Recycling Office Buildings Pays Off for Koll

Koll Real Estate Group Inc. is jumping on the recycling bandwagon, using old building materials to construct a new industrial facility in Anaheim. The developer plans to reuse 90% of the two older office buildings it purchased from Boeing-North America on Mira Loma Way to construct a new 314,500-square-foot warehouse, Koll Technology Center.

KREG officials said it would have been too expensive to bring the 1960s-era office buildings up to code. But they were reluctant to haul all of that concrete to the dump.

“When you think of the impact a building of that size has on a landfill, reuse is a good alternative--as long as it doesn’t have a great impact on a developer’s cost,” said Keith Ross, senior vice president of development for KREG. Indeed, KREG will save more than $100,000 on materials, landfill fees and transportation costs, Ross said.

More than 200,000 square feet of concrete will be crushed to an aggregate and used as the base for the building’s new foundation. Steel beams and aluminum will be melted down and reused in the frame of the new facility. All of the old mechanical equipment will be offered for sale or donation, and the wood studs and glass will be donated to a salvage firm for use in building homes in Mexico. Only the drywall and roof are not reusable, Ross said.

The group also will recycle buildings on a second piece of property it is purchasing from Boeing next door, where it plans a 600,000-square-foot business park that will open next year.

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Melinda Fulmer covers real estate for The Times. She can be reached at (714) 966-7832 and at melinda.fulmer@latimes.com.