TO LIVE AND BUY IN THE CITIES – URBAN DEVELOPMENT IS A NATIONAL REAL ESTATE TREND

By Jodi Summers

The Environmental Protection Agency has confirmed that the inner city is making a comeback.

The EPA analyzed residential building permit trends in the nation’s 50 largest metro regions from 1990 to 2007, offers quantitative evidence that city neighborhoods are growing in popularity.

“We’ve had anecdotal evidence for a while about successful infill projects, but we were curious to see how they fit into the big picture,” notes John Thomas, an EPA policy analyst and author of the report. “The big question was whether those examples added up to a fundamental shift in the geography of residential construction.”

Think of the development of the downtown L.A. loft district and consider that in Los Angeles, the number of housing permits issued for city lots jumped from 19% to 37% during the 18-year study period. More impressively (or because of less space) inner city redevelopment now accounts for more than half of residential new construction in New York, up from just 15% in the early 1990s. In Chicago, urban core redevelopment now accounts for 40% of all residential building permits in the region, up from 7% in the early 1990s.

In total, more than half of the markets in the study saw a dramatic shift away from exurban greenfield development and an uptick in urban core redevelopment over an 18-year period. In 15 of those markets, the central city more than doubled its share of housing permits, with the most accelerated spikes occurring in the past five years…

Among the cities posting notable downtown growth are Miami, Atlanta, Seattle, San Diego, Denver, Portland, Ore., Sacramento, and Milwaukee.

The study attributes these trends in reverse migration to continue to baby boomers and echo boomers – who are driving housing preferences. Additional factors weighing heavily on the shape and location of housing include increased immigration, smaller households, concerns over energy usage and climate change, and downsized consumer expectations in the wake of the current recession.

“…What you’re seeing now is the result of pent-up demand for mixed-use, urban housing near jobs, and transit. The market pendulum is swinging from drivable suburbanism to walkable urbanism,” observes Ed McMahon, a specialist on sustainable development at the Urban Land Institute.

The trend may be far more expansive than the EPA study, which is limited to new construction and does not include housing created through the rehabilitation or adaptive reuse of existing structures.

“There are deep expectations among Americans that this volatility [in fuel prices] will continue,” shares David Goldberg, communications director for Smart Growth America. “Combine that with an aging population and a drop in household size, and all signs point to a desire for more convenient locations with transportation options.”

http://www.builderonline.com/infill-development/housing-migrates-back-to-cities.aspx?cid=BLDR090319002

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http://blogs.venturacountystar.com/motorhead/epa.jpg

http://www.uoregonlaw.com/s/293/images/editor/PortlandOregon.jpg

http://www.neosmartgrowth.org/

THE GREENEST BUILDING IS THE ONE THAT’S ALREADY BUILT

By Jodi Summers

We love this website http://www.thegreenestbuilding.org/. The Greenest Building website is based on the premise of “the Greenest Building is the One Already Built,” and they have the calculators to support that claim.

The goal is to get developers to rehab existing buildings as opposed to tearing them down and building new structures.

For example, the embodied energy calculator will figure out the total energy spent in the production of a building, from the manufacture of materials to their delivery to construction.

The demolition energy calculator is to calculate the amount of energy “needed to raze, load, and haul away construction materials.”

Convert energy to gasoline, figure out BTU usage…http://www.thegreenestbuilding.org/ is fascinating.

Port of Oakland Inks Terminal Operator to Long-Term Lease

by Jodi Summers

The Port of Oakland, CA has signed a terminal operator to a 50-year lease. The agreement with Ports America Group of Iselin, NJ, is expected to bring up to $2.5 billion of investment activity to the area and boost the port’s business, which declined 15 percent last year. Ports America Group, which is replacing A.P. Moller, is paying a $60 million up-front fee and annual rent that starts at $19.5 million but can escalate each year.

Get the whole story @ http://www.loopnet.com/xnet/mainsite/news/news.aspx?DocID=6763&sourcecode=1lntd009

http://www.chamoismoon.com/Images/Oakland/Port-of-Oakland-005.jpg

INDUSTRIAL BUILDING REVENUES ARE DOWN, BUT NOT AS DOWN AS OFFICE BUILDINGS

By Jodi Summers

We all know the market is slow. Loans are hard to come by. Commercial foreclosures are becoming a trend…but industrial properties are in far better shape than other parts of the market.

