RISE Center Achieves LEED Gold Certification

March 26, 2025

The Walter Dods, Jr. RISE Center was recently awarded LEED Gold certification from the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC).

LEED, or Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, stands as the world’s most widely recognized green building rating system and a global benchmark of excellence. By implementing sustainable practices in design, construction and operations, LEED-certified buildings, such as RISE, are advancing environmental stewardship and promoting healthier spaces for people. These efforts play a key role in fostering a more sustainable future worldwide.

By designing to a LEED Gold standard, the University of Hawai‘i, UH Foundation and Hunt Companies Hawai‘i developed a cutting-edge project that features:

• Over 30% reduction in energy consumption through the installation of LED lighting, efficient ventilation and air conditioning systems and equipment, a 104-kilowatt photovoltaic system and a solar water-heating system;
• Over 30% reduction in indoor water use due to low-flow fixtures and other water-efficient technologies;
• Over 75% of construction waste diverted from landfills through aggressive recycling and reuse; and
• Low-emission and/or non-toxic materials used throughout the design and construction process.

This first-of-its-kind entrepreneurship-and- innovation center for Hawai‘i is located on the corner of Metcalf Street and University Avenue at the flagship University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa campus. The $70 million live-learn-work RISE Center opened to its first University of Hawai‘i student-residents in August 2023; it was the first new UH student housing in 15 years, successfully repurposing the landmark 1930s Charles Atherton House building into a state- of-the-art modern institutional facility flanked by two new six-story student residential wings.

RISE Center has garnered local and national accolades since opening; these include the CoStar Group’s Redevelopment of the Year through its 2024 Impact Awards Hawai‘i program, the Hawai‘i Section of the American Society of Civil Engineers’ (ASCE) Grand Overall Winner and Best Large Project at its 2024 Outstanding Civil Engineering Achievement Awards and NAIOP Hawai‘i’s 27th Annual Kukulu Hale Public/Government Project Award.

In 2019, Hunt Companies Hawai‘i, UH and the UH Foundation entered into a public-private partnership (P3) to design, build and finance RISE Center – the first P3 for the university. It is fully funded with private, non-taxpayer money.