KeyCorp and Columbia Sign “Green Lease”

CLEVELAND- KeyCorp and Columbia Property Trust announced this week that they had agreed to renew KeyCorp’s lease for 487,000-square-feet in Cleveland’s Key Tower. But as GlobeSt.com reported yesterday, the two did not negotiate a run-of-the-mill lease. Instead, they set out in detail how each will help reduce energy use at Key Tower and put in place procedures to track and adjust their efforts. Jones Lang LaSalle represented KeyCorp, the holding company for KeyBank, in the negotiations and calls the result a “green lease.”

“It’s a rather new thing,” says Mark W. Collins, Midwest regional director for JLL, although the firm has been helping clients for several years design energy sustainability programs. In this case, negotiating the 15-year lease at the 57-story, 1.3-million-square-foot tower, KeyCorp’s headquarters, was made easier due to the landlord’s attitude. “Columbia was a willing partner and that’s the best way for two parties to agree on an overall sustainability plan.”