Sustainability Profits in Money and Morale

© SRP

Mesa-based Crescent Crown Distributing, one of the nation’s largest distributors of alcoholic beverages, is reaping profits in morale as well as bottom line benefits due to the sustainability features it incorporated into its new 335,000-square-foot facility. James Moffett, president of Crescent Crown, says the company had been working toward the goal of being more energy efficient and environmentally friendly since acquiring the business in 2004, and he credits the 600 employees for buying into the company culture.

“People take ownership [in the sustainability efforts],” he says, explaining employees at all levels and positions take pride in the facility and the company success that enabled the resources to build it. Now, he says, the employees “feel like they work in a better environment” and often brag about the new warehouse’s solar panels and energy efficiency.

Projected to save the business more than $150,000 a year in utility costs, the company’s new building includes 230,000 square feet of controlled-temperature warehouse and 40,000 square feet of refrigerated space — with a specialized energy design to optimally protect the libations — and 63,000 square feet of office space. Crescent Crown participated in both Salt River Project’s Standard Business Solutions and Custom Business Solutions programs, netting $138,855 in rebates, and will see a return on investment in two-and-a-half years.