Propose a Project:

Trump Taj Mahal – Cleveland

Prepared by:

Zachary Hicks

UMD RDEV688Y

Effective Date: October 15, 2015

Overview of the Trump Taj Mahal – ClevelandAfter the tourist market contracted in Atlantic City, real estate tycoon and longshot presidential

candidate Donald J. Trump has decided that Cleveland, with its large number of frequent gamblers and less casino square footage than the market currently demands, will be the new home for the Trump Taj Mahal. The parcel, which is 366,436 square feet in area (MyPlace, 2015), is located along Canal Road adjacent to the Cuyahoga River in Downtown Cleveland. Of the 366,436 square feet being considered for this project, the developer has decided that the Taj Mahal’s footprint will only be 43,650 square feet to accommodate for nearby parking garages.

The Taj Mahal will feature world-class restaurant, entertainment, and gambling attractions, and will be connected to a heavy rail station, connecting the hotel, casino, and condominiums to Cleveland Hopkins International Airport. The subject will also be connected underground to Tower City Center, which is in turn connected to Cleveland’s current casino, Horseshoe Casino Cleveland. The Taj Mahal will be a 40-story concrete framed skyscraper with ten-foot ceiling clearances. Including rooftop installations, the tower is anticipated to peak at 455 feet, a number that matches Progressive Field’s streak of sold-out baseball games. The first four stories will feature luxury shopping and fine dining. The 5th through 9th floors will feature 200 table games, 3,000 slot machines, the largest poker room in Cleveland, and will serve as the main entrance to the facility. The 10th floor will host the largest sportsbook outside of Las Vegas once sports betting is legalized outside of Nevada. Floors 11 through 30 will comprise of the hotel rooms, which Donald Trump would likely describe as “the most luxurious hotel room Cleveland will ever see.”1 The top 10 stories would all be condominiums that would start at $400,000. The project will require the relocation of the Cuyahoga River, which will be partially funded by the Trump Organization.

Trump Taj Mahal will be located on a bend along the Cuyahoga River less than a mile south of Lake Erie. The subject will be constructed along a steep hill. The first floor would provide access to Canal Road, Tower City Mall, GCRTA’s Red Line, Public Square, and Horseshoe Cleveland, while the fifth floor would provide access to West Huron Road, Quicken Loans Arena, and Progressive Field. Parking will be provided on-site for a fee that ranges from $3 an hour during weekdays to as much as $10 an hour during sporting events and concerts. The subject is along the primary gateway to Downtown Cleveland in the appropriately-named Gateway District. One block east of the subject is Ontario Street, which provides access to Interstates 71, 77, and 90, and can connect visitors to Akron via I-77, the airport, Columbus and Cincinnati via I-71, and Toledo and Buffalo via I-90.

Figure 1. Location of Trump Taj Mahal -- Cleveland

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Current Market ConditionsThe 2011 Ohio Building Code was modeled after the 2009 International Building Code. (2011

Ohio Building Code, 2012) The Ohio Building Code does not align with green building codes such as those in Washington, DC and Montgomery County, MD. The code was designed to “promote health, safety”, and welfare, and do not mention the phrases “sustainability” or “green buildings”. It is important to note that while the state law is ambivalent towards green building practices, Republicans are waging a war on the LEED program in the state on behalf of the timber, plastic, and chemical companies. (Baker, 2014) The political mudslinging is expected to continue as long as Republicans control the governorship and both houses in Ohio. Most of the state’s green building code updates have come at the local level, typically in large cities and other areas with a Democratic majority.

In 2013, Cleveland enacted a Sustainable Municipal Building Policy. (City of Cleveland Sustainable Municipal Building Policy, 2013) This policy was passed as part of the Better Buildings Challenge. The policy goals, which target Downtown Cleveland, include:

20% reduction in building utility energy consumption by 2020, with incremental targets reaching 50% reduction by 2030;

10% reduction in water consumption below the Downtown District buildings’ average by 2015, with incremental targets reaching 50% reduction by 2030;

and a 10% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions below Downtown District buildings’ average by 2015, with incremental targets reaching 50% by 2030.

Cleveland Public Power, the municipal utility that serves portions of the city, has adopted a citywide Advanced Energy Portfolio Standard to ensure that 15% of energy production comes from renewable or advanced sources by 2015, 20% by 2020, and 25% by 2025. The parent company of the other utility in the city, FirstEnergy, has a corporate policy to incorporate more alternative energy production in its service territory, which spans from the Ohio-Indiana border to the Jersey Shore. From personal experience, the corporate policy seems to be insincere and profit-motivated.

Because the project will feature condominiums, the project would be eligible for a residential property tax abatement for green buildings with the city. The city will provide a 15-year 100% tax abatement for increases in assessed real estate value for the project, since the project will feature investor-owned multifamily units. (City of Cleveland - Residential Property Tax Abatement for Green Buildings, 2015) To be eligible, the project must be built to the aforementioned Cleveland Green Building Standard.

