Southern California Industrial Real Estate Blog

SOCAL INDUSTRIAL REAL ESTATE SNAPSHOT – SEPTEMBER 2010

By Jodi Summers

There’s a lot of blah blah blah as to the recovery has stagnated and how the universe is on the precipice of collapsing into itself, that’s a lot of pre-election fervor. The experts say, “Fundamentally both the economy and corporate balance sheets are in better shape than reflected in the current sentiment.”

In the industrial sector, manufacturing employers continue to add payroll for the seventh straight month, adding 36,000 positions in July. According to a recent Research Brief blog from Marcus & Millichap, an 8% year-to-date rise in imports spurred the creation of 25,000 trade, transportation and utilities positions.

Here are the CoStar Group’s latest Industrial Market Statistics

Ø 13 million SF of positive net absorption in 2Q 2010. This is the first positive reading since mid-2008.

Ø .The national vacancy rate decreased from 10.1% to 10%, the first drop in over two years. Availability also slightly decreased from 14.8% to 14.7%.

Ø Real Capital Analytics reports that single tenant industrial cap rates had a weighted average of 8.5% in 1Q 2010. 85 basis points higher than the same period last year.

Industrial Market Conditions

Ø Occupancies have leveled off.

Ø Many tenants choose not to move and instead remain in their current space and negotiate more favorable terms.

Ø Due to negative demand, development is down.

Current Industrial Trends

Ø Companies have shifted to leasing space rather than owning, preferring to invest their capital in their core products/ product development (i.e. Coca Cola).

Ø Current Buildings that have been around for decades are becoming functionally obsolescent to meet modern design specifications.

Ø Rental rates are low; demand will need to raise rents, raising cap rates, spurring new development.

Positive Indicators

Ø When demand finally turns around, industrial has a short construction cycle and can respond quickly.

Ø Building obsolesces will account for a huge increase in demand beyond the economic recovery.

Hang on, we will get through this.

We’re here to help you with industrial properties. Please contact Jodi Summers - jodi@jodisummers.com or 310.392.1211, and let us move forward together.

**

http://blog.marcusmillichap.com/

http://marcusmillichap.files.wordpress.com/2010/08/graph_lg3.png

http://www.edd.ca.gov/About_EDD/pdf/urate201010.pdf

http://www.globest.com/blogs/netleaseinsider/-301645-1.html?ET=globest:e23095:277110a:&st=email

http://www.labormarketinfo.edd.ca.gov/?pageid=1003

http://www.realestatechannel.com/industrial-market-strength-forecast.jpg

http://www.safetyresource.net/images/ggonpants.jpg

http://www.pullman-museum.org/main/prg337.jpg

THE LOS ANGELES CLEAN TECH CORRIDOR WILL MAKE L.A. THE LEADER IN GREEN TECHNOLOGY

By Jodi Summers

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and the Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA/LA) hope to transform L.A. into ‘the global capital of clean technology.” The goal is to transform the manufacturing corridor east of downtown into the center of green innovation. The mayor and his team are marketing this industrial parcel, dubbed the CleanTech Manufacturing Center, as a green business incubator, the way Silicon Valley hatched technology.

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

The CleanTech Corridor city planners envision spans 2,236 acres — about 10% railroad-owned — east of Alameda Street, and is accessible by the Metro Gold Line. It begins at a swath of land straddling the L.A. River, near Los Angeles State Historic Park (the former Cornfield), that Councilman Ed Reyes hopes to transform into a neighborhood where bicycles and pedestrians would rule and carbon emissions would be cut by 35%. Then it runs south through the site of a future Department of Water and Power research center into the Artists-in-Residence district, which stretches from Alameda to the river and from 1st Street to south of 7th Street. The vacant CleanTech Manufacturing site at Santa Fe Avenue and 15th Street, just south of the 10 Freeway, forms the corridor’s southern anchor.

“…The City is standing with the world-class academic institutions of Los Angeles and our dynamic business community to stake a claim as a global leader in the clean and green technologies that will drive the 21st century economy,” the mayor pronounced. “From R&D to manufacturing to design, this partnership taps into the creative assets and innovative spirit of our City to foster new industry and spur job growth.”

