Alfred I. Du Pont Testamentary Trust - Headquarters

Headquarters

For many years, the trust shared a building with the Nemours Foundation in a building on Jacksonville's Southside. The new headquarters of the trust is a 40,000 ft², five-floor building on the St. Johns riverfront in Jacksonville, Florida which was scheduled to open October 1, 2008. General contractor Elkins Constructors began work on the trust’s new home on July 17, 2007; noted architect Graham Gund contributed to the design as a green building according to LEED standards for environmentally sustainable construction developed by the United States Green Building Council. The most outstanding aspect of the $20 million structure is its ability to conserve.

The building has a stone exterior, copious large windows, and was described in the local newspaper as opulent. According to Hugh Durden, chairman of its board of trustees, "We were looking for a 100-year building...(with) timeless design that is both useful and enduring. If you're going to be here for decades, that becomes a cost-effective investment." The bottom floor is actually a parking garage for workers, so that most of the property is landscaping, rather than parking lot. Three 10,000 gallon underground cisterns capture rainfall, which is then used for landscape irrigation, so a large retention pond is not required. The four-story atrium is capped by a pyramid-shaped skylight, flooding the interior of the building with sunshine and warmth during cool months. Some interior walls contain opaque glass to share light between areas; sensors turn off lights in unoccupied rooms. For employees who want to conserve gas, there is a bus stop within a block of the building, and bicycle storage plus locker rooms for cyclists. Lastly, heating and cooling systems are high efficiency and limit power usage during peak demand periods.