South Jersey Commercial Real Estate Today : New Jersey Commercial Real Estate Lawyer & Attorney : Chris Hogan Law Firm : Contacts, Liens, CRE : Philadelphia, Delaware, Cape May

Can a garden increase a commercial property's value?  Sure, a garden adds aesthetic value, but how about to a property's bottom line?  And, how about if the garden is on the side of the building? 

Welcome to a concept known as a "Vertical Garden," a/k/a a Vegetal Wall, which was conceived by French scientist Patrick Blanc.  (A couple of pictures of existing Vertical Gardens are included w/ this post.)  I ran across the concept in the "First Look" section of the Winter/2009 edition of Development Magazine.

According to the article, Vertical Gardens contribute to reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and can also use recycled water, either from grey water from the building or recycled through the collection bay at the bottom.  Proponents have also found that a building's insulating properties are increased dramatically.

 HOW IT WORKS: A Vertical Garden is composed of 3 parts: a metal frame, a PVC layer and felt.  The frame is hung on a wall or can be self-standing.  It provides an air layer acting as a very efficient thermic and phonic isolation system.  A thin PVC sheet is then riveted on the metal frame.  This layer brings rigidity to the whole structure and makes it waterproof.  After that comes a felt layer that is stapled on the PVC.  The felt is corrosion-resistant and allows for uniform water distribution.  Watering is provided automatically, 4-5 times a day, through a drilled hose running along the top of the Vertical Garden.  Since there is no soil involved, the water must be supplemented w/ low concentrated nutrients through an automatic device.

According to the article, more than 200 Vertical Gardens have been installed around the world.  A check of Patrick Blanc's website shows only 7-8 in the U.S. so far, including installations in Tacoma, WA, and Charlotte NC.

I have no green thumb, but I like the idea b/c it could reduce HVAC costs and it could differentiate the property from competitors. 

The success of a Vertical Garden depends on using the right choice of plants according to the local environment.  Anybody know what kind of plants might work best in South Jersey?  :)

While a Vertical Garden can be of any dimension, it would seem that the highest return would be found w/ a larger building.  Obviously, not every type of building would be a good fit, as I doubt that a "big box" would want a garden growing on the side of the building, but I would think that a mid-rise office or multi-family building would work, as would certain retail and public buildings.

Who wants to be the first to grow a Vertical Garden in South Jersey? 

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 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.

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Check out this article by Elaine Misonzhnik of Retail Traffic about how consumers can leverage smart phones while out shopping. Very interesting. Personally, I do a terrible job of using my smart phone but I am smart enough to know that this kind of leveraging is the wave of the future and will only increase. So sayeth Steve Jobs.

Initially, I thought the news was going to be all bad for retailers, with examples of consumers standing in store aisles but ordering merchandise on-line. However, while on-line sales are undoubtedly a clear and present danger to store sales, I soon realized that the news is not all bad for a couple of reasons: 

First, for the most part, in order to leverage the applications discussed in the article, the consumer has to already be at or near the store, which is half the battle for retailers.  (I bet most successful retailers like their chances once people come through the door.)

Second, at least so far, it looks like consumers are using the smart phone applications primarily to help with comparison shopping on "big ticket" items.

Third, and perhaps most important, savvy retailers can embrace the technology and leverage it themselves. For example, as noted in the article, a retailer who provides data for use in the ShopSavvy application by Big in Japan gets an opportunity to lure shoppers with sales and can purchase different add-on services to provide it with a competitive advantage.

I agree with the sentiment expressed by Alexander Muse of Big in Japan: smart phones and the Internet are here to stay and have changed the rules of engagement for retailers.  The sooner that retailers take advantage of the new rules, the better.

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