Friday, October 20, 2006
Leaving Las Vegas
Just spent a great evening and morning talking to the Las Vegas chapter of the National Association of Industrial and Office Properties (NAIOP). NAIOP published my book, Developing Green: Strategies for Success (available at NAIOP Bookstore. At a breakfast meeting attended by over 100 developers and development industry participants, I was on a panel that discussed green development in Las Vegas. One large office building in downtown Las Vegas, with 10 floors of offices above six floors of parking, scheduled for occupancy in August 2007, by the Molasky Group of Companies, is aiming at LEED Gold certification. The Las Vegas City Center project, the world’s largest private construction project at $7 billion and 17+ million sq.ft., is aiming to have all buildings achieve LEED Silver certification by 2009. (It appears there’s more green happening in Las Vegas Valley than just trying to make the folding kind.) Check in with the Southern Nevada chapter of the US Green Building Council, at www.usgbclv.org. My host, Pamela Vilkin of Tradewinds Construction, co-owner of a large, local commercial plumbing contractor, supplies the dynamic energy for both the USGBC chapter and the sustainable development committee of the local NAIOP chapter.
GOING TO KANSAS CITY
Was in KC on October 16th to speak with the local chapter of NAIOP. Green building is beginning to happen in that area, but slowly. Had a long discussion at the meeting with a key player in design at Wal-Mart. His presence at the meeting indicated to me that everyone should keep an eye on our biggest retailer as it reshuffles itself into a greener and more obviously socially responsible organization.
MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS
I went to St. Louis on October 17th to speak to that city’s NAIOP chapter at the historic Racquet Club. Missouri has about 40 LEED registered projects right now, and is just starting up the learning curve for green buildings. On the way in from the airport, we drove by the Alberici Corp.’s LEED Platinum headquarters, a striking building renovation topped by photovoltaic panels and showcasing a large wind turbine, probably in excess of 100 KW, alongside the building. Seeing this display reminded me that we all need to figure out how to make green buildings more “educational” to the public at large. Solar panels on the roof facing the road and wind turbines alongside a busy freeway are good ways to do that.
Posted by Jerry Yudelson on 10/20/2006 at 05:09 PM
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