Interactive: How Florida Uses Its Water

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Florida is known to be the wettest state in the nation, but a 13-day winter cold front in 2010 sent two Hillsborough towns into a water management crisis.

Excessive groundwater pumping by strawberry farmers spraying to keep their produce alive caused wells to dry up, sinkholes to open and the amount of water available to neighboring households to plummet.

Since then, the Southwest Florida Water Management District, or Swiftmud, has taken a hard look at the cumulative effects of groundwater pumping, said Claire Muirehead, water use permit evaluation manager.

“We need to be able to provide water supply for the people that we have in our state now, but we also need to make sure that there is available water supply for future generations while also protecting the environment,” Muirehead said.

Florida pulls almost 15 billion gallons of water per day from fractures and pores beneath the Earth’s surface and from existing surface water, according to data compiled by AP-APME from the U.S. Geological Survey’s National Water-Use Information Program. About 14 billion gallons are used each day in households and factories and for irrigation, livestock, aquaculture, thermoelectric power plants and mining.

Hillsborough County is the biggest consumer, drawing 1.9 billion gallons per day and using 1.6 billion gallons per day on its power plants.

Sarasota and Manatee, by contrast, are among the counties that pump the least amount of groundwater each day. Public consumption and irrigation are the biggest draws.

Public water use in Sarasota County requires about 31.3 million gallons per day, while irrigation takes 10.3 million gallons, according to the USGS. data. The county is now focusing on preparing for population growth, said Christopher Cole, Sarasota County’s public utilities planning supervisor.

“It’s always been a challenging process,” Cole said. “I have reports that go back to the late ’60s talking about planning for future water supply to meet future demands.”

Manatee County, with a large swath of agriculture remaining, swallows 126.5 million gallons on a daily basis, with 84.9 million gallons going to irrigation. It is the ninth largest user of irrigated water in the state. Palm Beach and Hendry top the list.

THE STATEWIDE PICTURE

Statewide, electric power plants are among the largest users of water.

They boil the precious resource to drive their steam-driven turbine generators, then use it to cool their power producing equipment and the hot water before discharge. They also use water for scrubbing and other forms of pollution abatement.

The counties that pull the most water are the ones fueling and cooling thermoelectric plants. The fact that power plants are such gluttons for water is why they are built along lakes and rivers. But since the 1970s, power plants have relied increasingly on reclaimed water from sewage plants.

“We now have 10 power plants in the district using reclaimed water and we are continuing to encourage anyone who has a power plant to use reclaimed water,” said Anthony Andrade, Swiftmud’s reuse coordinator.

The Big Bend plant in Apollo Beach uses it. So does the City of Tampa‘s waste-to-energy facility on McKay Bay and the Duke Energy plant in Bartow.

“The wonderful thing about Florida is that farms and power plants need that water in different seasons,” Andrade said. “Power plants need it most in the summer when it rains and lot, and farms need it in the winter when it’s dry.”

Florida’s five water management districts have encouraged use of reclaimed water across industries in order to reduce demand for groundwater pumping and promote water conservation.

“We have to balance the water use between the environment and our needs,” Cole said. “We can’t use all the water and not leave any for nature.”

 

Source: Watchdog Sarasota

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Miami-Dade Pursuing Public-Private Partnerships For Major Projects

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A day after Miami-Dade’s cultural affairs director disclosed the county is interested in teaming up with private developers to build high rise towers at the downtown cultural complex that is home to HistoryMiami and the central library, Mayor Carlos Gimenez said there are many more projects that could be open to public-private partnership, or P3s.

“The only way we are going to get any of them done is with P3s,” Gimenez said. “If we have to maintain and operate all these things, we couldn’t do it.”

On Friday, Gimenez participated in a panel discussion about the county’s transportation needs, put on by the P3 Institute at Florida International University’s north campus. A packet prepared by the P3 Insitute listed roughly $7.5 billion in unfounded county projects Miami-Dade officials are considering for possible partnerships with private companies.

Some of the projects include three general maintenance and office facilities that will cost an estimated $120 million to build, a $20 million African Heritage Cultural Arts Center, an expansion and new garage for the Miami-Dade County Auditorium that will cost an estimated $40 million, and four new jail facilities that will cost an estimated $625 million. On Thursday, the county’s cultural affairs director had discussed the future partnership potential of the downtown cultural complex, as reported by the South Florida Business Journal.

