Jodi Summers = Industrial Real Estate

10 WAYS TO MAKE YOUR FACILITY MORE ENERGY EFFICIENT

Edited by Jodi Summers

We all need to live greener. Here are some innovative, inexpensive approaches to greening your real estate:

1. Start with a clean slate. Instead of reducing consumption, start with nothing and justify how much energy you actually need. Do you need to install a high-efficiency air conditioner or are you able to retrofit the building so effectively that it doesn’t need air conditioning? Limbo, limbo, limbo how low can you go should your approach to building energy performance.

2. Mind the Gaps. Air infiltration grows with time. Check the weather-stripping at doors and windows and seal those cracks. Don’t know where to start? Get a building energy audit (through your utility) with infrared imaging to show exactly where the heat is escaping. You will be surprised at what you see.

3. Simple task, big saving. Install light switches with built-in occupancy and/or daylight sensors in every room. Buy task lamps so employees have spot lighting as needed. Create a lighting landscape; you’ll realize you probably need only half the level of ambient lighting you’re using. And if your HVAC system isn’t programmed, that is a 21st century must-have for homes and commercial buildings.

4. Retro Fits. Retro-commissioning applies a quality assurance process “retroactively” – to an existing building. It consists of investigating how and why a building’s systems are operated and maintained and identifying ways to improve overall

building performance.

5. Community Green. Support energy efficiency financing programs in your community, and chamber of commerce. New programs may include third-party businesses paying for efficiency upgrades through your property taxes (PACE) and “on bill” through your utility. Properties greened through these programs produce predictable, replicable and relatively low-risk value in energy efficiency.

6. Golden State. California is the Golden State, clear up the window clutter and let the sun shine in. Perhaps a little selective demolition to open up the work areas, improves the space plan, and let the sun shine in. An easy fix > a fresh coat of light-colored paint and replace those depressing yellowed ceiling panels. Watch your employees get more enthusiastic about coming to work.

7. Film your windows. Window films have transformed in the past decade. Gone are the tinted sun shades. New retrofit films are practically clear and achieve nearly 50% heat rejection – both inside and outside, depending on the season. Combine this with sealing and retrofitting your windows for exceptional performance.

8. Ducts + seals. We’re not talking wildlife here. Recent studies indicate that leaking ductwork is one of the primary construction defects in both commercial and residential buildings, with common repercussions resulting in 10-25% leakage in commercial buildings and ridiculously more in homes. Do yourself a fever and check existing ductwork for leakage. A number of terrific elastomeric products are available for addressing this.

9. Made in the shade. Add awnings, trees, green roofs. In Southern California we need to do what we can to cool our buildings. Indirect lighting is much more effective than the sun streaming through your afternoon energy.

10. Congratulate yourself. Human behavior has a huge impact on energy efficiency. Studies suggest people influence building energy consumption between 12-17%. Create a green team, install a real-time energy and water consumption display, monitor every aspect of the building’s performance and reward facilities staff for great management.

Bravo.

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http://www.greenbiz.com/blog/2011/12/28/10-ways-boost-your-buildings-energy-efficiency-2012

http://www.cee1.org/cee/mtg/6-06_ppt/peci.pdf

http://www.tahinpekmez.org/uploads/images/tasslehoff/REM/Green.JPG

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2009/01/23/article-1126102-02E23100000005DC-492_468x311.jpg

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SOCAL INDUSTRIAL REAL ESTATE SNAPSHOT – MAY 2012 > BABY STEPS

by Jodi Summers

Baby steps…the Los Angeles Industrial real estate market is taking baby steps forward. We have now registered two quarters of positive net absorption and vacancy levels are falling …yet analytics note that Los Angeles is showing stability rather than improvement. Industrial sales are holding steady at a weak pace, while leasing activity is down slightly…but having said that we are in our 2^nd quarter of positive net absorption (162 million sq. ft.).

Nationwide, the Inland Empire continues to be the most impressive industrial market in the country, capturing nearly 40 percent of all U.S. industrial absorption.  Strong demand drove vacancy rates to around 7% around the region. This may lead to the first real signs of rental growth and speculative development. Congratulations! This has lead the return of “forwards” or “pre-commits” in the Inland Empire, where institutions began buying vacant warehouses, betting on future rent growth and leasing risk.

Los Angeles County is ranked as the number-one manufacturing center in the United States, with close to 930 million square feet of rentable industrial building area, and in 2012, our manufacturing sectors are on the rise. Aerospace and miscellaneous transportation equipment manufacturing increased by 6.2% in the first quarter of 2012 > up more than 25% in the first two months of 2012 compared to the same period last year. Elevated demand for aerospace products and parts is coming from from China, South Korea, Japan, and United Arab Emirates is yielding a surge in U.S. exports of these goods.

