Minto’s Hospitality Group Turns Out the Lights

Ottawa, Ontario - March 19, 2008

Next Saturday, March 29th, guests staying at three Minto properties may be making a conscious decision to spend an hour in the dark.  That is what the Minto Group, well-known real estate developer and property manager, is hoping for.

As part of the company’s green initiative, Minto’s Hospitality Group is participating in Earth Hour™ at 8 p.m. on March 29th.  Staff are dimming common area lights to a minimum standard for safety and extinguishing exterior lighting at three of their première properties.  Signage will be posted throughout Minto Suite Hotel and the Carlisle Residence, both located in downtown Ottawa, plus MintoYorkville in Toronto, promoting Minto Hospitality Group’s commitment to the environment.  The signs will ask guests in 792 suites to participate in the power-down by turning off all the lights in their suites for exactly one hour. 

Another division of the company, Minto Green will measure the effect of Earth Hour at these locations by comparing hydro consumption to the same period last year.  Vice President George Van Noten says that calculating energy consumption and the associated cost savings is only a small component of the overall goal.  “What we are really focusing on is trying to do our part to build the awareness of everyone around us - our guests, our employees and our service providers - that climate change is a huge concern and we all need to look at ways we can help save the environment for future generations.  This initiative is part of an overall strategy that the Minto Group has been building on for several years now with their ‘Thinking Green…Living Greener™’ movement.”

Earth Hour is a global initiative that was first orchestrated in Sydney, Australia in 2007 by the Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF) and the Sydney Morning Herald.  The goal of the inaugural Earth Hour was to demonstrate how simple it was to reduce emissions and the associated impact on climate change by turning off lights all over the city for just one hour.  This year’s campaign has spread across the globe and whole cities are registering to participate.  So far in 2008, Canada has the highest rate of participation of any country with hundreds of cities signed up.

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Background

The Minto Group is a family-owned, fully integrated real estate development, construction and management company with operations in Ottawa, Toronto and south Florida. Since 1955, the Company has built more than 60,000 new homes.  Minto currently manages more than 15,000 residential rental homes and apartments in Ottawa and Toronto and carries a commercial portfolio of more than two million square feet of office, retail and industrial space.  In addition to these holdings, the Company owns and operates a CAA/AAA Four Diamond hotel in downtown Ottawa as well as Canada’s largest portfolio of executive furnished suites.

Taking a proactive approach to corporate responsibility, Minto's commitment to energy efficiency and green-building practices was demonstrated in the 1970s – decades ahead of competing Canadian residential builders and developers – when the company created its Energy-Wise standard of new-home construction.  In 1992, Minto built the Innova House for Natural Resources Canada, which showcased leading edge technologies. This led to Minto becoming the largest production builder in Canada to offer R-2000 homes.

Minto's sustainability commitment reached greater heights in 2005 with the first LEED ® - Canada certified condominium, Radiance@MintoGardens in Toronto.  Since then, Minto has committed to designing and building all of Minto's high-rise residential and commercial properties as LEED ® rated buildings. For new, detached single-family homes, Minto offers ENERGY STAR™ ratings.

A true leader in energy efficiency in the development industry, Minto has been widely recognized for its efforts to reduce natural resource expenditures while maintaining or improving the working and living environment of our customers.  Acknowledgments include:

• Canada 's 2005 Energy Efficiency Award, Natural Resources Canada
• Green Toronto Award for Resource Conservation, City of Toronto
• Leadership Award for City Livability, Canadian Urban Institute
• Award for Environmental Excellence for Minto Roehampton, FRPO
• Green Award of the Year, Greater Toronto Chapter of the National Association of Industrial and Office Properties
• Four Leaf Rating for Minto Suite Hotel, Audubon Green Leaf Eco Program

For further information, please contact:
Gwen Cox, Director of Communications
Minto Group
613-782-3128