Of course, there are no local funds to make this conversion happen, so the city of Los Angeles will be calling for private investment and money from state and federal sources,

Last fall, CRA officials and the mayor’s business team began courting clean technology companies — talking up the purchasing power of the city’s public utilities, as well as the array of federal, state and city tax incentives available to business.

More than 100 companies, from solar and electric car manufacturers to a garment recycling business, expressed interest in the CleanTech site, which the city purchased from the state last April for $14 million.

“The Los Angeles Business Council believes that attracting green-tech companies will be a prime economic driver for the region,” said Los Angeles Business Council President Mary Leslie. “We were proud to launch the website CleanTechLA.org at our Sustainability Summit last year and look forward to continuing our partnership with the consortium to build a vibrant green economy in Los Angeles.”

For capitalist development, the Los Angeles Times reports that the most intensive push has been for an Italian rail manufacturer, AnsaldoBreda, which is angling for a $300-million rail car construction contract with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. If it secures the contract, AnsaldoBreda has promised to build a $70-million manufacturing plant. The contract is controversial because some MTA officials have been unhappy with the company’s performance in meeting rail car contract specifications in the past, but the company has several political insiders in town pushing this deal, said to be Los Angeles County Federation of Labor lobbyist Chris Lehane, and the green building company Shangri-LA Construction, founded by prominent Democratic contributor and Villaraigosa donor Steven Bing.

More altruistically, farther north in the corridor, a DWP research center focusing on renewable energy, climate change and water intended to attract companies that want to work with area universities.

Dubbed CleanTech Los Angeles, the city is seeking to create a research alliance (not unlike the Department of Energy’s Commercial Building Energy Alliances) involving local area educational institutions, with major roles being played by the California Institute of Technology, University of California Los Angeles and the University of Southern California, among others.

“I’ve often said that Los Angeles may have the best collection of intellectual talent of any county in the nation. I believe it’s important to invest our intellectual capital in programs that enhance the quality of life for all of our citizens” noted University of Southern California President Steven Sample. “USC is delighted to partner with our colleagues in higher education, and with our friends from the public sector and from private business, to help make Los Angeles the greenest city in America.”

“Broader recognition of Los Angeles as a global regional center of science and engineering research and clean technology development bodes well for its economic competitiveness in a rapidly changing world,” added Dr. Jean-Lou Chameau, President of the California Institute of Technology.

The cluster of laboratories would be housed in an old transformer warehouse overlooking the river on the DWP’s Main Street site, and the DWP recently secured a private donation that will allow the department to perform a $4.5-million “green retrofit” of the building.

Among the projects planned: development of aerospace technology with Caltech and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory that would help the DWP better measure snowpack in the Eastern Sierra and dust in the Owens Valley.

In the basement of the DWP building, UCLA would build a wind tunnel testing facility. Meanwhile, USC is exploring the site as a home for a research institute that would study how to make data centers more energy efficient.

“The city really provides a platform to have a lot of technologies tested,” said John X. Chen, the DWP’s executive director of customer service and water conservation. He said the city will be spending billions of dollars trying to reach the mayor’s renewable energy goals. For those reasons, he argued that when competing for grants, “We will be very, very competitive against anybody out there.”

And, you can’t have business without housing nearby. At the northern end of the corridor, the Cornfield/Arroyo Seco specific plan area spans more than 600 acres — from Los Angeles State Historic Park, across the river into Lincoln Heights. It will be one of those picture pretty pedestrian- and cyclist-centered neighborhood

The city would also place special restrictions on developers within a mile of the river, requiring open space and measures to reduce carbon emissions in the neighborhood.

FYI…The L.A. Times notes that the CleanTech corridor is a critical component of the mayor’s “green jobs” agenda as he eyes a probable run for governor in 2010. And it could be a test of his pledge to transform Los Angeles into “the greenest and cleanest big city in the nation,” drawing more than a third of its electrical power from renewable sources by 2020.

**

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-clean-tech28-2009apr28,0,669366,print.story

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/

http://www.lachamber.com/clientuploads/EWE_committee/RFI_FINAL_9_16_2008.pdf

http://www.zimbio.com/pictures/hoDaoA3nwB-/Mayor+Antonio+Villaraigosa+Votes+Election/jvGcHFcTcLF/Antonio+Villaraigosa

THE EPA WANTS TO IMPROVE YOUR BUILDING

By Jodi Summers

Southern California Edison is one of a handful of state utilities selected to partake in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s new pilot program – the Building Performance with Energy Star program. The goal of the program is similar to some of SoCal’s green building initiatives - to further improve energy efficiency in commercial buildings.

