News

Atlanta, GA – While there is often attention focused around Earth Day and eco-initiatives this time of year, The Avenue, Cousins Properties’ open-air lifestyle shopping centers, is committed to making eco-conscious efforts a priority year-round. Environmentally friendly features and events, as well as retailers, at each Avenue help consumers and shoppers reduce, reuse and recycle.

 

 

Each of The Avenue shopping centers reduces energy consumption by 25 percent by employing energy management systems that control parking lot and building lights. In addition to energy conservation, The Avenue implements several efforts to protect land and water resources:

 

- Each Avenue property recycles approximately 30 tons of cardboard per year by using dedicated cardboard compactors to reduce the amount of waste going in land-fills.

- EPA approved eco-friendly cleaning products are used property-wide, along with recycled paper products and reusable cleaning towels in the restroom facilities.

- A majority of our properties use an integrated pest management system that consists of natural herbicidal oils and chemicals only where necessary.

- By using reclaimed or well water where possible, The Avenue reduces water consumption. Irrigation controls, including rain sensors, reduce unnecessary watering and keep landscape watering to a minimum.

 

 

The Avenue encourages community residents to support local farmers that produce sustainable food and products by hosting weekly Green Markets at five Avenue locations, including The Avenue East Cobb, Forsyth, Peachtree City, Viera and West Cobb.

 

Another community initiative includes last year’s award-winning Art for the eARTh campaign, which invited local high school students to create artwork with recyclable materials. The Avenues’ visitors voted for the art pieces by depositing plastic bottles into labeled bins, which garnered more than 2,000 recycled bottles. One piece, a guitar constructed with recycled Coca-Cola bottles, was even recognized by a Coca-Cola historian as an outstanding piece of Coca-Cola history. In addition, 400 recycling bins donated to local schools resulted in recycling more than 87 tons of paper. Art for the Earth was nationally recognized by the Keep America Beautiful president and CEO as an outstanding green initiative and featured in its annual review.

 

“Our open-air centers give shoppers an opportunity to enjoy being outdoors, so we need to ensure that we’re taking care of the environment,” said Angie Leccese – senior vice president of marketing, Cousins Properties. “We are always looking for innovative ways to reduce our impact and educate those in our communities on how they can help.”

 

These eco-conscious initiatives complement The Avenue’s growing number of retailers that are focusing on going green. Natural Body Spa, for example, built its first LEED Gold Standard store at The Avenue Forsyth. In addition, Ted’s Montana Grill maintains a 99 percent plastic free establishment, and Origins is the first cosmetics retailer to offer a recycling program for empty cosmetic tubes, bottles and jars, regardless of brand.

 

The Avenue, introduced by Cousins Properties Incorporated in 1998, is an outdoor lifestyle center concept with eight locations throughout the Southeast. The Avenue offers a dynamic mix of premier national retailers, select local merchants and specialty restaurants reflective of local demand and fashion trends. The shopping destination features an open-air, pedestrian friendly setting convenient to major metropolitan areas. Shoppers can visit The Avenue at one of its five metro Atlanta locations, or in suburban Nashville, Tenn., suburban Memphis, Tenn. or Viera, Fla. For more information about The Avenue, please visit www.shoptheavenue.com.

 

Cousins Properties is a leading diversified real estate company with extensive experience in development, acquisition, financing, management and leasing. Based in Atlanta, the Company actively invests in office, multi-family, retail and land development projects. Since its founding in 1958, Cousins has developed 20 million square feet of office space, 20 million square feet of retail space, more than 3,500 multi-family units and more than 60 single-family neighborhoods. The Company is a fully integrated equity real estate investment trust (REIT) and trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol CUZ. For more, please visit www.cousinsproperties.com.