Staff Photo by Gillian Bolsover People stand in the courtyard of Two North Shore Wednesday following a celebration of the shopping center's Gold LEED certification status.

A Chattanooga shopping center is the first in Tennessee to meet the nationally accepted benchmark for environmentally responsible design, construction and operation, officials have announced.

Stephen Arnsdorff, a developer with CS & Associates, said that Two North Shore, a shopping complex on Manufacturers Road, received a Gold LEED certification.

The gold designation topped the U.S. Green Building Council’s silver certification level. Only a platinum certification exceeds what the Two North Shore developers accomplished.

“From day one, we wanted to develop a project that would represent our values and commitment to the environment and shopping locally in our community,” Mr. Arnsdorff said.

Ashley Katz, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Green Building Council, confirmed that no other shopping center in Tennessee has a Gold LEED Certification.

“There are multiple retail projects in the state that have received certification, but this is the only shopping center,” she said.

Jeff Cannon, director of Greenspaces, a nonprofit environmental initiative, was on hand to praise Mr. Arnsdorff’s efforts and to present him with a $90,000 reimbursement check for costs CS & Associates incurred during the certification process.

When developers first discussed striving for LEED certification for the shopping center, the nearest consultants for such a project were in Atlanta and not a single local contractor had ever been part of a LEED project. But Mr. Cannon said there now are dozens of local consultants and developers with the know-how to build a LEED certifiable facility.

“It is built responsibly, and it means everything to this area,” he said.

Mr. Arnsdorff said he was told that building the facility to meet the standards of the U.S. Green Building Council would cost 20 percent more, but the $7 million project actually cost only two percent more.

“People said it couldn’t be done at an affordable price,” he said. “We had to put forth a lot of effort to find people who could tell us how to do thins in an environmentally friendly way.”

Chattanooga Mayor Ron Littlefield commended those responsible for the shopping complex’s green design.

“It’s a new way of thinking about building,” he said. “It’s a giant step toward a giant transformation of our built community.”

Chuck Pruett, founder and owner of the Greenlife Grocery, located in the Two North Shore complex, said he is proud to be located in the LEED certified shopping center.

“Here at Greenlife, we share common values with Two North Shore as we help nurture our community and encourage our neighbors towards more sustainable and enriching lifestyles,” he said.

Wayne Robertson, a LEED building consultant, praised developers for their achievement.

“This property will stand as a benchmark for what is achievable in terms of sustainability in Chattanooga buildings,” he said. We congratulate them for taking a leadership position in this area and investing in this innovative project.”