Gimenez said the county will also consider public-private partnerships for all future transit projects, including Baylink, a light rail that will connect Miami Beach to Miami via the MacArthur Causeway, and for an east-west transit connection from the airport to Kendall. Gimenez also said he would like to see Baylink’s track expanded in Miami Beach and Miami to include the Julia Tuttle Causeway, so that trains could go through the Design District, Midtown and Mid-Beach.

Neil Sklar, a partner with the law firm Peckar & Abramson and P3 Institute president, told The Real Deal that his organization hosted two-day panels on public-private partnerships to give the county an opportunity to meet with private company executives who are interested in pursuing deals.

“I was surprised to learn the county has many more projects that people don’t know about,” Sklar said.

 

Source: The Real Deal

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Investors Bank On A Renaissance In Working-Class Allapattah

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Roosters crow in trash-strewn lots. Construction crews tear down crumbling foreclosed homes. The din of backhoes, of leaf-blowers, of planes flying overhead never seems to stop.

But in the roughly five-square-mile Allapattah neighborhood of Miami, one of the city’s oldest, home values are rising at a faster clip than the multimillion dollar mansions of Miami Beach.

A house on Northwest 25th Ave in the Allapattah neighborhood of central Miami. Developers and investors are buying properties there because it's close to downtown and on the edge of Wynwood. CHARLES TRAINOR JR MIAMI HERALD STAFF

A house on Northwest 25th Ave in the Allapattah neighborhood of central Miami. Developers and investors are buying properties there because it’s close to downtown and on the edge of Wynwood. CHARLES TRAINOR JR MIAMI HERALD STAFF

In the last year, home values in this working-class community are up nearly 24 percent, according to data collected by online real estate company Zillow. The Miami-Dade County average is 8.6 percent.

The reason for the surprising surge?

A house on Northwest 25th Ave in the Allapattah neighborhood of central Miami. Developers and investors are buying properties there because it's close to downtown and on the edge of Wynwood. CHARLES TRAINOR JR MIAMI HERALD STAFF

A house on Northwest 25th Ave in the Allapattah neighborhood of central Miami. Developers and investors are buying properties there because it’s close to downtown and on the edge of Wynwood. CHARLES TRAINOR JR MIAMI HERALD STAFF

Rock-bottom prices and Allapattah’s proximity to hot-spots like the Design District, Wynwood, the Miami River and the Health District around Jackson Memorial Hospital have investors salivating over the area’s low-end housing stock — and buying up everything they can.

The median value for a single-family home in the area stood at $123,000 in June 2015, the lowest in Miami after Liberty City, Zillow found. For condos and townhomes, values were $103,000.

“There’s so much speculation among investors because the prices are so low,” said Alex Ruiz, a real estate agent at the Keyes Company who grew up in the area in the 1960s and ’70s.

“It was a very booming area when my family was there,” Ruiz said. “There were movie theaters and stores and restaurants all along 36th Street and a Coca Cola Bottling company plant.”

Allapattah, sometimes called Little Santo Domingo because of its large Dominican community, has transformed since its heyday decades ago. Today, most people who live here are low-income renters. Many rely on Section 8 vouchers.

Allapattah9A growing number of homes, all on small lots close together, are being converted for multi-family use. There are few stores beyond pawn shops, car mechanics, corner stores and bare-bones restaurants. Businesses are mainly industrial, with boat yards and drydocks lining the Miami River. Crime is a problem. A shooting left a man dead over a recent weekend.

But Allapattah may again be on the cusp of change.

Investors are snapping up properties with cash, renting them out and waiting for a boom they expect to spread west from the shops and galleries of Midtown and north from the high-rises of the Miami River. It’s hard to find better deals in Miami.

“We can buy a house for $60,000, tear it down for $10,000 and build a duplex for $200,000,” said Jorge Artiles, a realtor and home flipper who works in the neighborhood with bank-owned properties. “Then we can rent it out to two families for $1,700 per month. We are putting the money to work and then we can sell for a profit because the market keeps going up.”

Local realtor and house flipper Jorge Artiles stands outside a property he and business partners recently purchased in Allapattah. CHARLES TRAINOR JR MIAMI HERALD STAFF

Local realtor and house flipper Jorge Artiles stands outside a property he and business partners recently purchased in Allapattah. CHARLES TRAINOR JR MIAMI HERALD STAFF

Artiles said investors are banking on the expectation that in the next 10 to 15 years, Allapattah will be transformed. The area is close to expressways, the airport, downtown and Miami Beach. Along the north bank of the Miami River, young professionals are renting out apartments and condos because of easy access to jobs downtown, Artiles said.