According to the EPA, energy use in commercial buildings accounts for 17 percent of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions at a cost of over $100 billion per year. Energy Star Leaders prevented the emissions of more than 220,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide and saved more than $48 million across their commercial building portfolios in 2009.

The goal of the Building Performance with Energy Star program is to help utilities and state energy-efficiency programs become Energy Star Leaders and achieve greater energy savings and reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by targeting whole building energy improvements with their business customers.

In addition to Southern California Edison, pilot program partners are Com Ed, MidAmerican, National Grid, the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities, Pacific Gas & Electric and Wisconsin Focus on Energy.

Key elements of the pilot, which follows the EPA’s Home Performance with Energy Star program, include:

* Incorporating use of the EPA’s Portfolio Manager, the agency’s online energy measurement and tracking tool, to score building performance;

* Approaching energy efficiency opportunities in the context of findings from whole building assessments; and

* Creating a robust delivery network for whole building efficiency services.

The program will allow operators of commercial properties to realize greater savings by strategically planning and implementing whole-building energy efficiency improvements. SoCal Edison and the other selected partners are expected to help business customers plan and implement energy-efficiency improvements over time, starting with low-payback measures that can create revenue to fund capital upgrades in the future.

**

http://www.environmentalleader.com/2010/05/06/epa-help-states-utilities-reap-greater-energy-savings/

http://www.greenbiz.com/news/2010/05/06/epa-powers-building-performance-new-energy-star-program

http://www.cbpca.org/

http://yosemite.epa.gov/opa/admpress.nsf/e51aa292bac25b0b85257359003d925f/23d4c522b2e723da8525771a0057a925!OpenDocument

http://media.buildingsmedia.com/images/A_0908_HalfPrice1_lg.jpg

http://www.fypower.org/news/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/1007energystar21.png

INCREASE IN IMPORTS AND EXPORTS BRINGS NEW INDUSTRIAL REAL ESTATE DEVELOPMENT

By Jodi Summers

Cargo volume at our neighboring ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach posted a 28% annual increase in the first quarter, inspiring developers to build more warehouse space in Southern California.

Developers Highland Fairview recently broke ground on an industrial hub about 72 miles east of Los Angeles. The initial phase will encompass 2.6 million square feet, most of which has been leased to Skechers USA Inc., which will be is consolidating operations from five facilities.

The project is expected to create 1,100 construction jobs and, once completed, house more than 3,000 employees, observed Iddo Benzeevi, Highland’s chief executive. “You now see a trend in the marketplace where big companies are consolidating their logistics operations,” Benzeevi said. “The diversity of industries we have here is what continues to drive the demand for this kind of space.”

**

http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2010/apr/09/industrial-property-market-recovery-seen-2011/

http://www.laalmanac.com/images/Port%20of%20Long%20Beach.JPG

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2007/07/31/automobiles/533-port.jpg

http://www.socalindustrialrealestateblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/01/PortofLAlogo.jpg

https://www.cushwake.com/cwglobal/docviewer/AmericasEconomicPulseMAY2010.pdf?id=c33600033p&repositoryKey=CoreRepository&itemDesc=document&cid=c27400005p&crep=Core&cdesc=binaryPubContent&Country=GLOBAL&Language=EN&just_logged_in=1

http://www.skechers.com/

EXPORT YOUR PRODUCT IN L.A. - PORTS SOLICITING BUSINESS TO GROW INDUSTRIAL REAL ESTATE MARKET

By Jodi Summers

Combined, the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, which together handle about 40% of the nation’s cargo container shipments, but with 71% of their business devoted to imports, Los Angeles and Long Beach were more dependent on U.S. consumer spending than any other major seaport in the nation. When the recession hit, exports diminished, and L.A. County’s valuable warehouse market became noticeably less valuable.

In 2006, when cargo traffic at the local ports peaked at a record 15.8 million containers, the industrial vacancy rate shrank to an extremely tight 3.7%, calculates Thomas Galvin, regional research analyst for Colliers International. But by the fourth quarter of 2009, when the twin ports moved only 11.8 million containers in their worst year since 2003, the basin’s industrial vacancy rate climbed to 8.3%, Galvin said.