According to the recent reports by Moody’s/REAL National All Property Type Aggregate Index, overall, selling prices for retail properties are off 13% from the October ’07 peak. Apartment and industrial prices remained flat during the quarter, although Western apartment prices gained by 2.7%. Sales volume for the market overall shows that both total dollar value and number of sales are down about 75% to 80% lower than the volume seen at this time last year.

http://www.globest.com/news/1421_1421/newyork/178955-1.html?type=pf

PHOTOS OF THE WORLD’S TALLEST BUILDING

Burj Dubai, the tallest building in the world (2,620 ft.)

The workers on the top girders can see the earth’s rotation.

COMMERCIAL LOANS SHOULD BE EASIER TO COME BY

PERHAPS COMMERCIAL LOANS WILL BE EASIER TO COME BY

The Federal Reserve authorized longer- term loans for investors buying securities backed by commercial mortgages in a $1 trillion emergency credit program, taking a step the industry said was needed to avert defaults.

Beginning in June, the Fed will offer five-year loans at higher interest rates than the three-year loans previously approved for the Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility, the central bank in a statement from Washington. The Fed will also accept securities backed by loans designed to help small businesses buy insurance.

Get all the details @

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601068&sid=asH8tMd6ss4c

FIGURE OUT HOW TO MAKE BUILDINGS NET ZERO BY 2025

FIGURE OUT HOW TO MAKE BUILDINGS NET ZERO BY 2025

By Jodi Summers

The DOE has taken a number of steps to encourage energy efficiency in the design of new buildings. EnergyPlus is an energy modeling tool, which is augmented by OpenStudio, a plug-in for the Google SketchUp 3-D drawing program that allows SketchUp to work seamlessly with the EnergyPlus program.

Both are available on the EnergyPlus page of DOE’s Building Technologies Program Web site.

http://apps1.eere.energy.gov/buildings/energyplus/

That site also features a selection of benchmark models for 16 types of building in 16 locations to help designers understand the energy use of similar new buildings- http://www1.eere.energy.gov/buildings/commercial_initiative/new_construction.html

EnergyPlus models heating, cooling, lighting, ventilating, and other energy flows as well as water in buildings. EnergyPlus includes many innovative simulation capabilities such as time steps of less than an hour, modular systems and plant integrated with heat balance-based zone simulation, multizone air flow, thermal comfort, water use, natural ventilation, and photovoltaic systems.

FORMER LOS ANGELES INDUSTRIAL BROWNFIELD BEING TURNED INTO L.A. CLEANTECH CORRIDOR

By Jodi Summers

First Los Angeles was known for its weather. Then we became known for our traffic. Our next claim to fame will be Los Angeles’ emergence as a model for sustainable industrial development in North America.

“We will make clean tech as synonymous with LA as motion pictures,” noted Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said. “We will make LA the capital of green technology … and transform the city into a laboratory for green development.”

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Los Angeles’ great green project, the CleanTech Corridor is a 20-acre Center site at Santa Fe Avenue and 15th Street is located within the greater Los Angeles Downtown area. The site is a prime industrial-zoned parcel uniquely positioned to provide jobs for those living in nearby loft and residential developments or for those commuting via local and regional public transit.

City Says

City boasts that the Los Angeles CleanTech Corridor offers an aggregation of clean technology and green-focused companies near the Los Angeles River. The firms sought for the Center include both established firms and emerging companies engaged in the assembly, manufacture or development of products in clean energy generation, sustainable building materials and furnishings, clean water technology, reduced emissions vehicle technology, manufactured products using recycled or organic materials and similar CleanTech initiatives.

Incentives for moving your green business to Los Angeles, according to the city include, “Support and advantages not otherwise available at other development sites. Tenants will have access to a wide variety of city, state and federal financial incentives. The site is located within the Central Industrial Redevelopment Project Area, the Eastside State Enterprise Zone and the Los Angeles Federal Empowerment Zone. Incentives include City Department of Water and Power energy programs and rebates, significant employment and investment tax credits, permit expediting assistance, workforce recruitment and training and other programs. In addition, occupants may qualify for favorable ground-lease terms, New Market Tax credits, infrastructure grants and low interest CRA/LA loans.”

