Remaking The Commercial Real Estate Office

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In this office, there are no cubicles, no lavish corner suites for executives and very few filing cabinets.

Employees hustle about, plugging in laptops and hooking into phone lines at any desk that’s convenient. A giant video screen overlooks a cafe where employees can conduct business in an informal setting, grab a bite or maybe catch an inning or two of the San Francisco Giants game.

This could be the headquarters of Google, Facebook or maybe Apple. But it’s not. It’s the 24th floor of 500 Capitol Mall, where the Sacramento office of commercial real estate services firm CBRE is test-driving an emerging concept in workplace design. Can a modern, perk-laden, almost-paper-free office be better for business? Los Angeles-based CBRE Group Inc., which has more than 40,000 employees and 300 offices worldwide, thinks so.

The transformation of its Sacramento office is part of a global CBRE initiative, known as “Workplace360”. It was implemented last year in Los Angeles and earlier this month in Orlando, Fla. The Sacramento office makeover is the fifth CBRE transition in the United States; more than two dozen CBRE offices worldwide are converting to the model in 2014. It’s intended to save space, promote collaboration, offer more flexibility, trim costs and even help attract the next generation of younger employees.

It’s also part of a trend in workplace design, commonly referred to as “untethered” or “free address” office space. With the advent of mobile technology, some companies are abandoning traditional office cubicles, in favor of shared or communal workspace. In a 2008 survey of 950 companies, about 60 percent said they had some kind of “unassigned workspace,” according to the International Facility Management Association, a trade group of facility managers.

For the local CBRE office, the recent move represents a major shift, physically and philosophically. In its first Sacramento office relocation in more than 40 years, the company only moved across the street but entered into a completely new way of operating. At its former offices, at 555 Capitol Mall, CBRE was spread out over three floors, with most employees working in traditional cubicles. High stacks of paper and rows of filing cabinets were the norm.

At its new address, all operations are on one floor, encompassing about 17,500 square feet. Mountains of paper have been all but banished. Each employee was allowed to bring one filing cabinet to the new office, which meant purging, scanning and recycling old files. With no assigned desks, CBRE’s Sacramento employees – about 100 in all – can plug in anywhere. Each has a company-issued laptop with Wi-Fi access to printers and digital files, as well as a virtual private network that lets them securely connect to their office documents from anywhere in the world. According to the company, ahead of the move, employees purged 500,000 paper documents, many of which are now accessed digitally by “key word” searches from their laptops.

Each desk is fully equipped with pens, highlighters, notepads, even a bottle of hand sanitizer. When employees leave at night, every desktop is “100 percent clear,” except for a phone, computer mouse, blue-tooth headsets and dual computer monitors. That “clean desk” policy applies to everyone, from top executives to junior staffers. David Brennan, senior managing director of CBRE Sacramento, said the everything-on-one-floor concept alone “was huge for us. It encourages a more collaborative environment.” Additionally, the firm’s new offices serve as a “real-world example” for corporate clients, who often seek advice on incorporating new workplace technologies, he noted.

“Workplace360” was launched after CBRE officials did extensive research on office designs that would foster mobility and flexibility, but also consolidate workspace to encourage more teamwork, as well as reduce square footage requirements. CBRE officials believe there’s a payoff in collaboration among the company’s many commercial real estate divisions, which range from financing and property management to a unit that specializes in auto dealership transactions.

Research showed that its brokers and staff typically spent about 50 percent of their time working with others and the other half working alone. Employees are encouraged to work in “neighborhoods” of colleagues doing similar tasks. There are seven “huddle rooms,” where small teams can meet for conferencing and video presentations. There are also single-person “focus rooms” when privacy is a must.

It can be an adjustment for longtime employees used to sitting at the same desk every day, perhaps surrounded by personal photos and mementos. “There was some anxiety at first,” said Chris Schempp, who oversaw hundreds of details as director of CBRE’s in-house project team during the 15-month planning and moving process. “But as things started coming together, you could tell that more (employees) were buying into the concept.”

Each employee has a personal, locked filing cabinet, which some use to keep family photos that they prop up on whatever desk they’re using that day. There also are banks of lockers for storing laptops, briefcases or other personal items and a coatroom where suits and ties can be stashed for client meetings.

