Customer Profile

The American Center is comprised of a 25-story office tower and an adjoiningretail and convenience center.The 660,000 square foot property is located in the thriving businesscommunity of Southfield, Michigan.

Customer Issues

• Attract and retain tenants• Address aging infrastructure• Reduce energy costs• Improve return on investment

Project Objective

Enhance building operations to improvefinancial performance of the AmericanCenter property.

Results

$3,200,000 in capital improvementsincluding:

• Chilled water plant upgrade• Lighting retrofit• Gas-fired modular boiler installation• Variable frequency drive installation• Air distribution efficiency

improvements• Direct digital controls (DDC) upgrade• Energy management system

installation

Performance management and training

$621,000 per year guaranteed savingsover a 10-year term

PACT™

American Center

Southfield, Michigan

Trane Improves Property’s Return On Investment

tenants. Electric boilers were replacedwith six gas-fired modular high efficiencyboilers. Extensive piping work wasrequired to replace the electric baseboardheat with hot water radiation. Upgradeswere made to the building’s airdistribution system to improve the qualityand efficiency of air delivered to tenants.The domestic water pumping systemwas retrofitted to improve the efficiencyof its operation. A Trane Tracer Summit™building automation system was installedto provide better environmental control.Monitoring and scheduling capabilitiesreduce equipment run times and,therefore, energy costs. The Tracer systemprovides the facility management atAmerican Center with a tool to respond

Return on investment is thename of the game for investment realestate. The American Center, aSouthfield, Michigan, office tower, is now a better performing asset thanks to the Performance Agreement forComfort from Trane (PACTTM) program.The American Center’s ownershipsuccessfully used the PACT program to make over $3,200,000 in capitalimprovements, while reducing operatingcosts and improving tenant comfort.The project is creating over $621,000 inannual savings and qualifies the propertyto participate in the United StatesEnvironmental Protection Agency’sEnergy Star Building® program.

“The Trane PACT program has reducedour electric bill by one third!” commentsJim Jonas, executive vice president.

“The Trane PACT program hasreduced our electric bill by one third!”

©American Standard Inc. 2001 CASE-SLX036-EN

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$120,000

$100,000

$80,000

$60,000

$40,000

$20,000

$ 0

Months

Utility Profile

Pre-PACT Energy Costs

Post-PACT Energy Costs

Variable frequency drives and a multiplexersystem provide more efficient domesticwater booster pumping.

Bill Jansen, property manager; Mike

Fetzer,Trane comprehensive solutions

team leader; and Jim Jonas, executive

vice president

Aging Infrastructure

The American Center property was built over 25 years ago. Much of theequipment was nearing the end of itsuseful life. The ownership was facingincreasing operating costs resulting fromthe aging infrastructure and high utilitycosts due to the building’s design. Plansto address the aging cooling system ledto discussions with Trane to take a morecomprehensive approach to solvingsome of the building’s problems.

Trane Applies Its Building Expertise

Trane used its building system expertiseto develop a custom project to loweroperating costs and improve tenantcomfort. Once the project was approved,Trane assembled an experienced team to begin the work.

“Trane was selected based on theirdemonstrated quality of service,excellent products, and proposed projectvalue. We have had experience workingwith Trane in a number of properties andknew they were excellent contractors,”comments Joe Mendez, vice president of operations.

The original building design used thelighting system as a major source of heat.This design worked well when electricitywas inexpensive. Unfortunately, electricalrates have increased significantly over thepast 25 years. To reduce the cooling loadin the summer and, therefore, the highcost of cooling a building, a lightingretrofit was completed. The reducedsummer load had a direct impact on thesize of the equipment necessary to coolthe building. Two new 640-tonCenTraVac™ chillers were installed toprovide efficient cooling to building

“The Trane team was very professionaland managed the project expertly.”

3CASE-SLX036-EN

“The local utility

sent a representative

to check the accuracy

of our property’s

electric meters.

They found the meters

working properly.

The large electrical

savings were a result

of the Trane PACT

program.”

Bill Jansen and Doug Williams, facility

engineer, check building conditions

using the Tracer Summit™ system.

more efficiently to tenant calls andmanage the building more proactively.

Energy Star Building Participant

The PACT™ guarantee provides thebuilding’s ownership with the assuranceof long-term project performance.Through periodic building inspections,equipment maintenance, andmonitoring, Trane provides an annualguarantee of $500,000 in energy savingsand $121,000 in operational savings. Thesignificant annual energy savingsqualified the American Center Propertyas a participant of the U.S. EPA’s EnergyStar Building program. Quite anaccomplishment!

“The local utility sent a representative to check the accuracy of our property’selectric meters. They found the metersworking properly. The large electricalsavings were a direct result of the TranePACT program,” states Jim Jonas,executive vice president.

Tenant Satisfaction

A critical component to the installationwas to keep the building’s systems fullyoperational while the renovation wastaking place. Through careful planningand coordination with the owner’srepresentatives, Trane experiencedproject management personnel wereable to execute the scope with minimaldisruption to the building’s tenants.

“The Trane team was very professionaland managed the project expertly. Wehave received positive feedback from our tenants on the quality of lighting and improvement in temperaturecontrol”, states Mendez.

Two new 640-ton high-efficiency chillers

provide cooling to the tenants of

American Center.

Literature Order Number

Date

Supersedes

Stocking Location

Literature Order Number

Date

Supersedes

Stocking Location

Since The Trane Company has a policy of continuous product and product data improvement, it reserves theright to change design and specifications without notice.

The Trane CompanyAn American Standard Companywww.trane.com

For more information contactyour local sales office ore-mail us at comfort@trane.com

CASE-SLX036-EN

March 2001

New

La Crosse

For more information call Trane Asset Management Services1-800-877-1327.