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Advantages for locating in Los Angeles

• A growing pool of high-tech, skilled workers engaged in technology jobs within Los Angeles County – numbering nearly 226,000 – the fourth largest source of jobs in the County

• The largest manufacturing employment base in the country with 470,000 jobs

• The largest number of Ph.Ds granted in any region of the country

• World-class research facilities at UCLA, USC and the California Institute of Technology, with a combined 42 Nobel Laureates and opportunities for collaboration in technology development

• Four of the nation’s top ten engineering firms

City-offered incentives include

• The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power’s $5 billion projected investment in achieving 20 percent of customers’ power from renewable sources by 2010 and 35% by 2030

• The Port of Los Angeles’ $15 million Technology Advancement Program as part of the 2006 Clean Air Action Plan targeted at investing in clean technology related to improving air quality and meeting clean energy goals

• $46 million set aside by The Los Angeles City Employees’ Retirement System (LACERS) funds in 2005 for CleanTech investments over a ten-year period

If you’re interested, let us know. It will be great to have you here.

For more information visit www.CleantechLA.org.

http://www.ioe.ucla.edu/news/article.asp?parentid=3347

http://www.today.ucla.edu/portal/ut/la-to-become-the-capital-of-green-88893.aspx

http://cleantechlosangeles.org/

CHINA’S INDUSTRIAL PROPERTY MARKETS ARE ABOUT TO EXPLODE!

CHINA’S INDUSTRIAL PROPERTY MARKETS ARE ABOUT TO EXPLODE!

By Jodi Summers

China’s secondary and tertiary markets are beginning to play a greater and greater role in the country’s real estate market, and analysts are speculating that China’s property market could quadruple in size by 2020.

The information comes courtesy of a report from at Jones Lang LaSalle titled China40: The Rising Urban Stars report.

“China’s Tier II and Tier III cities are dynamic centers of economic development and continued growth,” says Michael Klibaner, head of research Shanghai. “Massive infrastructure investment makes these markets increasingly accessible at a time when interest in China has shifted from being export oriented towards a focus on the domestic market.”

Analyzed in the report were the 40 top Tier II and Tier III cities which will be a strong future investment value. Each city was further analyzed for it real estate strengths. For industrial logistics Logistics Chengdu, Qingdao and Zhengzhou ranked high. For office, Tianjon, Chongqing and Nanjong made the list; in retail Changsha, Wuhan and Wenzhou.

“The future evolution of China’s cities and their real estate markets will be driven by a rich combination of factors that are strongly influenced by government policy,” the report states. These policies focus on urbanization, with plans in place to see the city population explode to 850 million people by 2020. “The government’s ideal end vision of the urbanization process is a country wide network of environmentally sensitive cities each with their own unique competitive advantages and strong trading connections.”

JLL lists Dalian, Chengdu, Hangzhou, Shenyang, Wuhan, Tianjin, Nanjing and Chongqing as having the greatest potential to become robust business hubs.

“We are confident that more business park hotspots will emerge as experienced developers and investors penetrate further into China’s Tier II and Tier III cities,” says Tammy Tank, head of business parks in China. “Although investors are currently adopting a cautious approach due to the limited amount of international standard space on the market and the opaque business environment, they are universally confident about growth prospects over the next decade.”

Info courtesy of

http://www.globest.com/news/1366_1366/asia/177432-1.html

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http://www.virtourist.com/asia/china/chengdu/imatges/01.jpg 

10 Unhappiest American Cities

 10 Unhappiest American Cities
by Jodi Summers
Oh, be glad we live in a part of the country where the weather is delightful. Hard to be depressed on a beautiful day. As a recent BusinessWeek.com report reveals, no sun, no jobs and lots of foreclosures are the recipe for unhappy citizens. Statistics show higher levels of suicide, clinical depression, divorce and violent crime.

In the name of analysis, BusinessWeek.com ranked 50 of the largest metros based on their misery and depression levels. The depression scoring is based on insurance reporting. The rest of the rankings come from the National Assembly of County & City Health Officials, FBI crime reports, the U.S. Weather Bureau and the U.S. Census.

Most of these cities had these problems before the economy headed south – and current economic woes certainly can’t be helping.

Here are the top 10 most depressed cities as per Businessweek.com No place in California is on the list:

1. Portland, Ore.

2. St. Louis

3. New Orleans

4. Detroit

5. Cleveland, Ohio

6. Jacksonville, Fla.

7. Las Vegas

8. Nashville, Tenn.

9. Cincinnati, Ohio

10. Atlanta

Source: BusinessWeek.com, Prashant Gopal (02/26/2009)