Port activity is on the rise as well. The combined ports were able to reach TEUs above one million again after nearly two years of lesser levels. Port of Long Beach total containers increased by 11.9% in March compared to last year. At the Port of Los Angeles, total containers were up by 8.3% on a year-to-year basis.

Other Los Angeles area manufacturing gains include apparel and leather manufacturing which increased by 10.8% in the first quarter of 2012. Textile production is up by 11.9% in the same period, after a moderate 4.9% increase the fourth quarter of 2011.    Chemical manufacturing increased by 7.6% in the first quarter of 2012, compared to a 0.7% increase in the previous quarter.    Computers and electronic products manufacturing increased by 8.7% in the first quarter of 2012, after a 0.5% increase the previous quarter.

Another part of the warehousing and distribution story has been the growing importance of e-commerce, with businesses such as Amazon.com emerging as an important part of U.S. industrial demand. E-commerce firms have leased multiple facilities across multiple markets riding high on the double-digit growth of online sales. Average vacancy rates in U.S. industrial markets have dipped below the 10% mark, and more than three quarters of the nation’s largest industrial real estate markets have recorded positive absorption results. With economic uncertainty looming, leasing activity in the latter part of the year cooled, but on the whole, 2011 has marked a step in the right direction for the industrial leasing landscape.

We’re here to help you with your commercial and investment property needs. Please contact Jodi Summers and the SoCal Investment Real Estate Group @ Sotheby’s International Realty – jodi@jodisummers.com or 310.392.1211, and let us move forward together.

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http://nreionline.com/property/retail/early_phase_real_estate_recovery_04092012/

http://www.areadevelopment.com/EconomicsGovernmentPolicy/January2012/industrial-real-estate-2012-outlook-565522.shtml

http://www.us.am.joneslanglasalle.com/ResearchLevel1/LA_Industrial_Highlight_1Q12.pdf

http://event.on24.com/r.htm?e=443435&s=1&k=1572C80375186FCAFC112B9E4CE2DA61

http://laedc.org/eedge/index.html#2

http://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/g17/current/g17.pdf

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/ppi.pdf

http://www.costar.com/News/Article/Dont-Look-Now-but-Investor-Interest-Reviving-In-Warehouses/136850?ref=/News/Article/Dont-Look-Now-but-Investor-Interest-Reviving-In-Warehouses/136850&src=rss

http://urbanland.uli.org/Articles/2012/Jan/MalcolmLA

http://www.loopnet.com/Los-Angeles_California_Market-Trends

http://mikelong.hubpages.com/hub/The-Global-Affects-of-the-ShippingLogistics-Revolution

http://www.aaenvironment.com/LongBeachPort.htm

http://laedc.org/eedge/index.html#3

http://laedc.org/eedge/index.html#5

http://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/g17/current/g17.pdf

http://www.boeing.com/

http://www.airbus.com

http://www.socalindustrialrealestateblog.com/?p=1251

NEW GREEN GOLD @ LAX

by Jodi Summers

Los Angeles International Airport has the world’s first LEED Gold Aircraft Rescue and Fire Fighting facility. The Gold certification recognizes the project’s efforts at maximizing operational efficiency while minimizing negative environmental impacts.

Also known as LAFD Station 80 at Los Angeles International Airport, the building has incorporated a slew of green features, which yield energy cost cuts of 35% per year. Green upgrades include low-flow plumbing systems which reduce annual water usage by 39%. Water savings have further been achieved via utilizing more than 2,000 gallons of reused water for dust control in place of potable water.

The facility has installed a high-performance heating, ventilation and air conditioning unit which resets temperatures to optimum efficiency while maintaining the comfort level of the building occupants. Presence of occupancy-sensor controlled lighting fixtures contributes to the sustainability factor by reducing energy consumption.

The building has made extensive use of low VOC paints, adhesives, and sealants in the interior to upgrade indoor air quality. Other eco-friendly features include use of 20% of reclaimed materials during construction, and recycling or salvaging over 99% of construction debris.

All of these green elements have given LAX’s Aircraft Rescue and Fire Fighting facility LEED Gold certification from the US Green Building Council. It is the second building at LAX to incorporate LEED standards and receive LEED certification. The first building to incorporate LEED standards was the $737-million renovation of the Tom Bradley International Terminal – the first-ever for a renovation project at a U.S. airport. It received LEED Silver certification.

Los Angeles World Airports Executive Director Gina Marie Lindsey said, “The LEED Gold certification reflects our commitment to contribute to Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s vision of making Los Angeles the cleanest big city in America, and is in keeping with a sustainable ‘green’ building policy adopted by our Board of Airport Commissioners that commits us to incorporate LEED standards in all our future construction projects.”

