Published: April 23, 2007 12:26 am         

Green coming to Greenville

Hunt County is going green and it's not because spring is in the air.

Instead, Quest Land Development Inc., a Quinlan-based company, has purchased the vacant Greenville Athletic Center and plans to make it a green office building.

Green buildings are environmentally friendly buildings that promote health and working with the environment, said Kim Quimby, president of Quest Land Development. Green buildings also reduce operating costs by substanially lowering utility costs, she said.

Building architect Gary Olp, who owns GGO Architects out of Dallas, which has been designing similar buildings since 1974, said the building will be energy efficient, reduce waste and benefit the environment.

“We’re talking about a building that will be more profitable because it is all about reducing waste,” he told the small group attending the groundbreaking. “This building will interact with the environment.”

Quimby added that building that work with the environment save tenants money.

According to a brochure passed out by Quimby, green buildings on average save 40 percent in water usage. For example, the Greenville complex is going to use collected rainwater as toilet water. They also save 30 percent in energy use and greenhouse gas emissions. They reuse construction demolition material, which means 50 to 75 percent of trash that would normally be sent to landfills is used either in that building or in other green buildings.

But according to the brochure, it’s not just the environment that benefits. The employees working in the facilities do as well.

According to the brochure, green buildings save employers $58 billion of sick time from work each year and add $180 billion in increased worker productivity annually.

Architect Gary Olp said the building will be the first registered building of its kind built in Hunt County.

But it certainly won’t be the last.

The Hunt County Commissioners Court on April 9 approved a preliminary plat for a Green Acres subdivision — which will be a green neighborhood — to be constructed in Precinct 2.

“(Green) is just about thinking smarter about what we do,” Olp said.