Sonoma Mountain Village Recognized by the U.S. Green Building Council at the Highest Platinum Level

ROHNERT PARK, Calif., Jan. 25, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Sonoma Mountain Village earned the highest rating –Platinum–from the prestigious U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design for Neighborhood Developments (LEED® -ND) for its neighborhood design.

Codding, a real estate developer, contractor and investor in green building products and clean energy companies is planning to build Sonoma Mountain Village as one of the world's greenest neighborhoods. Plans for the 200-acre former factory site in Rohnert Park, California include creating a complete neighborhood with jobs and housing within an easy walk of daily needs, like groceries, daycare and restaurants.

The project has received additional awards, including the California Governor's Environmental and Economic Leadership Award for its efforts toward sustainability. In 2010, Sonoma Mountain Village also received top honors from the USGBC for LEED® Commercial Interiors at Comcast's zero-carbon Operations Center. This was one only 6 in the State to achieve this status.

LEED for Neighborhood Development is a certification program developed in collaboration with the Congress for New Urbanism and Natural Resources Defense Council that integrates the principles of smart growth, new urbanism and green building in the first national system for neighborhood design. LEED certification provides independent, third-party verification that a development's location and design meet high standards of environmentally responsible, sustainable development.

"We look forward to working with Sonoma Mountain Village in the future to further our common mission of transforming land development and creating a greener world for future generations," stated S. Richard Fedrizzi, President, CEO and Founding Chairman of the U.S. Green Building Council.

Currently the community has over 600,000 square feet of commercial office, warehouse and industrial space. The Sonoma Mountain Village Event Center is hosting events for the region, including annual public events by the Bike MS 2-day Ride, American Cancer Society and Sustainable Enterprise Conference.

Located at Sonoma Mountain Village and in its third year of independent operations, the Northbay's Innovation Hub (iHub) and Business Incubator currently houses 20 tenants. Business incubation has proven to be extremely effective at local economic development with 85% of companies locating within 5 miles of the incubator facility after graduation from the program. Genesis Steel Frame Solutions, part of the first graduating class of the program, will soon move into larger space within Sonoma Mountain Village to serve expanding demand for their panelized recycled cold-steel products and increased needs in engineering and estimating services. With exclusive Genesis technology rights in the United States, Central and South America, and the Caribbean, the 100% solar powered, zero waste factory at Sonoma Mountain Village has the company well-positioned to build out Sonoma Mountain Village, as well as office, homes, retail stores, laboratories and other buildings in the region.

Sonoma Mountain Village

Sonoma Mountain Village (http://www.somoliving.com) is a 200-acre, mixed-use, solar powered, zero waste community internationally recognized as the first One Planet Community in North America and one of the World's Greenest Neighborhoods.

SOURCE Sonoma Mountain Village