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http://www.worldinteriordesignnetwork.com/news/los_angeles_airports_aircraft_rescue_and_fire_fighting_facility_wins_leed_gold_111122/

http://www.santamonicapropertyblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/lax-airport-industrials.jpg

http://westcoast911.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/LargeLAFDSeal.jpg

http://lafd.blogspot.com/2011/11/lax-aircraft-rescue-and-fire-fighting.html

http://www.air-and-space.com/Calendar%20previews/2012%20calendar%20cover%20CAL%20FIRE%20l.jpg

http://www.aviationfirejournal.com/images/act3.jpg

GREEN METAL . THE BETTER BUILDINGS CHALLENGE > WITHOUT CONGRESS’ MEDDLE

By Jodi Summers

The brilliant part of  The U.S. Department of Energy’s Better Buildings Challenge, is that it was been achieved through strategic partnership and does not require the approval of the Republican Congress.

The Better Buildings Challenge was announced by President Barack Obama and former President Bill Clinton in December “Upgrading the energy efficiency of America’s buildings is one of the fastest, easiest, and cheapest ways to save money, cut down on harmful pollution, and create good jobs right now,” observed President Obama. “But we can’t wait for Congress to act.  I’m directing all federal agencies to make at least $2 billion worth of energy efficiency upgrades over the next 2 years – at no up-front cost to the taxpayer.  Coupled with today’s extraordinary private sector commitments of $2 billion to upgrade businesses, factories, and military housing, America is taking another big step towards the competitive, clean energy economy it will take to win the future.”

FYI…The energy to operate commercial buildings costs about $200 billion every year. And on average, 30% of this energy is wasted. The goal of the Better Buildings Challenge is to engage building operators nationwide in improving energy efficiency by 20% by 2020.

The White House says that more than 60 organizations have secured:

1.6 Billion Square Feet Committed

$2 Billion in Financing through Allies

+300 Manufacturing Facilities

The $4 billion challenge is the latest move the Obama administration has made as part of its “We Can’t Wait” campaign to bypass a deadlocked Congress and spur job creation, even as the President pushes lawmakers to pass a $447 billion jobs bill.

We’re proud to say that Los Angeles is one of an elite group of communities, companies, universities and organizations working to improve their bottom line by saving energy.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and the City of Los Angeles have launched the Los Angeles Commercial Building Performance Partnership to support development and financing of comprehensive energy efficiency and water efficiency upgrades in commercial buildings.

Los Angeles expects approximately 30 million square feet of commercial property to be audited, using $3.2 million in Recovery Act funds with the goal of driving at least $25 million in total investment during their partnership in the Better Buildings Challenge.

The initiative is part of the California Energy Commission’s Energy Upgrade California program, a statewide effort to roll out a network of utility-incentive packages, pilot innovative financing approaches.

Since June 2011 LA County has imitated energy audits for more than 25 million square feet of commercial space — from small neighborhood retailers to downtown skyscrapers. Additionally we are developing a directory of capital providers to facilitate access to project funding options.

“Investments in building retrofits and energy efficiency can make a real difference in the American economy, by creating jobs, growing our industries, improving businesses’ bottom lines, reducing our energy bills and consumption, and preserving our planet for future generations,” concludes President Clinton. “I am proud so many members of the Clinton Global Initiative have joined this Challenge. Working together, I am pleased the commitments to the BBC have grown from the initial $500 million and 300 million square feet that we announced in June at CGI America, to the $2 billion investment with over 1 billion square feet of retrofitted space.”

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http://www4.eere.energy.gov/challenge/partners/better-buildings/los-angeles

http://www.thestreet.com/story/11329795/1/supervalu174-announces-partnership-with-the-8220better-buildings-challenge8221-at-white-house-event-with-president.html

http://www4.eere.energy.gov/challenge/

http://www1.eere.energy.gov/buildings/news_detail.html?news_id=17889

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2011/12/02/we-cant-wait-president-obama-announces-nearly-4-billion-investment-energ

http://pre.cloudfront.goodinc.com/posts/full_1292011993clinton-obama.jpg

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/14/obama-and-clinton-have-lunch-in-the-village/

http://www.myabc50.com/media/lib/21/6/4/b/64bf9b6e-f936-4ec1-acb6-0375c25a5142/Story.jpg

SOCAL INDUSTRIAL REAL ESTATE SNAPSHOT – APRIL 2012 > THEY SAY WE’VE GOT IT GOOD

by Jodi Summers

Demand from logistics companies should always keep Los Angeles industrial real estate strong. The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach make up the third-largest port complex in the world, and SoCal is a significant distribution center.  Between port and airport warehousing, as well as the Alameda Corridor intermodal freight-rail expressway connecting the ports to the transcontinental railroads just east of L.A.’s downtown, logistics is outpacing aerospace and other manufacturing as one of the leading occupiers of industrial property.