Businesses, such as trucking firms and third-party logistics companies, that developed to support the flood of imports into Southern California, scaled way back or folded.

Competing ports such as Oakland had less exposure, with only 52.2% of its traffic coming in imports. The Oakland warehouse market is currently one of the strongest in the country.

Our local ports are trying to move away from their reliance on imports, and follow the model of ports with a more balanced flow of imports and exports. The Port of Los Angeles has been reaching out to small businesses about the potential to increase their sales by exporting their goods, shares Jim MacLellan, director of trade services.

At the port of Long Beach, “We have people traveling around the country, talking to potential exporters and asking them to bring their business here,” concludes port spokesman Art Wong.

**

http://articles.latimes.com/2010/mar/29/business/la-fi-ports-exports29-2010mar29

http://www.socalofficerealestateblog.com/wp-content/newuploads/2010/03/port-of-la.gif

http://www.icis.com/blogs/asian-chemical-connections/17650-15%257EContainer-Ship-in-Port-Los-Angeles-California-Posters.jpg

http://www.livetradingnews.com/wp-content/uploads/NA-AX063_LAPORT_G_20090413195352.jpg

SOCAL INDUSTRIAL REAL ESTATE SNAPSHOT – AUGUST 2010

By Jodi Summers

Industrial property prices are on the rise! Port-area California industrial prices stabilized early in year, and now, the U.S. industrial real estate is headed into recovery after six quarters of negative absorption.

“For owners, the warehouse sector is still working through some significant market turbulence,” the CoStar Group reported in its State of the Commercial Real Estate Industry Mid-Year 2010 Industrial Review & Outlook. “Broad-based growth in rental rates probably won’t resume until 2011, and the investment sales market remains choppy, with total transaction volume still well below the historical average. Liquidity hasn’t yet returned for owners and industrial capitalization rates and pricing, though improving, still show a mixed picture.”

In Los Angeles County, Grubb + Ellis reports that for 2^nd quarter, the vacancy rate declined slightly for the first time in five consecutive quarters to 3.3%, while quarterly net absorption was positive for the first time in over a year with 471,861 square feet. Asking rental rates continued their year-and-a-half-long decline, reaching a quarterly low of $0.45 per square foot –a rate not seen since the late 90s — inspiring sale and leasing activity to a four-year-high of 11.4 million square feet.

Our positive net absorption is on par for national industrial real estate Country-wide, records report 13 million square feet of positive net absorption in the second quarter — the first positive reading since mid-2008. This is huge, as it brings to a close to, what the experts call, “A period that has experienced far more severe and dramatic demand declines than the years of the dot-com collapse and economic recession of the early 2000s.”

Records show that in 2009, every major metro market except Houston saw negative absorption, with significant losses in Chicago, San Francisco and South Florida. Oakland and Los Angeles began to strengthen in the first quarter. The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach have been aggressively pursuing export development in Los Angeles County, strengthening our warehouse market in the process.

In Los Angeles County, the Downtown area saw its industrial vacancy rate decrease by -0.1% year-to-year, Mid-Cities increase by +1.9%, San Fernando Valley by +0.2% and the San Gabriel Valley decreasing by -0.5 percentage points over the second quarter of last year. Finally, the South Bay area industrial vacancy rate slightly increased in the second quarter when compared to the second quarter of last year.

Our port numbers are impressive. The Los Angeles Economic Development Corporation reports that the total number of containers handled in June at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach rose by +29.6 percent on a year-over-year basis to 1,250,418 TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units). Despite the recession, this was the seventh consecutive month of year-to-year increases and third consecutive month of TEU container totals above one million. Impressively, the Port of Los Angeles experienced the largest gain in trade volumes over the year, as total containers grew by +32.3 percent in June. Noteworthy economic achievement: this was the busiest June in the history of the Port of Los Angeles, even surpassing June in the peak year of 2006. The Port of Long Beach also witnessed a very strong gain in volumes as total containers were up by +25.8 percent on a year-to-year basis.

The success of our ports, is driving the regional industrial market. In second-quarter 2010 more than half of the top 20 industrial markets tracked by CoStar saw positive absorption, led by Southern California. Warehouse leasing in the Inland Empire led the country with 4.8 million square feet, followed Orange County, CA (4.5 million sf), and far ahead of the other growth areas - South Florida and Philadelphia, which each gained 2.8 million sf.

