The economic crisis should not preclude investing in sustainability, which for all projects to achieve a LEED Silver rating by implementing water-
can lead to both short and long-term financial benefits, according to efficient landscaping, replacing annual plants with perennials, including
speakers at the RealShare Green Buildings virtual conference May 6. green spaces in site plan, reflective roofing and exploring photovoltaics,
These can include higher rents, stronger tenant relationships and better Hansen noted.
sales values over time. Finding the funds requires a lot more research, though. “Think of it as
Keynote speaker Mark Hansen, senior vice president of AMB Property a three-legged stool, [consisting of] incentives, contractors and private fi-
Corp., remarked that 2007 was undeniably the year of green. “Interest in nancing,” said Bruce Ficke, executive vice president, global client solutions
LEED certification exploded. It also was a year of [another for Cushman & Wakefield. Developers should look for
type of] green—there was a lot of cheap money.” all state, local and federal programs, even including
Last year, however, saw a major shift, with new de- fee waivers to fund their development, and there are
velopment scarce. “Now the real interest is in exist- also green contractors and banks, he said.
ing portfolios,” said Brenna Walraven, managing The greatest incentives for going green come
director and national property management portfolio from the tenants themselves: “Tenants want green
manager for USAA Real Estate. “The real focus is on the buildings because they’re better buildings and easier
operating expense side.” to operate,” Hansen said.
For now, the appeal is on short-term benefits. Fortunately, a number Sustainable buildings also can serve to attract a younger workforce, said
of initiatives can be undertaken at little to no cost, noted Mychele Lord, Vance Voss, managing director-portfolio management of Principal Real Estate
principal of Lord Green Real Estate Strategies. These include green clean- Investors. “A building that is not green will be harder to lease,” Voss said.
ing techniques, integrated pet management, sustainable landscaping and Relationships can improve, too, as owners/managers educate tenants
managing the indoor environment through the use of low volatile organic on building improvements and how clients can modify their own behavior
compound products. to help save resources, Hansen said. “I still think more and more compa-
Development isn’t impossible, however, particularly if cost-effect nies will want their facilities to be green,” he said, adding that municipali-measures are in place. AMB has revised its development specifications ties are increasingly looking for LEED-certified projects.—Debra Hazel
This conference
will be available
on demand
through June 3.
To listen visit:
www.realshareconferences.com/green
DESTINY
continued from page 8
“The old-school way of shoving people in houses in outlying
areas and forcing them to drive long distances to work, play and
shop contributes to an unhappy lifestyle,” he says. “It’s so much
more difficult to replumb an old city than to build a new one. We
have the capacity to do it right.”
The proposal to create Destiny has the attention of anti-sprawl
groups such as the Urban Land Institute, which focuses more on
the effectiveness of where projects are built. Although the city’s
green intentions are good, the group points out that they could
be countered by making people drive miles out of their way to get
to those jobs. Destiny’s location is nearly an hour’s drive from
Orlando and roughly 30 miles from the nearest existing city.
“We will have a return to greenfield building in America when
the economy starts up again. The question we have before us now
is how do we build it better,” observes Ed McMahon, senior fellow
at ULI’s headquarters in Washington, DC. “Destiny appears to be
trying to do the right thing, but they have to be able to provide
jobs for the people there and they have to keep their footprint
pretty tight.”
Destiny’s first phase, expected to start in late 2011 or early
2012, is being built in a partnership announced April 30 with
Dominion Development Partners, an affiliate of Richmond, VA-based Lingerfelt Cos. Its Alternative Energy Industrial Park will
initially include a technology incubator, distribution center and
research-and-development facilities, with future phases including
a “power island” supplying energy to the city, ethanol and biodie-sel processing, and waste-to-energy plants.
nies that seek to develop and manufacture new, clean technologies such as solar power and fuel cells, allowing them to benefit
from synergies that will ideally reduce startup and operating costs.
“We have decided to do the hard part first,” says Pugliese, Destiny’s managing partner and CEO.
Johnson, who met recently with Gov. Charlie Crist to discuss
Destiny’s development plans, says the city is well on its way to signing multimillion-dollar contracts with companies and plans announcements at a later date. “We are writing deals at the absolute
worst time that you can imagine for business,” he says. “We think
we’re going to hit the market just right.”—Carl Cronan
AdIndex
Calkain Companies, Inc., 14
CNL Commercial Real Estate, 15
EOLA Capital, 1
Flagler Development Group, 17
Integra Realty Resources, 14
Marcus & Millichap Real Estates Investment Services Cover II, 15
Rockefeller Group, 16
Rowley Group, LLC, 16
Verizon Smartpark, Cover IV
This advertising index is provided as an additional service. While
every attempt has been made to make this index as complete as
possible, the accuracy of all listings cannot be guaranteed.