Amy DeAngelis, the CBRE Sacramento senior vice president who brokered the deal for the 24th floor space and the 11-year lease in the office building owned by Tsakopoulos Investments, said care was taken to make sure CBRE workers could utilize space efficiently, “which affects the bottom line financially.” The elimination of nearly 1,320 square feet of filing cabinet space alone will yield an estimated $453,000 savings in storage costs, during the lease term.

The new office design also takes into account employee health and wellness. Desktops, which have an antimicrobial coating to prevent retention of germs, can be height adjusted at the touch of a button. Stand-up work stations give employees the option of taking a break from their self-adjusting ergonomic chairs. Strategically placed treadmill “walk stations” enable employees to burn off nervous energy without bothering others. Subtle white noise fills the office, muffling what could otherwise be an annoying cacophony of dozens of brokers talking to clients on phones. The building also has a fitness gym and bike-to-work lockers and showers.

Perhaps the most eye-popping perk is the cafe area’s video screen that can, with Google Earth technology, zoom in on virtually any spot on the globe. Brennan said the ability to scope out every angle of a commercial real estate site – remotely – saves enormous amounts of time and money. “Think of all it would take to make a trip to, say, Chico, and do all that work on the ground,” he said. “Here, we can get a detailed look at any property and its surroundings in minutes.”

CBRE is pursuing “green building” certification for its 24th-floor office, under the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design rating system, which requires meeting stringent environmental standards in construction and operation, including reduced water use and renewable energy sources.

The “Workplace360” model also is designed to attract the next generation of employees – particularly young, tech-savvy workers who are likely to be drawn to offices similar to those of high-powered, Bay Area tech companies. “If you have the resources to remake your office setting, it’s a good way to go,” said Peter Schaub, a New York-based marketing and branding expert. “Talented millennials who have the skills to be in demand aren’t necessarily thinking like their parents. Pay and benefits still count of course, but they put high emphasis on the look and feel of a workplace. “It could make the difference between landing talent, or not,” said Schaub. “If you have a recruit say, ‘Wow, I get to work in a place that looks this cool,’ you’ve probably got them hooked.”

The company doesn’t divulge what it spent on all of its new office technologies, but considers it a long-term investment. “It was not so much a cost-saving initiative but an investment in our employees and the workplace of the future,” said CBRE consultant Matt Fritsch. Now, when he visits the company’s traditional offices in Roseville and Stockton, those office environments seem so “foreign,” he said. “For employees who enjoy a clutter-free environment, this is a beautiful place to be.”

 

Source: The Sacramento Bee

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As Baby Boomers Leave, Property Management Goes Green

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Approximately 10,000 baby boomers turn 65 every day.

That staggering fact is not lost on the world of commercial real estate, and many in the property management field in particular are working to deal with the waves of coming retirements.

And, as the younger generation of property managers take over, many experts say they will continue to carry the flag of sustainability and push property management to be even greener than it is now. “It’s not that the new generation will save our bacon,” says Marc Intermaggio, executive vice president of BOMA San Francisco, noting that property management has come a long way in sustainability goals. “But there is a broader level of consensus among the younger folks simply because these environmental issues have been elevated more for them, than during the 1950s and 1960s.”

BOMA San Francisco has been partnering with San Francisco State University’s College of Business to develop curriculum that allows students to get a certificate in commercial real estate by taking four specially designed classes. The first four students graduated from that program this winter. “We’re trying to take this to the rest of the California state university system,” says Intermaggio. “This is going to help students be more job-ready, to have even more training, to have a greater familiarity with the issues.”

Industry analyst CEL & Associates Inc. estimates that there could be an annual shortage of 15,000 to 25,000 qualified real estate professionals—in all fields— nationwide, says Christopher Lee, president of the group. Property managers are a profession that is also constantly in demand, Lee says. In a boom, more managers are needed to meet demand of new construction; in a downturn, managers are still needed to keep existing buildings going—and to ensure they operate at peak efficiency to save crucial capital.

Lee says it is difficult to predict when real estate professionals will be leaving because many are staying on longer due to the recession. Property management is also a field that allows people to work into their later years, unlike more physically taxing jobs, he says. “Many people are holding back on retirement because of economic uncertainty,” says Lee. “But once they leave, they will leave at a quick pace and my concern is that there is a lack of people in the pipeline to take their place.”

