Lost in the debate over the value created by going green is what some have dubbed the “Holy Grail” of sustainable real estate.
Much of the analysis on greening real estate assets focuses on relatively easy-to-quantify metrics, such as the OPEX (operating expense) improvements to NOI by cutting water and energy use versus the CAPEX (capital expenditures) and who ultimately benefits from those investments. But that debate focuses on a small piece of the 5 percent to 7 percent of business OPEX tied up in real estate and ignores the largest expense of operating a business: the workforce. To some, the Holy Grail of sustainable real estate is discovering the true net-zero commercial building, but to me it is uncovering absolute proof of the productivity gains for those blessed to work in a green building. Read More…
Did the Greenest Type of Development Just Become an Endangered Species?
You’ve sourced locally, used recycled materials extensively and incorporated the most advanced building operating systems available with an eye on earning a Platinum certification from US Green Building Council and premium pricing from tenants and investors for your latest development project.
You may think your new building is as green as economically and physically possible but it could have been much greener.
Last month, Preservation Green Lab, a Seattle-based think tank, released a study that concluded that “building reuse almost always offers environmental savings over demolition and new construction.”
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Real Estate White Papers
Contract litigation insurance: A weapon that can help prepare your company for battle
Today’s real estate industry is under siege. Multiple issues threaten to reduce profitability, including high material costs, terminated or delayed projects and availability of financing. Sometimes, owners with dwindling funds and doubts about the future of the economy may simply fail to pay as agreed, leaving real estate companies few options other than contract litigation.
Dr. Green Laws or: How You Should Stop Worrying and Love Sustainability Regulations
“War is too important to be left to politicians. They have neither the time, the training, nor the inclination for strategic thought,” – Brigadier General Jack D. Ripper, “Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb”
I can’t speak for General Ripper’s “precious bodily fluids” but the 1951 policy to fluoridate the U.S. public drinking water supply is widely considered an economic boon. The 18 percent to 40 percent reduction in childhood cavities saves far more money in dental costs than the 95 cents per person it costs on average to add fluoride to our water. And based on my last trip to the dentist, he doesn’t seem to be hurting for business. Read More…
Real Estate Investment Beyond(?) the Global Credit Crisis
Check out this presentation by Jim Valente, Director of IPD North America, on global investment returns in Commercial Real Estate portfolios and outlook for 2012. Included in this presentation are CRE investment comparisions of cites, countries, and regions throughout the globe and predictions for how the global credit crisis might impact investment returns in the near term. Read More…
Five Myths of Green Real Estate
The end of the holidays also brings an end to the many holiday related countdowns – The number of shopping days after Thanksgiving; The 12 days of Christmas; The eight nights of Hanukkah – you get the picture. Now that the clock in Times Square ticking off the final seconds of 2011 has hit zero and the partying, shopping and celebrating is done, I’m adding one more to the list: Five myths of green real estate.
After spending the past year working in the real estate sustainability field, I’ve come to see the same misperceptions and misunderstandings repeated over and over again in the discussions and decision-making process surrounding going green. As 2012 gets underway in earnest, now is a good time to point out the most pervasive green myths circulating in the marketplace to give you a little context for your real estate business decisions in the coming year. Read More…
Shining a Light on Sustainability
Transparency hasn’t always come easy to real estate.
Despite the efficiency and liquidity advantages that transparency brings to the marketplace, real estate continues to cling to its private roots when it comes to revealing details about individual assets. The same applies to the world of real estate sustainability. Despite all those plaques on the front of buildings proclaiming LEED certifications, it is has been hard to know how well those buildings actually perform. That’s about to change as states and cities throughout the country enact new rules requiring property owners to disclose their environmental performance.
Austin, the District of Columbia, New York City, San Francisco and Seattle along with the state of California and Washington State all have approved new regulations that require most investment property owners to report their energy and water use among other measures. Additionally, regulations are under consideration for Colorado, Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Mexico, Oregon, Tennessee, Vermont and the city of Portland. Read More…
SEC Issues Guidance on Data Breach Disclosure
In an act welcomed by many companies and investors, the SEC’s Division of Corporation Finance issued guidance to public companies on October 13 regarding disclosure obligations for data breaches.
The new guidance is consistent with the intent of existing Federal Securities laws that were partially designed to elicit information from registrants in the broader sense regarding events that would reasonably be considered important to investment decisions. The guidance in this case is focused more acutely on cyber incidents or events that might have a similar impact on such decisions. Read More…