Portland, OR – September 19, 2007 
 
On October 3rd, Cascadia Region Green Building Council (Cascadia) will launch its first annual tour of Portland’s world-renowned “green” commercial buildings. Dubbed Green Skyline, this unique event will showcase some of Portland's most innovative high performance buildings, demonstrating to the public what smart design, construction and operations look like. 
 
The day will culminate with a celebration at the Natural Capital Center, where the City of Portland’s Office of Sustainable Development (OSD) will announce some exciting progress regarding green building policy. In addition, words of inspiration will be given by Bettina von Hagen, Vice President of Ecotrust’s Natural Capital Fund and Forestry Program; Peter Hurley, OSD’s Green Building Program Manager; and James Meyer, Principal Architect at Opsis Architecture. 
 
“[Business professionals] really need to kick the tire of a highly sustainable building and begin to define for themselves what sustainability means to our local community. By touring our building, they’ll be able to see and feel the tangible benefits of green building,” said Meyer; Opsis Architecture owns the Lovejoy Opsis Building, one of the featured buildings. 
 
Built in 1910 as a stable for the Marshall-Wells Hardware Company, the Lovejoy Opsis building has been transformed into a highly energy efficient office and retail space, achieving a LEED for New Construction Gold rating. “With our new office, we are walking the talk of sustainable design,” said Meyer. 
 
"Showing people what is possible today with green buildings helps dispel any myths that they are too costly or result in strange buildings - quite the contrary, each day green buildings of all shapes and sizes are built in cities all over North America that prove to be not only better for the environment, but better for our pocketbooks and personal health," said Jason McLennan, CEO of Cascadia, on the importance of this tour. 
 
Even one of the largest buildings in Oregon and another featured building, the 200 Market Building, took the measures necessary to meet LEED standards and subsequently became the first multi-tenant LEED for Existing Buildings certified building in the country.