“We’re trying to brand this area as the Miami River District,” Artiles said. “That’s what it is on the south side of the river. But if I say Allapattah, I cannot charge $2,400 for a unit.”

One sign of the area’s potential for developers: A major mixed-use project called River Landing is planned for the river’s north bank near the Health District, although it may be slowed by creditors.

Realtors are seeing interest along Allapattah’s eastern edge, too.

“It’s right next to the Design District and it’s very affordable,” said Paola Chapman, a real estate agent who just took her first Allapattah listing because of rising values.

For homeowners in the area, change cuts both ways. Locals welcome rising real estate values, said Albena Sumner, president of the Allapatah Homeowners’ Association and a resident since 1965. But transient renters bring a different feel to the community.

“Where you used to have a family owning a home, now you’re renting out a duplex,” Sumner said. “It’s gentrification. It’s what happens in poor communities. It happened in Wynwood. Now it’s happening here.”

Background (Source – Zillow):

  • A working-class, industrial neighborhood where home values are rising faster than any other part of Miami or Miami Beach, driven by investors and flippers. The name Allapattah comes from the Seminole word for “alligator.” Its boundaries are State Road 112 and the Miami River to the north and south, and Interstate 95 and Northwest 27th Avenue on the east and west. Allapattah covers several ZIP codes, including 33136, 33125, 33127 and 33142. Crime statistics and Florida Department of Education school ratings vary by location but are generally poor.
  • Median single-family home values: $123,000 in June, up 29 percent since June 2014.
  • Median condo/townhome values: $103,000 in June, up 23 percent since June 2014.

 

Source: Miami Herald

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How Project Sunroof Is Mapping The Planet’s ‘Solar Energy Potential’ One Rooftop At A Time

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The cost of solar power is at a record low.

A typical solar home can save hundreds or even thousands of dollars per year on their electricity bill.

As a volunteer with the Boston-based solar program Solarize Massachusetts and a solar homeowner, Carl Elkin, Engineering Lead for Project Sunroof, has always been surprised at how many people think that “my roof isn’t sunny enough for solar,” or “solar is just too expensive.” Certainly many of them are missing out on a chance to save money and be green.

Enter Project Sunroof, his recent 20% project. Project Sunroof is a new online tool that is being tested to help homeowners explore whether they should go solar. Available in the San Francisco Bay Area, Fresno (in central California), and the Boston area for now, the tool uses high-resolution aerial mapping (the same used by Google Earth) to help calculate a roof’s solar energy potential, without having to climb up any ladders.ProjectSunRoof2

If you’re in one of our test regions, simply enter your address and Project Sunroof will crunch the numbers. It first figures out how much sunlight hits your rooftop throughout the year, taking into account factors like roof orientation, shade from trees and nearby buildings, and local weather patterns. You can also enter your typical electric bill amount to customize the results. The tool then combines all this information to estimate the amount you could potentially save with solar panels, and it can help connect you with local solar providers.

Google has always been a big believer in zero-carbon energy, and solar power has been a central part of that vision — from accelerating the growth of rooftop solar, to helping finance the largest solar farm in Africa, to building one of America’s biggest campus solar arrays in Mountain View. While Project Sunroof is in a pilot phase for now, during the coming months Google will be exploring how to make the tool better and more widely available. If you find that your address isn’t covered by the tool yet, you can leave your email address and you will be notified when Project Sunroof is ready for your rooftop!

View a video on the introduction of “Project Sunroof” below.

 

Source: Google Green Blog

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Middle Eastern Investment To Grow In Miami

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It’s no secret that Miami has become one of the world’s most attractive markets for international investors.

South Americans in particular have had a heavy influence in local real estate as one of the main demographics snapping up properties throughout South Florida.

But data from CBRE, a commercial brokerage that tracks such international trends, indicates that one region of the world is poised to take a much larger role in South Florida’s real estate game and in the United States as a whole: the Middle East.

Miami Beach EDITION hotel

Miami Beach EDITION hotel

So far, buyers from the Middle East have stuck to high-profile properties in Miami. This was made evident in February with the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority’s acquisition of the Miami Beach EDITION hotel for an incredible $230 million. That sale accounted for the majority of the $280 million Middle Easterners have sunk into South Florida real estate during the first half of this year, according to CBRE data.

Plot on Indian Creek Island — the highest price ever recorded for vacant land in the neighborhood

Plot on Indian Creek Island — highest price ever recorded for vacant land in the neighborhood

Also in February, a corporate entity linked to Saudi Royalty paid $23 million for a plot on Indian Creek Island — the highest price ever recorded for vacant land in the neighborhood.

