NEW YORK CITY-Pantheon Properties, a New York City-based company, has decided to renovate its entire portfolio to green buildings over the next 12 to 24 months. The company, which currently owns nine industrial buildings in New York and Florida, is also evaluating acquisitions in terms of their ability to be turned green.

"It is something we have been working on internally over the last 18 months," says David Maltby, senior vice president of the company. "It is the movement of the future and we wanted to be ahead of the curve as much as possible."

In 2005, Pantheon experimented with an industrial property in Doral, FL. at the Miami Free Zone. The 850,000-sf building was coated with Intellicoat Technologies' roof coating, which increases a building's energy efficiency.

"The initial greening project Intellicoat managed for us at the Miami Free Zone delivered outstanding energy savings results, so the choice to give them the rest of our portfolio was an easy one," says president Ken Cohen, in a statement.

The company saved $0.82 per sf on energy costs with the Intellicoat. Although Maltby does not reference the actual cost of the coating, he says, "The expense to put it on is relatively low in terms of the benefits you get from energy efficiencies." But, he adds, "It is just one aspect of an overall picture of making us greener."

Maltby says over the next two years every property will receive the roof coating and be evaluated for other energy saving and environmentally friendly changes. He mentions the installation of energy efficient light bulbs throughout the facilities, motion sensors to trigger lights and informing tenants of specific ways they can reduce the amount of energy used. The company is also considering new windows and solar power roof panels on a per property basis.

"We are working within the LEED certification framework," Maltby says. "It is our hope that most if not all will be LEED certified."

As Pantheon continues to acquire more properties, Maltby says it is currently looking at additional industrial properties as well as office acquisitions, it will evaluate the options with green standards in mind. "It is really part of the philosophy of the company going forward. We are evaluating all our new acquisitions to see if we can create efficiencies in this area and make them more green."