Silas Deane Professional Center, Wethersfield, CT

Wethersfield, CT Commercial real estate investor Joe Moruzzi teamed up with Eversource to make the Silas Deane Professional Center, located at 1290 Silas Deane Highway, more energy-efficient. The project, which included significant infrastructure changes, made the 90,000 s/f building more sustainable and helped transform it from a class B to a class A property.

“As a firm believer in reducing a building’s carbon footprint, I felt it was necessary to update the property to ensure my current and future tenants enjoyed a space that was environmentally-friendly, as well as more comfortable and cost-saving,” said Moruzzi. “Eversource helped me identify property-specific energy-saving solutions, and secure significant rebates and incentives to help finance the project, which will save significant energy and costs year-to-year.”

For large commercial properties, electrical chillers use the most energy in most buildings and can account for almost half of its annual electricity use. To address this issue, Eversource and Moruzzi worked with Controlled Air, Inc., a leader in creating environmentally sound, energy-efficient HVAC designs.

Controlled Air installed a new, high efficiency chiller along with a new variable-frequency drive (VFD) to further control chilled water pumping. They also installed new high efficiency boilers and a complete building automated HVAC control system, which will contribute to even greater energy and cost-savings.

Additional enhancements included retrofitting the building with energy-efficient lighting, installing a new cool roof with white, heat-reflecting materials and adding energy-saving window tint.

“Prospective tenants want to see a modern space that is also sustainable and energy efficient, as they know their overall costs will be lower as a result,” said Bob Gaucher of OR&L Commercial, leasing brokers for the Silas Deane Professional Center.

Eversource helped Moruzzi secure $400,000 in Energize Connecticut program rebates and incentives to offset the cost of the $1.2 million project.