Coretrust Capital Invests in Cleaning for Health with GBAC® STAR Facility Accreditation
Opportunity
Coretrust Capital Partners, a real estate investment firm, acquires and invests in dated trophy properties in urban areas to bring them new life. Through transformative capital improvements, performance-enhancing operational improvements, and providing top tier customer experience, Coretrust Capital has a successful track record of modernizing several properties included in their portfolio of approximately four million square feet of rentable office area.
“As an owner operator of the Class-A office buildings, we have maintained a very high level of involvement and are attentive to our office customers’ needs and wants,” said Thomas Ricci, Managing Principal, Coretrust Capital Partners. “When the pandemic hit, we wanted to take the portfolio of office properties we own and bring them all to the highest standards from an Indoor Environmental Quality standpoint.”
Solution
In March 2020, Coretrust Capital reacted to the pandemic immediately to ensure the health and safety of its tenants. “We mobilized a national task force consisting of ownership, property management, and engineering personnel. This helped us identify which additional measures and capital improvements we could implement to address the transmission of the virus and address our tenants’ concerns about returning to a healthy and safe workplace,” said Ricci.
Coretrust welcomed outside consultants to evaluate performance and validate the effectiveness of improvements it was making to its properties. Coretrust established a partnership with Allynt Solutions, a consulting firm specializing in creating clean and healthy interior environments in commercial buildings. CEO of Allynt Solutions, Peter Henson, CPMR, C.C.E, CSBA, AAP said, “We focused on readily available and leading edge, proven technologies to help Coretrust’s property management and engineering teams achieve the highest possible standard for indoor environment quality.”
With the help of Allynt Solutions, Coretrust was introduced to ISSA, the worldwide cleaning industry association, and its Global Biorisk Advisory Council (GBAC) division. The GBAC STAR™ Facility Accreditation program is the cleaning industry’s only outbreak prevention, response, and recovery accreditation which helps facilities of all sizes establish and follow the proper protocols and best practices to reduce the spread of infection. “We immediately decided GBAC STAR could reassure our tenants and ensure our buildings would be best in class,” added Ricci.
Coretrust pursued accreditation for two of its locations:
2 Liberty Place in Philadelphia and FourFortyFour South Flower in Los Angeles. Located in downtown Philadelphia,
2 Liberty Place is a 57-story Class-A Trophy high-rise tower with approximately 950,000 square feet of rentable office area. FourFortyFour South Flower in Los Angeles is a 48-story Class-A Trophy high-rise tower with approximately 915,000 square feet of rentable office area.
Results
In June 2021, 2 Liberty Place and FourFortyFour South Flower achieved GBAC STAR facility accreditation. After undergoing the rigorous program which requires meeting and maintaining its 20 program elements, Coretrust experienced numerous benefits, including:
Heightened cleaning standards. With GBAC as experts in infection prevention, and Allynt Solutions fully understanding the cleaning process in commercial buildings, Coretrust was able to build the foundation for a clean and healthy building portfolio. “GBAC helped us implement and maintain cleaning standards for years to come. It made us think of how to improve performance in ways we didn’t think of prior to our accreditation,” said Ricci.
National policies. The seamless process of GBAC allowed Coretrust to develop a standardized infection prevention protocol and ensure its buildings were all in sync with one another. GBAC STAR helped Allynt Solutions and Coretrust standardize its use of cleaning and disinfecting products, policies, and procedures on a national basis. “The primary areas we focused on included limiting touchpoints, increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of the HVAC systems, disinfecting surfaces and HVAC ductwork, and more while utilizing advanced cleaning technologies,” said Henson.
Confident tenants. By using multiple communication tactics, including newsletters, electronic monitors, social media posts, and GBAC STAR decals and QR codes throughout the buildings, Coretrust has effectively communicated its accreditation achievement to its tenants. “The feedback was extremely positive, and our customers are glad that we went the extra mile to earn accreditation, said Ricci. “GBAC STAR gives us the confidence to let our tenants know that we’ve done everything possible to create a safe environment for them.”
Increased recognition. “We are currently undergoing the GBAC STAR accreditation process in our Pasarroyo project located in Pasadena, California. Pasarroyo is a 4-building Class-A suburban office campus located on 6-acres with subterranean and structured parking containing 650,000 square feet of rentable office area. In addition to GBAC STAR accreditation, Coretrust has received UL Tier-2 Verified Healthy Building for Indoor Air and Water and USGBC LEED ratings on the three properties. We are also actively pursuing Well Building Health and Safety certification for all three assets,” said Ricci. By implementing innovative technologies and operational improvements that reduce pathogens by 99.9% at its large office buildings, Coretrust Capital Partners is recognized as the leader in creating smart, safe, and healthy workplaces.
“Our motto is ‘Our buildings are smart, safe and beautiful.’ We are using the smartest technologies to help us achieve that and GBAC STAR keeps that goal front and center every day. From a cleaning standpoint, GBAC has helped us live up to our motto,” added Ricci.