Photo courtesy St. John Properties.

St. John Properties, Inc., a commercial real estate development, management and investment company founded in 1971 in Baltimore by Edward St. John, is celebrating its 50-year anniversary with a renewed focus on building sustainability and growth. Its 21 million-square-foot real estate portfolio is valued at more than $4 billion, spans eight states and serves more than 2,500 clients.

St. John Properties is one of the top five developers of LEED space nationally, and intends to continue to be a leader in sustainability innovation with a mission to deliver buildings that produce more energy than they use, and to further refine processes that improve indoor air quality while boosting employee wellness and productivity.
“The conservation of energy and natural resources, along with the ongoing need to develop and innovate environmentally-friendly buildings have become a priority in attracting new tenants,” said Ed St. John, founder and chairman of St. John Properties. “We have become the gold standard in formulating and executing a feasible and sustainable plan for green architecture and will continue evolving in the future.”
St. John Properties has constructed 87 buildings comprising more than five million square feet of LEED certified space. Last year St. John Properties received the Maryland Chapter of U.S. Green Building Council’s Community Change Agent award for outstanding efforts in designing and constructing healthy buildings and for the company’s overall impact and leadership in the LEED initiative.
The company’s innovative UV Whole Building Air Purification process, announced earlier this year, is a multi-step strategy that features the installation of UV-C light disinfecting systems designed to eliminate airborne pathogens such as fungal spores, bacteria and viruses that can pass through a building’s HVAC equipment.
The process involves replacing existing HVAC air filters with higher-efficiency models that capture more airborne particles; upgrading coil cleaning and HVAC system sanitation, resulting in increased air flow; and utilizing longer HVAC runtimes, allowing for more frequent fresh air circulation throughout a building.
To date, St. John Properties has installed these upgraded HVAC systems in 23 of their multi-story office buildings, comprising nearly 2.4 million square feet of space. The company plans to implement these systems during the construction of all new multi-story office buildings going forward.
In an effort to support the use of energy efficient electric vehicles, St. John Properties has installed electric vehicle charging stations at all newly constructed multi-story office buildings across their portfolio. Forty-six charging stations have been installed since 2011, and the company has committed to ensuring all new office and flex/R&D buildings will be EV-ready by proactively installing infrastructure to support future demand for charging equipment.