A developer plans a $10 million office building at Lowry that will be the first "green" commercial building on the former Air Force Base.

The three-story, 40,000-square-foot building, called Rampart IV at 150 Spruce St., will meet Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, or LEED standards.

It is being developed by Denver-based Coughlin & Coughlin Co., which renovated three other historic buildings at Lowry almost eight years ago.

The building will include a farm of solar panels on the roof that will generate enough power for the common areas, such as the elevators and lights in the lobbies, restrooms and main hallways.

"The vision is to have a big dial in the lobby that is spinning, that shows how much energy is being used and where it is coming from," said Michael Coughlin, principal of his namesake company.

He said the solar and other energy saving features likely will add 2 percent to 3 percent to the cost. The lease rates will be in the "low $20s per square foot, which is very much in line with the market."

With the newest building, the company will be the largest multi-tenant office landlord at Lowry, said principal Coughlin. A number of office buildings in Lowry are owned by the companies occupying them.

"We love Lowry," said Coughlin. "We think Lowry is kind of like Park Avenue in New York. They're not making any more of it. When it is gone, it is gone."

He plans to start construction early next year on Rampart IV and complete it before the end of 2008.

It will be designed by Larson Incitti Architecture.

Tom Markham, executive director of the Lowry Redevelopment Authority, said he is excited to have a LEED-certified building at Lowry.

He said the so-called Buckley Annex, a controversial plan to bring new residential and commercial properties to Lowry, will have an unknown number of office buildings.

Many nearby neighborhood groups are opposing the proposed development at the southwest corner of East First Avenue and Quebec Street, because they worry it will increase traffic near their homes and will be too dense.

The land is owned by the Air Force, which will either sell it to a master developer or several developers. The details of the development are still being worked out, Markham said.

"Other than that, we are talking to people about a fewer smaller office or two or three groups for the Crosswinds, south of the hangars, where there is six acres along Lowry Boulevard, where Janus was going to go," when it planned its world headquarters on 35 acres, Markham said.

"After that, we're pretty well done," Markham said. "We're in different stages of negotiations. Some of them are very preliminary, and some are pretty well along. Some might drop out, so we would encourage any developers or tenants interested in Lowry to contact us."

Markham said he hopes future office buildings also are LEED-certified.

"We would certainly encourage it, but we don't require it," Markham said. "Each developer has to work out his own economics."