The first WELL-certified buildings are now online, and the Urban Land Institute has examined the business propositions behind the system.
"After years of development, marketing, and promotion, the first WELL-certified projects have hit the market," reports Billy Grayson. "Early this year, the first WELL office projects opened in New York City, Boston, and Vancouver, joining early adopters in Toronto, San Francisco, and Los Angeles in the growing real estate market for healthy-certified buildings."
With a handful WELL office projects already online, "hundreds" more are also in the pipeline, according to Grayson. "From these first few projects, it is clear that this business case is still developing, but it will look a lot different than the one that has driven the green building certification movement to date." The article goes on to provide a breakdown of the business proposition for WELL certification, including calculations of the expected costs and benefits of the program.
For more on WELL certification, see the video below.
FULL STORY: Making the Case for Health: Insights from the First WELL Projects

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