LEED and ENERGY STAR Market ActivityDetermining comparable properties to the Trump Taj Mahal was a difficult task. The sheer size of

the entertainment complex makes it comparable in size to a casino such as former Atlantic City casino Revel or the Bellagio; however, Revel and Bellagio both serve exclusively as resorts. The Trump Taj Mahal will have a residential component to the project, making a true comparable property for the subject nearly impossible. Furthermore, Downtown Cleveland’s buildings do not typically have both LEED and ENERGY STAR certification: only one property has been dual certified. Therefore, any analyses of comparable properties will be incomplete.

Considering building core areas and the primary usage of each property, I was able to compile the LEED and ENERGY STAR scores for five comparable properties. All five buildings are within a mile of the subject, and are accessible via walking or Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority (GCRTA)’s HealthLine, a bus rapid transit line connecting Downtown Cleveland with a secondary business district on the east side of Cleveland. The five properties are:

the Higbee Building, a former department store that now hosts Horseshoe Casino Cleveland; the Key Tower, the tallest building in the city and the second tallest building between Chicago

and New York;

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200 Public Square, another large office building facing the main square in Downtown Cleveland;

the Huntington Building, a former office building that is being converted into a residential property with ground-level retail;

and the PNC Center (formerly the National City Center), an office building in Cleveland’s Financial District.

Only the Higbee Building and the Key Tower have an associated LEED score – both have been certified as LEED Gold. Despite both buildings being certified as LEED Gold, the Key Tower was certified for Existing Buildings while the Higbee Building was certified for Core & Shell. As a result, the Higbee Building LEED score was out of 61 points, while the Key Tower LEED score was out of 110 points. Figures 2 and 3 present a breakdown of the LEED score for both buildings.

While there was a scarcity of LEED certified comparables in Downtown Cleveland, the same could not be said about ENERGY STAR scores. The Higbee Building has yet to receive an ENERGY STAR rating, likely due to recent renovations that have taken place inside the building. The highest score was for 200 Public Square, which earned an ENERGY STAR score of 89, while the lowest score was for the Key Tower, which earned a score of 81 after earning consecutive scores in the seventies. Figure 4 breaks down each property’s ENERGY STAR score, as well as a further breakdown of each building’s LEED score.

Figure 2. An overview of the LEED points awarded to the Key Tower

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Figure 3. An overview of the LEED points awarded to the Higbee Building

Property Name Property Type Distance Gross SFEnergy &

Atmosphere

Materials &

Resources

Indoor Environm

ental Quality

Sustainable Sites

Water Efficiency

Innovation in

Operations

LEED Score ENERGY STAR

Higbee Building(Horseshoe Casino

Cleveland)

Key Tower Office 0.4 mi N 1,592,838 22 4 13 12 4 560 out of 110

(Gold)81

200 Public Square Office 0.4 mi N 1,484,922 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A 89Huntington Building Mixed Use 0.6 mi NE 1,292,748 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A 84

PNC Center Office 0.6 mi NE 807,550 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A 85

4 5Hospitality 0.1 mi N 271,057 N/A6 11 6 941 out of 61

(Gold)

Figure 4. LEED and ENERGY STAR ratings of comparable properties

High Performance ProfileAfter analyzing comparable properties, proposed LEED and ENERGY STAR scores have been

calculated for the Trump Taj Mahal in Cleveland. The proposed LEED certification would be LEED Gold, although minor improvements could potentially push the property into LEED Platinum. The ENERGY STAR score would be 86. A brief search on GBIG did not list a single casino in Las Vegas or the nearby census-designated place of Paradise (home of the Las Vegas Strip) with an ENERGY STAR score, so this property would potentially be a trendsetter within the casino industry.

For the LEED v4 for BD+C category of Location and Transportation, the subject’s location in Downtown Cleveland adjacent to a mass transit station and high density are the reasons for the subject’s strong performance in those categories. Sustainable Sites and Water Efficiency are not areas of concern for the Trump Organization, and so those scores are relatively low. Energy and Atmosphere and Indoor Environmental Quality are mandatory due to the fact that casinos never close, and regularly spend millions on electricity. Energy savings and environmental quality are crucial to maintaining a financially-

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sustainable property, and thus those scores are also high. Finally, this project would be, to my knowledge, the greenest casino in the United States. That is why this project will receive full credit in the Innovation category. Its LEED score of 74 places it in the high end of the LEED Gold certification range.

Calculating the potential ENERGY STAR score was less analytical: all that was calculated were the ENERGY STAR scores for comparable buildings in Downtown Cleveland. A score of 86 would make the subject the second most efficient high-rise in Downtown Cleveland, after 200 Public Square.

A complete breakdown of the proposed LEED and ENERGY STAR scores can be found in Figures 5 and 6, respectively.