St. Regis Bal Harbour hotel

St. Regis Bal Harbour hotel

Compared to last year, buyers from the Middle East have spent $37 million more on Miami real estate, CBRE data shows. The previous year saw Al Faisal Holding, a private company based out of Qatar, pay $213 million for the St. Regis Bal Harbour hotel, among other smaller transactions. However, in the context of the region’s historically large purchases, that increase does not necessarily translate to a large uptick in activity.

The evidence of this emerging trend instead comes from looking at the huge amount of money that the Middle East is pouring into U.S. real estate.

For the first half of 2015, the region spent $2.7 billion on real estate in the Americas, according to CBRE. That’s a significant chunk of the $11.8 billion total that investors from the Middle East have spent on global real estate during that time period, and CBRE expects that number to grow by another $2.4 billion by the end of the year. Most of that money comes from sovereign wealth funds.

“There’s no question that Miami has arrived as a primary market for investors worldwide, in the same league with other U.S. cities like New York, San Francisco and D.C., as this Middle East investment report suggests,” Quinn Eddins, CBRE’s director of research and analysis for Florida, said in a statement.

“The amount of foreign investment in South Florida office, retail and industrial product during the first half of 2015 alone was over $775 million – more than that of all the previous two years combined. If we factored in apartment, hotel and land sales, that number jumps to more than $1.2 billion. A lot of capital is still coming from Canada, Europe and Latin America, but there’s definitely an uptick in Middle Eastern and Asian investment – it’s an exciting trend that we’re tracking closely.”

South Florida was the fourth hottest market in the U.S. for Middle Eastern investment during the first two quarters of 2015. It stands to supplant the third spot belonging to Washington, D.C., which saw only $1 million more in transactions from the region. Above D.C. is Atlanta with $338 million in purchases so far this year, and New York in the top spot with $1.1 billion, CBRE data shows.

 

Source: The Real Deal

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Recycled Shopping Mall In California Will Have Largest Green Roof

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Sitting between Apple’s Infinite Loop headquarters and the spaceship-like Apple Campus 2 in Cupertino, California is the failed Vallco Shopping Mall.

Vallco Shopping Mall 5Now Architect Rafael Viñoly has unveiled a proposed $3 billion plan for Sand Hill Property Company that starts with renaming the property The Hills at Vallco. The ambitious project will transform the old shopping mall into a sustainable and walkable LEED Platinum mixed-use community and include the largest green roof in the world.

Vallco Shopping Mall Green Roof 5The new neighborhood will feature a highly walkable and bikeable downtown anchored by two town squares. Parking will be hidden away underground and a transit center may be built at the shopping center. The complex will cover 15 blocks filled with 625,000 square feet of retail, 2 million square feet of office space, and 800 residential units — including 680 market-rate apartments, 80 affordable apartments, and 40 apartments for seniors.

The Hills at Vallco will turn the current shopping mall into a downtown-style street grid anchored by two town squares surrounded by a mix of retail, office, residential and entertainment. Sand Hill plans to integrate a 30-acre community park and nature preserve into the site. Rendering courtesy Sand Hill Property Co.

The Hills at Vallco will turn the current shopping mall into a
downtown-style street grid anchored by two town squares surrounded by a mix
of retail, office, residential and entertainment. Sand Hill plans to
integrate a 30-acre community park and nature preserve into the site.
Rendering courtesy Sand Hill Property Co.

Adding to the family friendly atmosphere, the development will include plenty of restaurant and entertainment options, such as an AMC movie theater, ice rink, bowling alley, and fitness club. The town squares may be used to host farmers markets and outdoor movie nights.

Vallco Shopping Mall Green Roof 4The Hills at Vallco’s crown jewel will no doubt be its $3 million, 30 acre green roof designed by Olin Landscape Architects. It will be an unprecedented engineering feat that is “at least twice as big as anything attempted before it.” The elevated community park will include 3.8 miles of walking and jogging trails along rolling hills, orchards, vineyards, meadows, organic gardens, children’s play areas, and a sanctuary for native fauna and flora.

Vallco Shopping Mall Green Roof 6The sustainable green roof will help The Hills at Vallco achieve LEED Platinum certification by growing native, drought tolerant and climate responsive plants; reducing the building’s energy demands with natural ventilation and insulation; improving air quality; and counteracting the heat island effect. Recycled water and recaptured rainwater will be used to irrigate the park.