Individual companies are also working to ensure that the younger generation is ready to take the reins—and that they will continue to maintain sustainability programs. CBRE Group Inc. has put 15,000 employees through BOMA’s Energy Efficiency Program. It has 500 LEED AP (Accredited Professionals) employees in all fields. Cushman Wakefield has 71 LEED AP professionals and 100 LEED GA (Green Associate)-certified employees, mostly in property management. Over the next two years, the company plans to train 80 managers through the Urban Green Council’s GPRO courses.

 

 

Source: National Real Estate Investor

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Smart Buildings Are Getting Smarter, More User-Friendly

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Advances in building and information technologies have brought a new “big data” analytics-based approach to facilities management—one that ushers in a new era of operational control, reliability and productivity for businesses and workers. Smart buildings can increase employee comfort, engagement and productivity, according to Jones Lang LaSalle’s latest report, The Changing Face of Smart Buildings: The Op-Ex Advantage.

Technological advances have finally converged with long-existing and significant opportunities for improving energy efficiency and the user experience within buildings. We are seeing tenant satisfaction improve while building operating costs are reduced, especially when tenants are actively engaged with controlling energy usage.

The Big Data generated by smart building systems is a major force shaping the human experience within buildings. Building data analytics provides unprecedented insight into energy use and facilities operations.

Today’s computer-controlled “smart” building systems can be programmed to accommodate the needs of building occupants. Lighting and temperature, for instance, can automatically adjust during peak and off-peak occupancy periods. Smart building technologies can be used to provide a more customized and energy-efficient experience for building users—think, better temperature, lighting or security control for offices, and more reliable power for manufacturing facilities.

In addition, these automated systems generate reams of data that a smart building management service can transmit to a remote data center for analysis by facilities professionals. Using predictive analytics, facilities managers can anticipate and address user needs and requests related to heating, ventilation, lighting, way-finding, security and more.

Affordable new technologies driving smart building progress

Recent significant price reductions in cloud computing-based building management technologies have made these systems affordable. For example, wireless sensors used in smart building managed services are now available for less than $10 per unit. These sensors can transmit data from smart systems in hundreds of buildings to far-flung remote cloud-computing platforms where advanced analytics can turn data into actionable intelligence to improve building performance.

Building occupants’ growing expectations

Smart buildings can boost tenant satisfaction and productivity, according to The Changing Face of Smart Buildings. Along with next-generation buildings comes a new generation of building occupants, with new workplace preferences and expectations for their work facilities. Companies increasingly rely on mobile workers, and smart buildings are able to adapt more readily to new flexible workplace models. Clean, green, efficient buildings are gaining a marketing advantage for landlords.

The trend for employees to connect from anywhere, or to bring their own devices to custom-fitted work settings, will profoundly change the way building owners lease space. Demand for more network sophistication that can adapt to changing work patterns will play to the advantage of smart building owners.

Smart buildings also can help companies use sustainability as a hook for engaging employees. In a major Empire State Building energy retrofit, for example, the project team added smart building components to the landmark office property. Real-time energy displays enable Empire State Building tenants to better monitor and control their energy consumption, and even compete with other tenants in the building to achieve energy savings.

Looking ahead is Fraunhofer CSE’s Building Technology Showcase in Boston that houses Fraunhofer’s building science research facilities, designed to consume half the energy of a comparable structure. In the lobby, an iPad-driven display shows the building’s internal smart building technology at work, with digital read-outs showing real-time energy gains in lighting, cooling and heating, water use and energy generation. It’s a simple but powerful idea that potentially could be applied in every smart building lobby.

Jones Lang LaSalle’s report, The Changing Face of Smart Buildings: The Op-Ex Advantage, provides a comprehensive, state-of-the-market view on smart buildings, providing the first multi-dimensional business case for smart technology investment. The full report can be downloaded here: http://bit.ly/HvhSx6

 

 

Source: NREI

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Survey: Nation’s Mayors To Increase Investment In Energy Efficiency

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U.S. mayors are expecting to significantly increase investment in energy technologies over the next five years, according to a new survey of nearly 300 cities.

The survey, Energy Efficiency and Technologies in America’s Cities, indicates that mayors plan to make energy-efficient lighting technology, LEDs as the primary example, a top priority over the next two years.  LED and energy-efficient lighting was also overwhelmingly rated as the “most promising” technology for reducing city energy use and carbon emissions, according to 82% respondents.

In addition to lighting, retrofitting public buildings also ranked as a top priority in improving the energy efficiency of city infrastructure. Significantly, mayors expect to use their own local resources, followed by partnerships with the private sector, as the sources of financing these technologies. And in terms of the actual deployment of new technologies, survey findings reveal that more than seven in ten mayors believe their local utilities are now their city’s most important partner in doing so.

The full list of technologies that are receiving top priority are:

  1. LED/energy-efficient lighting: 29%
  2. Solar PV systems: 19%
  3. Building retrofits: 18%
  4. Renewable energy: 8%
  5. CNG fueling: 7%
  6. EV charging stations/hybrid vehicles: 5%
  7. Low-energy buildings: 4%
  8. Smart grid: 3%

Of note, survey results also indicate that because of recent weather events and associated power outages, three in four cities have developed plans to keep vital city services operating during sustained outages, and within three years, nearly 90% of all cities surveyed expect to have such plans in place.

The survey was conducted by the United States Conference of Mayors in conjunction with Philips. The full report can be found at usmayors.org.

 

Source:  Buildings

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Incandescent Bulb Phase-Out Myths Debunked

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The New Year brought big changes to the lighting industry.

The final step of the Energy Independence and Security Act took effect January 1, 2014, which means that incandescent 40- and 60-watt bulbs can no longer be manufactured. According to Osram Sylvania’s Socket Survey, only four out of ten Americans are aware of these changes.

Facility managers have dealt with light bulb phase-outs before with the 100-watt in 2012 and the 75-watt in 2013.
See tips for dealing with lighting phase outs.

According to Lowe’s, here are five things you need to know about the change:

1. You Can Keep Your Current Bulbs
According to the legislation, consumers can still use their existing incandescent light bulbs and retailers are allowed to sell bulbs they have on their shelves and in stock. Manufacturers are simply required to stop producing non-compliant products. Some specialty types of incandescent light bulbs, such as reflectors, three-way, appliance, and some decorative bulbs, are exceptions to the law and can still be manufactured.

2. You Won’t Notice A Major Difference
Halogen light bulbs are a popular pick by interior designers because of their crisp, white light and welcoming ambiance. For customers who love the look and feel of incandescent light bulbs, there is no need to worry. Manufacturers have developed halogen light bulbs that both meet the new efficiency standards and offer the characteristics of traditional bulbs. While these bulbs may cost more up front, they pay off in the long run by saving 28% in energy costs over the life of the product.

3. You Won’t Replace Your Bulb Until Your Baby Graduates From College
It’s a great time to upgrade to LED light bulbs as prices have steadily decreased while performance and appearance have improved. According to Lowe’s manufacturers, an average LED bulb will last more than 22 years (based on three hours of usage per day), and over its lifetime will cost about $30 to operate, whereas an incandescent bulb will cost $165 over the same period of time. Lowe’s carries a wide variety of LED bulbs for almost every household application with prices starting under $10.

4. These Aren’t The CFLs Of Years Past
CFLs, one of the most popular replacements for incandescent bulbs, have changed dramatically with recent technological improvements. Manufacturers have addressed common customer feedback so that these bulbs now create better light output and turn on faster when you flip a switch. Once considered a safety concern because of mercury content, today’s CFLs contain less mercury than a common household thermometer.

5. There’s A Full Light Spectrum For Different Applications
Light bulbs are available in a variety of color temperatures and should be selected based on application and personal preference.

 

Source: Buildings.com

 

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Retail Sector Welcomes ICSC’s New Property Efficiency Scorecard

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For the first time, shopping centers have an individualized way to benchmark energy use.

Thanks to the new Property Efficiency Scorecard recently launched at the ICSC’s Retail Green conference, property owners can input data online on energy use, water consumption, recycling and waste and overall green operating practices.  Enter data from one center or all of the centers in a portfolio and compare it with others in a portfolio or to centers with similar characteristics.

Eventually, the goal is for the Scorecard to have ranking similar to an Energy Star 0 to 100 rating, says Will Teichman, director of sustainability for Kimco Realty, one of the partners that helped craft the tool. For now, in each category, property owners can receive a score that is similar to the energy-use intensity (EUI) score, which measures kilowatt use per sq. ft. per year. The program will offer basic suggestions on how to save energy, based on the benchmarking results, but the real work comes after benchmarking. “What it does is give you insight that allows you to dig deeper,” says Teichman, who adds that he expects all of Kimco’s retail properties to be benchmarking with the program by January.

Benchmarking is important because property owners can’t start saving money on energy unless they know how much they are using, he explains; however, benchmarking also has tangible benefits that extend well beyond energy efficiency. “Although some argue this may correlate to higher rents over the long term, we view it as more of a competitiveness issue,” says Teichman. “Sustainability is an expectation of leading retailers and the implementation of these measures lowers one of our tenants’ largest occupancy costs.”

Sustainability is also becoming an increasingly important priority to investors, Teichman says. “Particularly with large institutional shareholders—they are requesting greater transparency into the sustainability performance of real estate portfolios, and view sustainability as an opportunity to improve property performance and mitigate risks,” he says. “Growth in disclosure forums such as the Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark (GRESB) is a leading indicator of investor interest in sustainability.”

The information on each center is not public, so property owners need to know how their buildings stack up against centers in similar geographic areas, says Rudolph E. Milian, ICSC’s senior staff vice president for professional development services. Enrollment begins in January. “We definitely want to have at least 1,000 properties in the system in 2014, and I think we can exceed that,” Milian says. Payment is based on the number of properties benchmarked: one to 10 properties costs $400 per property annually, and 51 to 100 centers costs $255 per property per year. The fee for benchmarking more than 101 properties is a flat $30,000 fee annually.

Joyce Mihalik, vice president of energy services for Forest City Enterprises, is another one of the Scorecard’s early adopters and creators. About 75 percent of Forest City’s retail portfolio is already entered into the Scorecard system. She says her company has an internal benchmarking tool used for its properties, and she expects to use the ICSC Scorecard in a similar way. “We use it as a prioritization tool, for budget and forecasting purposes, where to do upgrades and interventions,” Mihalik says. “This is the way we know that here is a property where we have to go back and spend the day with the property manager to see what is really happening out there. “Are they really a poor performer? Or was the system on over-ride for three months because that tenant needed extra hours?” she says. “The data is only half the story. Then you have to do the homework.”

It is crucial for the shopping center sector to have its own benchmarking metric because that property type is so different from the rest of the commercial real estate sector, Mihalik says. While Energy Star and Portfolio Manager are widely known and well regarded, she adds, they don’t take into account the unique nature of the shopping center market. Although Mihalik says Energy Star has an important place, she notes that one of the frequent criticisms of the Portfolio Manager program in the fact that the data used for comparing commercial properties is from 2003. “This Scorecard is going to allow you to compare yourself to a live dataset,” she says. Energy Star has come under criticism from the multifamily sector for not having a rating designed for the quirks of that sector, and a score targeted for multifamily is expected in 2014. No other commercial real estate sector has created its own benchmarking system like the ICSC Scorecard.

The Scorecard also allows users to upload data only once and then to export it into other formats, such as Portfolio Manager or GRESB, in order to meet local laws or requests from tenants or investors. “I don’t want to have to key in my data a hundred times in different places,” Mihalik says. “I’d rather have our energy-efficiency team being sent out to do an energy audit or develop sustainable policy.” Mihalik says she doesn’t see ICSC’s Scorecard as being “in competition with other reporting standards.” Instead, she says she appreciates it as “an added feature and an added tool.”

 

Source: National Real Estate Investor

 

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Where Facilities Managers Begin To Save Energy

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Everyone wants to save energy; everyone feels the pressure to reduce costs and improve the bottom line of their business in a lousy economic climate.

Energy Savings Companies (ESCOs) come in two varieties, guaranteed savings or non-guaranteed savings. So where does the facilities manager start? The answer: get an energy study done.

Common Sense
First and foremost, be honest about the goal of your energy savings program. Whomever you hire needs the facts so they can get down to serious work and be successful. You owe them your honesty to give the energy savings program a chance of working out to your company’s benefit.

Before the Study
Utility Bills: This is like the EKG for your building. Compile the bills and understand them. Know the patterns so you understand how much energy your building is using during the day, the night and season to season. Make a spreadsheet, trend the data and study it.

Metering: This is the calorie counter of your building. The biggest loads should be metered. You cannot save where you do not measure. ESCO’s of all stripes will implement metering strategies early on, so get this done to be in charge of baseline data and save money.

Equipment: Make a detailed list of every piece of energy consuming equipment in the building with all of its pertinent data. This quest to save energy can quickly move from merely saving money to asking yourself why you are behind on maintenance, since well-maintained equipment uses less energy. Get ROI quotes now.

Lighting: Knowing how everyone circulates through the building at every hour will help you to understand lighting needs within your facility. Carefully scheduling lighting patterns can far out-pace the payback period of a re-lamping project. Get quotes with pay-back periods for controls and re-lamping to compare.

Building Envelope: Invest in an infrared camera or have an IR scan done by a professional to know where the heat is going in your building. An IR scan may show an area that has been vexing you for years. Execute a plan to plug the holes, and do it now.

Controls Strategies: Make sure your building works well. This is the place where the ROI is typically the most attractive for energy projects.

Now you’ve got a list of things you can control, all you need is time and money. So, let’s look at what is really working against you (apart from time and budget crunches) in all of this.

Human Behavior
The occupants in your building are people. People have habits, both good and bad. It is nearly impossible to change these habits, especially when it comes to their work environment. All day employees give their sweat and effort, so they demand comfort. To better provide this comfort, ESCO’s need your common sense and understanding of the building and its occupants to truly weigh the validity of the Energy Savings Measures (ESM’s) they propose.

Handling energy in buildings is one of the biggest issues facing facilities managers, and most aim to become better stewards of the planet’s resources. No matter how old or what type of building you manage, there is something more you can do to make the energy spending go down. However, obtaining the money to implement it and the sheer will (and consensus) to make the changes are the biggest impediments to any challenge, that and the human behavior thing.

 

Source:  Facilities Magazine

 

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Why Smart Building Tech Is A No-Brainer For Property Owners And Investors

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Facing pressure to manage costs, risks and energy consumption, commercial building owners and investors are exploring how smart building technologies can help a company’s triple bottom line—people, planet, profits.

Five key trends are making smart buildings a “no-brainer” for commercial property owners and investors, according to Jones Lang LaSalle’s latest report, The Changing Face of Smart Buildings: The Op-Ex Advantage. “Commercial and public property owners are looking to smart building technology to boost operational efficiency, achieve energy savings, improve capital planning and reduce their carbon footprints,” says Dan Probst, JLL’s chairman of Energy and Sustainability Services. “These advantages, combined with tenant preferences for smart building features, provide a competitive edge for owners and investors.”

Five Reasons For Smart Building Investment

The report, which details the landscape for smart building technology, identifies five major trends:

1. Rapid Return On Investment
Smart building technology investments typically pay for themselves within one or two years by delivering energy savings and other operational efficiencies. Also driving the fast payback is the low cost of automated building technology, which has fallen as adaptation has increased. For example, intelligent lighting components that cost $120 four years ago today sell for just $50. Procter & Gamble’s building management pilot program, for example, generated a positive return on investment in just three months.

2. Operating-Expense Advantage
Relative to other energy-related building upgrades, smart building technology requires little upfront capital expenditure (cap-ex), while delivering significantly reduced operational expenditures (op-ex). Using automated systems, smart buildings generally cost less to operate  than buildings operating solely on legacy systems, therefore offering a long-term op-ex advantage. By combining smart building systems and data analytics with facilities management, a smart building management system can detect and resolve building issues before equipment failures and capital expenditures ensue. Additionally, operational and energy savings begin shortly after the smart building management system is implemented.

3. Marketing Mileage
As reported in JLL’s October 2012 “Global Sustainability Perspective,” numerous studies and surveys have demonstrated that tenants and their advisors increasingly expect smart building features such as zoned HVAC, sophisticated equipment maintenance alert systems, advanced security systems and “green” buildings. Like a new lobby or elevator bank, an improvement in sustainability makes an office building more desirable to tenants. These benefits can justify collecting higher rent and can increase competitive advantage and occupancy rates. And when the building is sold, sustainable investments can be recouped in an increased sales price. In fact, a 2011 study by Eichholtz, Kok and Quigley indicated the premium for LEED-certified or ENERGY STAR-labeled buildings is approximately 13%.

4. Energy Savings
Smart building technology can generate energy savings of 8% to 15% annually almost immediately after deployment, with the potential for incremental improvements over time. A 2012 report by the Rockefeller Foundation and Deutsche Bank Group’s DB Climate Change Advisors estimates that $289 billion in building efficiency investment would produce savings in excess of $1 trillion in the US alone, with every dollar invested in energy efficiency producing three dollars of operational savings.

5. Improved Corporate Social Responsibility Profile
Redirecting energy spend to building efficiency has allowed some corporate decision-makers to gain the reputational advantages of doing the right thing by the environment while also gaining significant performance and productivity improvements. Another benefit is a smart building system’s ability to measure and report greenhouse gas emissions. Some owners feed building emissions data to multiple benchmarking organizations, such as Greenprint and GRESB, as well as to Ceres and similar third-party reporting organizations, and smart systems can roll up the information from across a portfolio.

 

Source: GlobeSt

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New Idea: Third Party Solar Financing For Commercial Properties

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The most recent initiative makes it a goal for the costs of solar to continue their trend downward to meet those of conventionally generated electricity by the end of this decade.

This comes with the announcement by the White House reinvigorating solar energy through the Department of Energy’s SunShot initiative.  These goals don’t only come from government offices.  Laboratories too are leading the way. Technological advances are helping along the trend, as silicon may be able to be replaced as the main ingredient in solar panel construction.  A recent discovery that a light-absorbing material known for a century may work in solar panels and dramatically increase their efficiency has the industry talking.  Thanks to the combined developments, the cost per watt of solar-generated electricity may fall to the 10-20 cents per watt range where fossil fuel-generated electricity resides.

All that said, the opportunity for commercial space users to take advantage of these new technologies and for commercial landlords to convert their properties into energy-producing ones remains mired in the financial barriers and customs of an industry that views (and pays for) property improvements for multi-tenant buildings in very specific ways.  To answer the question of how the costs and benefits of solar improvements are apportioned usually needs to begin with how such improvements are paid for.

One California company says they have used real estate legal forms to address this problem. Working with a leading law firm, EPR Squared, a real estate firm specializes in cracking the tough problem of opening commercial rooftops to solar.  In solar improvement,  as with most other features of commercial property usage, the all-important capital source is the third party financier.  But the territory is new and forms and deals have little precedent to work with.  Establishing revenue flows on a tenant or space subdivision basis to cover construction costs and to apportion energy-generation benefit requires a new kind of real estate deal. EPR Squared says they’ve constructed such a boilerplate.

According to real estate research firm data cited by Energy Producing Retail Realty, Inc. Founder/CEO, Chris Pawlik, 90 percent to 95 percent of commercial building rooftops remain essentially beyond the reach of third-party financing, “When you have a commercial building with multiple tenants,” Pawlik said, third parties “can’t technically finance those unless the owner takes it on, and commercial owners won’t do that.”

Third-party financiers, he explained, “can get an agreement signed or financing in place because they have the credit of the off-taker that takes care of the risk.” With a twenty-year commitment, third-party financiers have certainty that their loan will repaid. But, Pawlik said, “owners typically own properties five to seven years and tenants are typically in properties five to ten years. You can’t have a ten- to twenty-year agreement in situations like that.”

EPR Squared’s idea is to create a real estate interest on the property and have it be a separate interest from the improvements and from the land. It is similar to agreements with property owners for cell tower and billboards, though, Pawlik stressed, the solar legal structure is not identical. DLA Piper, which Pawlik called “the gold-standard, top-tier law firm” for commercial real estate, “has finalized the form documents we need to take to the owners to show them how this structure would work.”

EPR2 has “a dozen or so deals in the pipeline with groups that have either portfolios of properties or single properties,” Pawlik said. The first deal, he explained, must be one that demonstrates to the 60,000 California real estate brokers, agents and mortgaging agents that “this is almost identical to a real estate transaction.” When they see commissions in it for themselves, he said, “we can really scale the idea and bring it to a size at which pension funds and insurance companies will start looking at it.”

 

Source: Commercial Source

 

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