Local Press Round-Up

Posted on January 27, 2010 by Chris Hogan

 Here are a couple of articles from newspapers serving the South Jersey area that caught my eye over the weekend:

The first is by Diane Mastrull of The Philadelphia Inquirer about an upscale multi-family property in New York using a wastewater-recycling system designed, installed and managed by American Water, which is based in Voorhees, NJ.  The name of the property is the Visionaire, located in Battery Park, which opened in September/2008 with LEED Platinum certification, the highest of the U.S. Green Building Council's sustainability standards.

The information about American Water's efforts to become more efficient and green is interesting, but what caught my eye was the fact that the owner's decision to use the system at a cost of nearly $2 million was an incentive from NYC: a 25% reduction in water rates.  According to Russell Albanese of the Albanese Organization, developer of the Visionaire:

The city's rates have been increasing on average 11 percent a year, so the savings over time should become more significant.

The second article was from Erik Ortiz of The Press of Atlantic City about the generally still-bleak outlook for local malls and retail in Atlantic County, NJ.  What caught my eye was the efforts by the new owners of Heather Croft Square to increase occupancy which apparently will include new frontage.

The moral of the stories for me: sometimes you have to spend money to make money.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

D.C. Commercial Landlords Start Posting Energy Costs

Posted on January 16, 2010 by Chris Hogan

According to the Washington Post, the time has come for Washington, D.C., commercial landlords to begin complying with the District's Clean and Affordable Energy Act.  Under the Act, which was passed in 2008, starting in 2010 landlords overseeing more than 200,000 square feet of office space are required by law to record energy and water usage rates in accord with the benchmarks established under the EPA's "Energy Star" program and, by the end of 2013, all buildings over 50,000 square feet must be compliant. 

Under the Energy Star program, buildings are assigned a rating from 1 to 100 based on how their energy efficiency compares with similar buildings in the country.  A building's rating will eventually be posted online, but there is a 2-year lag so landlords that must start reporting in 2010 will not see building ratings posted until 2012.  The lag in posting is intended to afford landlords the chance to install energy-efficient technologies, if they wish.

According to Cliff Majersik, Executive Director of the Washington, D.C.-based Institute for Market Transformation, D.C. was the first area in the U.S. to enact such a law.  However, in December/2009 New York City passed a law that takes D.C.'s legislation even further by also requiring multi-family dwellings to record energy consumption rates.

Am I crazy for thinking that the required reporting and posting of energy ratings could be a good thing?  I am mindful of the cost involved, especially for older buildings.  However, if done right, can't some if not all of the money spent on improving energy efficiency eventually be recouped?  I would think that a good Energy Star rating would be yet another way to distinguish a property from its competitors and add value.

Like most things "green," I suspect that more municipalities are eventually going to jump on this trend.

Tags: , , , , , , ,