“There will be nothing like it when we are done,” Reed Moulds, Sand Hill’s managing director tells the Mercury News. “We believe its community focus will make this a remarkable place to live, work, dine, play, learn, and recreate.”

Approval by the City of Cupertino is pending, according to Tree Hugger.

 

Source: Green Building Elements

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Brickell City Centre Adds More Office Space

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The developer of Brickell City Centre has placed a larger bet on the office market, as it has converted a planned wellness usage into “Class A” office.

In 2014, law firm Akerman LLP signed a lease to occupy 80 percent of the 130,000-square-foot Brickell City Centre Green tower that was under construction as part of the $1.05 billion project in Miami. The rest of the space was supposed to be for wellness, but developer Swire Properties has made the 26,000 square feet available for office tenants. It also rebranded the tower Three Brickell City Centre. The project will include another office tower of the same size, Two Brickell City Centre.

“One of the two towers, Three Brickell City Centre, although designed with use flexibility, was originally designated as a wellness center, but current market conditions show demand for additional office space,” said Edward Owen, Swire Properties’ office leasing manager. “Swire decided that it was in the best interest of the market to create supply to further Brickell’s growth as a leading international business hub.”

Arquitectonica designed both buildings, which will have floor-to-ceiling glass and 10-foot high walls. Brickell City Centre will also feature a shopping center, restaurants, condos and a hotel. The office, condo and hotel parts of the project should be ready this winter.

According to Cushman & Wakefield’s second quarter report, the Class A office market in downtown Miami has a 13.3 percent vacancy rate and average asking rent of $41.81 per square foot. The last new office delivery was 2010.

CBRE reports that about 1 million square feet of office space is under construction in Miami-Dade County, with Brickell City Centre and All Aboard Florida’s Miami Central Station as the largest projects.

The Business Journal is tracking another 5.4 million square feet of office space that’s in the pipeline in South Florida, as described in a recent centerpiece.

Click here for a “Behind the Scenes” slideshow of the Brickell City Center

 

Source: SFBJ

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Supporters, Opponents Of Solar Choice Amendment Square Off Before Florida Supreme Court

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Arguing before the Supreme Court Tuesday over whether a solar power constitutional amendment should go forward, supporters of Floridians for Solar Choice and opponents backed by utility companies didn’t pull their punches.

“You can’t make voters believe that there’s a problem when you have no basis for saying that,” Barry Richard, a lawyer representing four utility companies including Duke Energy, Tampa Electric Company and Florida Power and Light, told the justices, trying to convince them that the amendment is misleading.

“Right now, you are a captive customer of your big utility company,” responded Susan Glickman, Florida director of the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, on the courthouse steps later. “That’s going to change” if the amendment passes.

The constitutional amendment at the center of the debate would allow companies to install solar panels on homes and businesses and sell that energy, without being treated as a utility by state and local regulators. It’s keying up what could become a contentious and very public battle between utility companies and amendment sponsors.

Supporters argue that it will drive down the cost of electricity and open up the market to competition for the monopoly utility companies. But utilities say it merely eliminates regulation meant to keep people safe and will put consumers at risk with limited protections.

The court’s role isn’t to weigh in on the merits of each argument, as Justice Barbara Pariente repeatedly reminded both sides during a public hearing. Rather, the justices have two questions to answer: Does the ballot language fairly show the amendment’s impact? And is it limited to just one subject?

Opponents say it fails both tests by misleading voters and changing the powers of multiple levels of government.

“The voters deserve to understand what this amendment does, and the ballot summary does not make that clear,” Florida Solicitor General Allen Winsor said.

But Bob Nabors, the lawyer for Floridians for Solar Choice, says that’s a hard argument to make. Voters will understand what they’re voting on, he said. The solar choice group also maintains that its language is focused on a single subject.

“There’s a oneness of purpose,” Glickman said. “You do not have to consider every single ramification when there’s a oneness of purpose.”

FloridaSolar4If the justices give them a green light, the amendment’s sponsors still need another 562,000 petition signatures to put the amendment language on the ballot in November 2016. Already, both sides are preparing for a hard-fought campaign.

Opponents have started a committee and constitutional amendment of their own: Consumers for Smart Solar, which aims to protect the existing rules around solar power. The Florida Chamber of Commerce — whose board of directors includes executives from five power companies — is a supporter.

Floridians for Solar Choice has collected $751,176 in contributions, nearly all of it from the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, a group that refuses to make its donor list public for fears that supporters could be harassed. They said future funding will come from other groups pending the court’s go-ahead.

 

Source: Miami Herald

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