Bullitt Center

The Bullitt Center is a commercial office building at the intersection of the Central District neighborhood, and Capitol Hill, Seattle, Washington. It was officially opened on Earth Day, April 22, 2013. The Bullitt Center was designed to be the greenest commercial building in the world, and was certified as a "Living Building" by the International Living Future Institute in April 2015. It was built by the Bullitt Foundation, a non-profit group based in Seattle that focuses on urban ecology. The foundation is a tenant, occupying half of one floor in the six story building, with additional commercial tenants - including the University of Washington, Hammer & Hand, Sonos, Intentional Futures and PAE Consulting Engineers - occupying the rest of the building. The building is fully leased. Construction costs for the six-story, building were $18.5 million, or $355 per square foot. Including land and soft costs, the cost is $32.5 million. For this price the building provided "tenant ready" space (as opposed to the typical "cold dark shell" that most commercial spaces deliver). The Bullitt Center was designed to have a 250-year lifespan. In 2016, the Bullitt Center produced nearly 30 percent more energy than it needed for all uses, from the solar panels on its roof. As a result, it is one of the largest "net positive" energy buildings in the world. Energy is generated by a large solar panel array (composed of 575 panels) on the roof of the building, along with energy conservation measures that cut the building's energy consumption to approximately 15% of a typical office building of similar size. In 2016, the Bullitt Center had an energy use intensity (EUI) of 12, compared to an average commercial building in Seattle with an EUI of 90 or more. Although the building is connected to the electricity grid and at times draws more power than it produces (especially during the Seattle's cloudy winter), at other times it produces enough surplus energy to "repay" such withdrawals, yielding annual net positive energy.