So many good things are being said, and yet industrial asking prices are scuttling along the bottom. If you look at Metro Los Angeles asking prices, they are currently @ a very affordable $131.67, down -0.9% from three months prior, and down -5.7% from the same time last year. County prices averaged $131.31 down -4.7% from the year previous. According to Loopnet.com, asking prices for industrial properties have fallen to a new three-year low.

And here’s why now’s the time. If you look @ Industrial Property Sale Prices for Metro L.A., the median sale price per square foot has fallen 0.2% in the past two months. Compared to last quarter, industrial properties have seen a 0.1% decline, to $108.50, for its average sale price per square foot…this is an immediate current value as sale prices have seen a 3.7% increase for the previous 12 months. The highest median sale price over the past three years was $147.50, which was set in March 2009. In comparison, the current median sale price is down by 26.4% – 4.3% above the lowest price of the past three years, which was set in January 2011.

Los Angeles County is ranked as the number-one manufacturing center in the United States, according to a recent report from the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation Kyser Center for Economic Research. Our region now boasts almost 930 million square feet of rentable industrial building area. If our prices are low, can you imagine how the rest of the country is doing?

Rents in Metro L.A. are currently showing an average asking lease rate was $8.68 per square foot annually. This shows a drop of 1.1% year-over-year and a decline of 0.2% from the end of the fourth quarter of 2011. Lease rates for industrial properties hit a three-year peak in January 2008 at $10.85 per square foot. The current median asking lease rate is 5.3% lower.

Nationwide, industrial production has gained 4.0% since February 2011. This should lead to an uptick in prices in second quarter.

We’re here to help you with your commercial and investment property needs. Please contact Jodi Summers and the SoCal Investment Real Estate Group @ Sotheby’s International Realty – jodi@jodisummers.com or 310.392.1211, and let us move forward together.

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http://urbanland.uli.org/Articles/2012/Jan/MalcolmLA

http://laedc.org/eedge/index.html#2

http://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/g17/current/g17.pdf

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/ppi.pdf

http://www.costar.com/News/Article/Dont-Look-Now-but-Investor-Interest-Reviving-In-Warehouses/136850?ref=/News/Article/Dont-Look-Now-but-Investor-Interest-Reviving-In-Warehouses/136850&src=rss

http://urbanland.uli.org/Articles/2012/Jan/MalcolmLA

http://www.loopnet.com/Los-Angeles_California_Market-Trends

http://www.socalindustrialrealestateblog.com/?p=1193

http://mikelong.hubpages.com/hub/The-Global-Affects-of-the-ShippingLogistics-Revolution

http://www.aaenvironment.com/LongBeachPort.htm

SAVE MONEY + CUT COSTS WITH YOUR FREE BUILDING PERFORMANCE TRACKING HANDBOOK

by Jodi Summers

Cut the expenses on your commercial property with this great gift  > “The Building Performance Tracking Handbook.” If your business seeks to improve the energy and system operation of their buildings > building performance tracking is the first step. Using these tools, operating costs will fall, asset values will grow, and market differentiation improve.

“The Building Performance Tracking Handbook” was developed by the California Commissioning Collaborative with funding from the state’s Energy Commission and can be applied to commercial buildings throughout the country. It allows operators to understand how their buildings are running and improve standard operating procedures and energy usage for a building.

“The Building Performance Handbook” outlines the steps needed to continually manage building performance, demystifies the complex array of building performance tracking tools available, and provides guidance on selecting the most appropriate tracking strategy.

There are four elements to performance tracking:

• Collect data and track the performance of the HVAC and lighting systems, plus energy use data.

• Identify performance problems.

• Diagnose problems and identify solutions.

• Fix problems and verify results.

To help facility managers build a business case, the handbook identifies a range of benefits from performance tracking, including enhanced occupant satisfaction, reduced energy costs and increased property values.

Building Owners, managers, and engineers will find this handbook valuable, whether they are just embarking on a formal performance tracking approach, or are looking to take their existing strategies to the next level.

The Handbook, endorsed by BOMA California’s Energy Committee, is the outcome of research funded by the California Energy Commission, under a project managed by the non-profit California Commissioning Collaborative. The handbook was written by PECI, a non-profit organization devoted to energy efficiency.

Download a copy of the manual @ http://cacx.org/PIER/documents/bpt-handbook.pdf.

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http://www.greenbiz.com/blog/2011/11/14/green-building-owners-get-help-tracking-performance

http://www.facilitiesnet.com/buildingautomation/tip/Free-Handbook-Can-Help-With-Tracking-Improving-Building-Performance–22799

http://www.cacx.org/PIER/handbook.html