GREEN TESTIMONIALS

To Whom It May Concern:

I am pleased to write a letter of reference for Michelle Shafagh and the Solaris Real Estate Group,
regarding their work in green building advocacy and green building services to clients.

O’Brien & Company is a nationally recognized leader in sustainable design and construction consulting,
education, and research. The company’s mission is to promote the informed, sustainable development of
our built environment. O’Brien & Company has consulted on green building projects for over fifteen
years and worked on LEED® projects since 2000.

In 2004, Michelle Shafagh completed the Sustainable Building Advisor Certificate Program, which our
company helped develop and for which currently acts as lead instructor. This course is rigorous in its
training, and gives working professionals the skills they need to successfully incorporate sustainable
building practices. Subsequently, we have partnered with Michelle for several projects and look forward
to working with her again.

Michelle is passionate about green building and understands how sustainable development can directly
benefit clients as well as provide significant PR value. In our experience assisting owners and designers
with green building projects, one of the crucial links we often see missing is an understanding within the
real estate profession on how to plan for, develop, and sell a successful green building project. I think
you would find Michelle and Solaris Real Estate an asset to your project in this regard.

Sincerely,
Elizabeth Powers, LEED AP, CSBA
Principal, O’Brien & Company
SDTI Faculty

Seattle City Planning

To whom it may concern:

I am a member of the City of Seattle’s Green Building program. I have worked with over a hundred building project teams pursuing green building strategies for commercial and multifamily projects in Seattle. Strong green building advocates tend to be design professionals – architects and engineers – who are familiar with engaging in the pursuit of innovative building design solutions. Very few are developers, real estate consultants and those involved in financing building projects. These are often key players in project development decisions, particularly as they relate to the costs and benefits of green buildings.

It is thus a pleasure to have been able to work with the Solaris Real Estate Group, because they have a clear understanding to the value that green building strategies bring to communities, neighborhoods and those who develop the built environment. They understand the long term, triple bottom line values of financial profitability, environmental responsibility and social benefit.

Further, the Solaris Real Estate Group understands the techniques, both building and decision making, that are critical in delivering high performance, cost effective projects. They know that it is critical to start early in the design decision making process to set performance goals and to investigate alternative building opportunities, strategies and methods to find those that have the best fit for the project, realizing that green building is most cost effective when incorporated holistically and organically and not viewed as later, costly, add-ons.

Sincerely,
Peter Dobrovolny, Commercial Expert
City Green Building
Department of Planning and Development
City of Seattle

Van Gogh Development Corporation

To Whom it May Concern:

Van Gogh Development Corporation has been working with Solaris Real Estate Group for approximately a year. They were very informative on the project development issues we were facing with our Verbena Vista Condominium Project. In the many discussions we had with the Solaris Real Estate Group, we were able to make many critical development decisions.

One of the recommendations, which provided great insight, that the Solaris Group provided was to consider building a sustainable building project. That recommendation was followed by assisting Van Gogh Development Corporation in the selection and formation of a first class development team for our Verbena Vista Condominium Project. Solaris Real Estate Group is the Marketing Component and a Team Member on the Verbena Vista Condominium Project.

Solaris Real Estate Group provided leadership and administration of a Charette. The Charette included the Van Gogh Development Team, the Solaris Real Estate Group and many representatives from the City of Seattle, DPD and SDOT.

With the assistance of the Solaris Real Estate Group, Van Gogh Development Corporation is well on its way to designing and building a sustainable project in the City of Seattle.

We have truly enjoyed our relationship with the Solaris Real Estate Group. They are professional in every manner. They are considerate, kind and most of all have honesty and integrity.

Sincerely,
O. Thomas Harper
President
Van Gogh Development Corporation