LEED v4 for BD+C: New Construction and Major RenovationProject Checklist Trump Taj Mahal - Cleveland

8-Oct-15Y ? N

0 1 0 Credit 1

29 1 2 16 7 2 4 1316 0 0 Credit 16 Y Prereq Required0 1 0 Credit 1 Y Prereq Required2 0 0 Credit 2 5 0 0 Credit 5

5 0 0 Credit 5 0 0 2 Credit 2

5 0 0 Credit 5 0 2 0 Credit 21 0 0 Credit 1 0 0 2 Credit Building Product Disclosure and Optimization - Material Ingredients 20 0 1 Credit 1 2 0 0 Credit 20 0 1 Credit Green Vehicles 1

10 2 4 Indoor Environmental Quality 161 5 4 10 Y Prereq Required

Y Prereq Required Y Prereq Required

1 0 0 Credit 1 2 0 0 Credit 20 0 2 Credit 2 3 0 0 Credit 30 0 1 Credit 1 1 0 0 Credit Construction Indoor Air Quality Management Plan 10 3 0 Credit 3 2 0 0 Credit 20 2 0 Credit 2 1 0 0 Credit 10 0 1 Credit 1 0 2 0 Credit 2

0 0 3 Credit 33 6 2 11 0 0 1 Credit 1Y Prereq Required 1 0 0 Credit 1Y Prereq RequiredY Prereq Building-Level Water Metering Required 6 0 0 Innovation 62 0 0 Credit 2 5 0 0 Credit 50 6 0 Credit 6 1 0 0 Credit 10 0 2 Credit 21 0 0 Credit Water Metering 1 0 0 4 Regional Priority 4

0 0 1 Credit Regional Priority: Specific Credit 118 9 6 33 0 0 1 Credit Regional Priority: Specific Credit 1Y Prereq Required 0 0 1 Credit Regional Priority: Specific Credit 1Y Prereq Required 0 0 1 Credit Regional Priority: Specific Credit 1Y Prereq RequiredY Prereq Required 74 26 26 TOTALS Possible Points: 1100 6 0 Credit 6

18 0 0 Credit 180 0 1 Credit 10 0 2 Credit 20 3 0 Credit 30 0 1 Credit 10 0 2 Credit 2

Indoor Air Quality AssessmentThermal Comfort

Daylight

LEED Accredited ProfessionalInnovation

Rainwater Management

Light Pollution Reduction

Environmental Tobacco Smoke Control

Acoustic PerformanceQuality Views

Enhanced Indoor Air Quality StrategiesLow-Emitting Materials

Renewable Energy ProductionEnhanced Refrigerant Management

Optimize Energy PerformanceAdvanced Energy Metering

Certified: 40 to 49 points, Silver: 50 to 59 points, Gold: 60 to 79 points, Platinum: 80 to 110

Access to Quality Transit

Reduced Parking Footprint

Open Space

Site Assessment

Interior Lighting

Indoor Water Use Reduction

Enhanced Commissioning

Building-Level Energy Metering

Water Efficiency

Fundamental Commissioning and Verification

Demand Response

Energy and Atmosphere

Minimum Energy Performance

Fundamental Refrigerant Management

Cooling Tower Water Use

Construction Activity Pollution Prevention

High Priority Site

Surrounding Density and Diverse Uses

Sustainable Sites

Building Life-Cycle Impact Reduction

Green Power and Carbon Offsets

Heat Island Reduction

Outdoor Water Use ReductionIndoor Water Use Reduction

Outdoor Water Use Reduction

Materials and ResourcesStorage and Collection of Recyclables

Construction and Demolition Waste Management

Minimum Indoor Air Quality Performance

Building Product Disclosure and Optimization - Environmental Product Declarations

Integrative Process

Site Development - Protect or Restore Habitat

Building Product Disclosure and Optimization - Sourcing of Raw Materials

Project Name:Date:

Location and Transportation

Sensitive Land ProtectionLEED for Neighborhood Development Location

Bicycle Facilities

Construction and Demolition Waste Management Planning

Figure 5. Proposed LEED profile of Trump Taj Mahal

Figure 6. Proposed ENERGY STAR scorecard of Trump Taj Mahal

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References2011 Ohio Building Code. (2012, March). Retrieved from International Code Council:

http://publicecodes.cyberregs.com/st/oh/st/b2v11/st_oh_st_b2v11_intro.htm?bu=OH-P-2011-000004

Baker, B. (2014, February 27). Ohio Moves Closer to Banning LEED's Green Building Standards. Retrieved from EcoWatch: http://ecowatch.com/2014/02/27/ohio-banning-leeds-green-building/

City of Cleveland - Residential Property Tax Abatement for Green Buildings. (2015, May 11). Retrieved from DSIRE: http://programs.dsireusa.org/system/program/detail/4146

City of Cleveland Sustainable Municipal Building Policy. (2013, April). Retrieved from City of Cleveland: http://www.city.cleveland.oh.us/sites/default/files/forms_publications/Sust_Bldg_Policy_Cleveland-FINAL_April2013.pdf?id=3338

MyPlace. (2015). Retrieved from Cuyahoga County GIS: http://myplace.cuyahogacounty.us/

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