We're going to the bees

Housing honey bees on the rooftops of our office properties just makes sense. It's a simple, sustainable way to contribute to an urban ecosystem, repurpose unused space, and produce local, artisanal honey in the process. 

How? Bee colonies flourish in urban areas as they require an environment that fulfills three criteria: the absence of pesticides, an abundance of water and floral resources, and a temperate climate. And our office property rooftops are a ideal, safe place for our pollinators to call home.

Since 2015, our Urban Bee Project in Washington D.C. has maintained seven hives on the roofs of 799 9th Street and 1250 Connecticut Avenue. Following an initial partnership with Georgetown Honeybee, our Chief Engineer Michael Phillips has since been trained in beekeeping and tends to the hives. 

At Suncor Energy Centre in Calgary, our rooftop collaboration with Honey Meadows apiary has been home to honey bees for three years. The two SEC hives are thriving and produced over 47 litres of honey in 2018. Recently, the honey was bottled in 125 milliliter jars and all 376 containers were sold – with proceeds going to the local Calgary Food Bank.

And in New York, our partnership with Alvéole has delivered 10 hives at Brookfield Place and 2 at MetroTech in Brooklyn, which contribute over 600,000 honey bees to the city's ecosytem. With an additional 24,000 eggs being laid each day, our friendly pollinators are just get started - and so are we! Our program is rapidly expanding in markets across our portfolio.