April 20, 2010 --The City of Santa Monica had a goal for silver, but instead picked up gold. The United States Green Building Council (USGBC) has awarded a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold Rating to the Annenberg Community Beach House, the $31.5 million public beach club that was completed last year.

This is the sixth public facility constructed by the City to receive LEED certification and the first public beach house to be certified. Gold is the second-highest certification designation on the LEED scale. The certification level is determined by a points system that takes eight major areas into consideration related to sustainability and environmental concerns.

The sustainable features of the project, according to the City, include clean up of a contaminated site, integration of environmentally smart building systems, use of sustainable materials in construction, implementation of systems that prevent storm water and urban runoff pollution from reaching the beach, promotion of sustainable modes of transportation and commitment to ongoing environmentally sound operations and maintenance practices.

“Santa Monica has long been a leader in the area of green building,” a City press release stated. “The Beach House joins Santa Monica’s Main Public Library, Civic Center Parking Structure, Public Safety Facility, Colorado Court Affordable Housing Project, and Virginia Avenue Park – all LEED-certified Silver or above.”

The Beach Club was built on the site of the historic Marion Davies Estate at 415 PCH. The project involved what remained of 1920s estate built by newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst combined with new construction. It was mostly funded by the Annenberg Foundation, which put up $27.5 million.

The project was approved in 2006, but was nearly stopped by a group of beachfront homeowners that filed a lawsuit. The Palisades Beach Property Owners Association challenged the project’s environmental impact report, raising concerns about parking and traffic among other issues.

A settlement was reached in the fall when the City Council agreed to various conditions regarding operating hours, security, lighting, parking and noise, as well as a promise to advocate for Caltrans to build a traffic signal