginia to be awarded this top rating.

"The strength of USGBC has always been the collective strength of our leaders in the building industry," said Rick Fedrizzi, president, CEO, and founding chair of USGBC. "Given the extraordinary importance of climate protection and the central role of the building industry in that effort, Clark demonstrates their industry leadership through their LEED certification of Fairfax Village Center."

The Fairfax Village Neighborhood Center is the product of a public-private partnership between Clark and the Department of the Army to develop, rehabilitate, and construct 2,070 homes on 576 acres of U.S. Army Garrison Fort Belvoir in Fairfax County, Virginia, and is the fourth of five total neighborhood centers to be built at Fort Belvoir. Maintaining the design and function of the previous three centers, Fairfax Neighborhood Center's energy-saving features – including a geothermal heat pump system, photovoltaic solar panels, efficient lighting controls, and spray foam insulation – resulted in a 70% reduction in energy and a 43% water savings over traditional buildings of its kind.

"We aimed to make this community amenity as green as possible," explained Casey Nolan, development executive on the project. "At Clark, we continually seek out opportunities to give back to military families and improve the quality of life of those who serve our country. We are proud to be involved with the Fairfax Neighborhood Center, which will not only serve as an educational tool and amenity for the children at Fort Belvoir, but also as a new benchmark for sustainable facilities on Army installations."

Developed by the USGBC, LEED was established for market leaders to design and construct buildings that protect and save precious resources while also making good economic sense. LEED is an internationally-recognized certification system that measures how well a building or community performs across all the metrics that matter most: energy savings, water efficiency, CO2 emissions reduction, improved indoor environmental quality, and stewardship of resources and sensitivity to their impacts.

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About Clark Realty Capital

Clark Realty Capital (CRC) is a fully integrated national real estate company offering a broad base of services including capital markets, development, construction, property management, and investment management. The Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines are leveraging the ingenuity and assured performance of CRC at 12 military installations throughout the United States. Upon completion of current military projects, CRC will have built or renovated over 34,000 homes with a development value in excess of $4.9 billion. For more information, visit www.clarkrealtycapital.com.

About Clark Builders Group

As the fourth largest multifamily builder in the nation, Clark Builders Group (CBG) is one of the nation's premier builders of luxury apartments, military family housing, and mixed-use communities. CBG has constructed more than 50,000 homes since its founding in 1992 and boasts an extensive portfolio of nationally acclaimed, award-winning communities on both coasts. CBG is an affiliate of the Clark Construction Group, one of the nation's oldest and largest private general contractors. For more information, visit www.clarkbuildersgroup.com.

About the U.S. Green Building Council

The U.S. Green Building Council is a nonprofit membership organization whose vision is a sustainable built environment within a generation. Its membership includes corporations, builders, universities, government agencies, and other nonprofit organizations. Since UGSBC's founding in 1993, the Council has grown to more than 17,000 member companies and organizations, a comprehensive family of LEED® green building rating systems, an expansive educational offering, the industry's popular Greenbuild International Conference and Expo (www.greenbuildexpo.org), and a network of 78 local chapters, affiliates, and organizing groups. For more information, visit www.usgbc.org.

About LEED®

The LEED® (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Green Building Rating System™ is a feature-oriented rating system that awards buildings points for satisfying specified green building criteria. The six major environmental categories of review include: Sustainable Sites, Water Efficiency, Energy and Atmosphere, Materials and Resources, Indoor Environmental Quality and Innovation and Design. Certified, Silver, Gold, and Platinum levels of LEED green building certification are awarded based on the total number of points earned within each LEED category. LEED can be applied to all building types including new construction, commercial interiors, core & shell developments, existing buildings, homes, neighborhood developments, schools and retail facilities. LEED for Healthcare is currently under development and is expected to be released in early 2008.

Incentives for LEED are available at the state and local level and LEED has also been adopted nationwide by federal agencies, state and local governments, and interested private companies. For more information, visit www.usgbc.org/LEED.