Big industrial developments often inspire people to sit up and take notice. But “wow” doesn’t always translate to signed leases.

It has, however, with one project, a 36-acre office and warehouse industrial space that is the state’s first LEED certified multi-tenant industrial facility. All 90,000 square feet of the new facility have now been leased.

Work on Holladay Properties’ Ameriplex at Elm Hill began about 2½ years ago when the company began looking at the market and what other facilities were offering.

“When we were trying to understand what we would be up against, we thought a LEED, industrial Type Class A building, there wasn’t much in the market to compete with,” says Allen Arender, director of development for Holladay Properties and lead project manager on Ameriplex. Holladay Properties specializes in healthcare-related real estate development, and property and asset management.

“So we started going down the path of trying to figure out how to build this and get it certified and create a nice park for a variety of tenants and users for the space.”

Unlike any other industrial park in Nashville, the property boasts a reflective roof, dimmable lighting, solar lights, rainwater capture irrigation and energy-efficient HVAC.

“The landscaping on the site is all native species and it is a low-mow environment, so we do not have to mow grass on the entire site every week,” Arender says. “There are a few small areas that are mowed weekly, but 90 percent of it will be mowed maybe once a year.”

The LEED certification, which is established by the U.S. Green Building Council and verified by the Green Building Certification Institute, comes as Holladay Properties fully occupies “Building A” with the latest tenant, National Recovery Technologies. The recycling equipment manufacturer will occupy 20,000 square feet of the building.

A second LEED-designed building is under construction on the site.

“That will be complete in August,” Arender says of the 135,000-square-foot building. “We have 80,000 square feet remaining in that building.” Classic Party Rentals has already signed on to occupy 52,000 square feet.

The LEED-designed features at Ameriplex at Elm Hill lower tenants’ total occupancy cost while maintaining respect for the development’s natural surroundings, which requires more thought on the front end.

“I think it requires more planning and a little more thought and analysis into what you put into the building,” Arender says. “There are tons of products and lots of building technology available today and the way we looked at it, what items could we choose that gave us and our tenants a return on our investment? We evaluated a lot of technologies and building energy to determine the best choices to put in.”

Aside from Ameriplex’s initial two buildings, the site also includes seven acres available for further development. When all phases of the complex are complete, the facility will accommodate over 300,000 square feet of office warehouse industrial space.