5.06.2008 - 10:41am ET

(CSRwire) BETHESDA, Md., May 6 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Washingtonian Magazine has named The Tower Companies (www.towercompanies.com) Corporate Leader in Green Building for "being green-building pioneers and fierce proponents of sustainable design and construction; one of the nation's largest buyers of green power, buying wind energy for its 13 buildings; (building) the first LEED apartment complex in the U.S. and for 2000 Tower Oaks Boulevard, the world's largest Vedic office building." The Washingtonian Green Awards, the first for this publication, are "celebrating Washingtonians who preserve and protect the environment through education, by promoting green building, and by teaching the importance of living green."

Washingtonian Magazine is presenting the Corporate Leader in Green Building Award to The Tower Companies on May 6, 2008 at the Hook Restaurant in Washington, D.C. Other recipients of the Washingtonian green awards are: Bob Nixon, Founder, Earth Conservation Corps, Flo Stone, Founder, Environmental Film Festival, Wendy Rieger, Anchor, DC News Channel 4, Joan Kelsch, Arlington County Environmental Planner and Patrick E. Noonan, Founder & chair emeritus, The Conservation Fund.

Announcing the Washington Business Journal's commitment to promoting environmentally sustainable economic development, the Journal has presented their first green category for this year's Best Real Estate Deals: Green Company of the Year Award to The Tower Companies. Conceived and judged by Journal reporters, the award is designed "to reward a real estate-related company that has demonstrated an extraordinary commitment to improving the science and the art that goes into the design and construction of buildings in our region ... to single out companies for whom green has never been a fad, but rather a longstanding principle that reflects their values and actions," stated publisher Alex Orfinger.

"This year's Green Company of the Year," he continued, "goes to The Tower Companies, a family run company and longtime D.C.-area developer responsible for some of the area's most successful retail and residential developments, including White Flint, the Blairs in Silver Spring and Tower Oaks in Rockville. From partner Jeff Abramson's well-known practice of Transcendental Meditation to its two major current projects, 2000 Tower Oaks in Rockville and 1050 K Street, downtown, both were designed to achieve Gold LEED."

The Tower Companies, one of eight carbon neutral companies in the U.S., has won numerous city, county, state and national awards including the 2007 Business of the Year Award from the DC Chamber of Commerce, 2006 and 2003 Green Power Leadership Awards from the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Energy, and the 2003 Green Building Award from the Apartment and Office Building Association of Metropolitan Washington.

The Tower Companies has a diverse portfolio, which includes more than 4 million square feet of commercial office space and office parks, 1,500 apartments, regional malls, residential lifestyle communities, hotels, and shopping centers within the National Capital area of which 1.25 million are green. The firm moves into their new corporate headquarters at 2000 Tower Oaks Boulevard in July.

For more information please contact: