The Yudelson Associates Blog: What's New
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Can Green Building Help Lifestyle Centers Succeed?
With so many major retailers building green (Kohl’s, Office Depot, Home Depot, Best Buy, Coldwater Creek, to name a few), wouldn’t it make sense for shopping center developers of these large lifestyle centers to build to LEED standards and offer prospective tenants the prospect of an easier certification, by supplying 8 to 10 “LEED points” for retailers? Just yesterday, I was in on a project meeting for a national retail chain that is specifically aiming at a green building certification for a new store located in such a “green” shopping center. The interest is clearly in marrying the two concepts: green retail and green development. Wouldn’t it make sense for developers to use this market slowdown as an opportunity to explore green building concepts and the value of using those as marketing tools for major tenants?
Posted by Jerry on 07/17/2008 at 12:54 PM
This entry has been viewed 118 times.
Corporate Sustainability / Green Business Practices •
(0)
Comments •
Permalink
Enjoy this post? Share it with others.
del.icio.us
Digg
Facebook
TwitThis
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Jones Lang LaSalle acquires Green Globes developer; strategic move or desperation?
According to the story in the CoStar Green Report, Green Globes for Existing Buildings was adopted in 2004 by the Building Owners and Managers Association of Canada (BOMA Canada) and renamed “Go Green Plus.” JLL plays the acquisition of Green Globes as a way to quickly assess its real estate portfolio in sustainability terms and then to determine whether to pursue LEED certification for individual properties. JLL also talks about linking Green Globes to the ENERGY STAR rating system. However, if one really wants to benchmark sustainable operations, and particularly to consider other issues than just energy use, there is no better tool than LEED. I don’t think that the marketplace is going to see this as a credible move, particularly large corporate real estate departments who are seeking green office space. What I do think the acquisition demonstrates is that green building operations are the next frontier in the green building movement. This is seen also in the rapid growth of LEED for Existing Buildings (LEED-EB) registrations in 2007 and 2008. From a 2006 year-end total of 244 project registrations, by the end of May 2008, LEED-EB projects underway numbered 1,277, a fivefold increase in less than 18 months! As part of this growth, CBRE has itself submitted more than 200 LEED-EB project registrations, according to company sources.
Posted by Jerry on 07/13/2008 at 07:46 AM
This entry has been viewed 156 times.
Corporate Sustainability / Green Business Practices •
(0)
Comments •
Permalink
Enjoy this post? Share it with others.
del.icio.us
Digg
Facebook
TwitThis
Friday, July 11, 2008
Will green building and green products be retailers’ salvation?
The Journal article points out that Home Depot, Wal-Mart Stores, Best Buy, CVS Caremark and Walgreen are taking various steps to appeal to cash strapped consumers, such as remodeling their stores, spending more on store maintenance and investing more in customer service (what a concept!). Overlooked in the article is that each of these outfits is also taking a long look at using LEED certification and/or green product selections to stand out also. For example, Home Depot has LEED-certified a store in Calgary, Alberta, and also green-certified more than 1,500 items for their “Eco Options” program. Best Buy is promising to LEED certify all new stores. CVS is looking at LEED certifying one of their prototype stores in California, according to industry rumors. Wal-Mart just introduced a nearly 50% less-energy-using store prototype for the western U.S. Who will be next? Stay tuned!
Posted by Jerry on 07/11/2008 at 01:50 PM
This entry has been viewed 122 times.
Corporate Sustainability / Green Business Practices •
(0)
Comments •
Permalink
Enjoy this post? Share it with others.
del.icio.us
Digg
Facebook
TwitThis
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Green Building Grows Up, Raises Mainstream Design and Construction Issues
A story in the online edition of McGraw-Hill’s Engineering News-Record outlines some of the risks and unintended liability issues of what advocates might think of as “conventional” green design, such as green roofs, operable windows, daylighting and cork (rapidly renewable materials) flooring. The bottom line: don’t “guarantee” anything, including any specific level of LEED certification and certainly don’t warrant that certification will be done by any specific time. Products and systems might not be available or might not be of the quality required, etc. At a project meeting held today, to consider “going green” for a new shopping center, similar issues were raised with respect to the developer’s marketing claims that the project will achieve a LEED certification. It was interesting to me that the developer’s lawyer was in the project meeting, undoubtedly wanting to get informed about the LEED aspect and to make sure we weren’t putting anything in the tenant’s leases that we couldn’t live up to after the project was completed. A similar report appeared recently in Constructor magazine, subtitled “Green construction can expose project teams to unreasonable expectations and a new set of risks.” The first task then of many green building projects will be to understand and manage these risks, on behalf of the entire project team, as well as the building owner or developer.
Posted by Jerry on 07/10/2008 at 07:59 PM
This entry has been viewed 114 times.
Green Building News •
(0)
Comments •
Permalink
Enjoy this post? Share it with others.
del.icio.us
Digg
Facebook
TwitThis
