Diverse Uses: Community Anchor Uses

I read it as the latter. It's called "commercial anchor"—that really seems like one building.

Tristan - I don't disagree that a small office is not equal to community anchor, but that brings up the question: what does a small office qualify as? The project team is directed to place the certifying project into one of the 5 categories, and ensure that the qualifying use types come from at least 3 of the other categories. If I am certifying an office of 50 people, what category is that? (Examples of offices that may not fit the mold of any of these categories: accounting firm, call center, general contractor, online marketing, computer security, home care services, management consultants).

Kristi - LEED defines diverse uses as "a distinct business or organization that provides goods or services intended to meet daily needs and is publicly available." I don't believe a small office building, unless it includes one of the listed use types, qualifies.

Thanks, Kara. But does that mean that a LEED project can have a use that doesn't fall into any category? And therefore, having enough nearby uses in any 3 of the 5 categories can result in credit achievement? (IE: If you are certifying a small office, all of the 5 categories qualify towards meeting the threshold of "3 other categories"? 

Kristi - you can definitely certify a LEED project that isn't considered a diverse use. Be sure to demonstrate that your project is near uses in a minimum of three categories (out of the 5 possible).