Don’t get too excited, liquidity has yet to return to the industrial market. Properties are sitting on the market far too long, and many are not being sold. Deals that are being done tend to involve creative financing and seller carrybacks.

If your investing, CoStar notes that cap rates on industrial deals of $20 million and above fell to 8%, due to demand by institutional investors who will pay more for high-quality assets. Low-profile industrial investments are yielding cap rates from 8.5% to 9%.

“Net leases or really sale leasebacks play an important role in the market and that role will continue to grow as companies turn to the real estate that they own in order to generate capital,” observes Gordon Whiting, founder and Senior Portfolio Manager of Angelo. “It is also a good time to be an investor in net leased real estate as prices are lower than they have been in many years, cap rates are up and they provide steady current income with the possibility for long term capital gains.”

We’re here to help you with industrial properties. Please contact Jodi Summers - jodi@jodisummers.com or 310.392.1211, and let us move forward together.

**

http://www.globest.com/blogs/netleaseinsider/-300881-1.html?ET=globest:e22792:277110a:&st=email

http://www.portoflosangeles.org/maritime/stats.asp,http://www.polb.com

http://www.portofoakland.com/

http://www.laedc.org/eedge/index.html#7

http://www.costar.com/News/Article.aspx?id=222199DB507C4529AEB9E4E34A07CCFB&ref=100&iid=191&cid=383F14EEE265B182474DA2442BACBBBF

http://www.realestatechannel.com/industrial-market-strength-forecast.jpg

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/.a/6a00d8341c630a53ef0120a876ad50970b-600wi

http://www.laedc.org/businessscan/charts/0710/vacancy.jpg

http://www.laedc.org/businessscan/charts/0710/vacancy_area.jpg

http://www.realestatechannel.com/commercial.php

http://www.grubb-ellis.com/SitePages/GetFileFromDB.ashx?type=9&id=672

GREEN REAL ESTATE – GOOD FOR CALIFORNIA, GOOD FOR THE COUNTRY?

By Jodi Summers

Once again, when it comes to green, what’s good for California tends to become good for the country. The US Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Energy have formed an action group to help states achieve the maximum cost-effective energy efficiency improvements possible in offices, buildings, industries and homes by 2020. Dubbed the State Energy Efficiency (SEE) Action Network, they are seeking to create a national version our statewide CALGREEN building code.

The CALGREEN Code was devised California Building Standards Commission is setting minimum green-building criterion that may, at the discretion of any local government entity, be applied.

“You will have a whole bunch of cities that never would have included this in their building doing it, and doing it in a way that won’t kill the economy,” observes Matthew Hargrove, a vice president with the California Business Properties Association. “Outside the coastal areas it will be helpful - like in West Sacramento, where they looked into creating a green building code but balked because it’s cumbersome to develop and they didn’t have the resources.”

Take the whole bunch of cities concept and spread it across a bunch of states. The DOE and EPA noted that 32 state public utility commissions requested help from the agencies last year regarding energy efficiency programs. SEE will be working with states to provide technical assistance and policy and program issues to advance energy efficiency efforts. Those state efforts may include financing solutions, residential efficiency programs and improving availability of energy usage information.

No doubt SEE’s goals will be similar to what we set forth in California. The purpose of CALGREEN’s codes is to improve public health, safety and general welfare by enhancing the design and construction of buildings through the use of building concepts that have a positive environmental impact, and by encouraging sustainable construction practices in the following categories:

• Planning and design

• Energy efficiency

• Water efficiency and conservation

• Material conservation and resource efficiency

• Environmental air quality

As California did with CALGREEN, now SEE and other DOE programs will help states develop strategies and action plans to improve the energy efficiency of existing building and reduce costs and emissions.

One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.

**

http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2257243/agencies-action-buildings

http://www.socalmultiunitrealestateblog.com/?p=673

http://www.socalgreenrealestateblog.com/?p=764

http://www.hydrogenthusiast.com/uploaded_images/doe-786712-787007.gif

http://www.inhabitat.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/calgreen-ed01.jpg

http://www.socalofficerealestateblog.com/wp-content/newuploads/2009/08/calgreen_code_page_01.jpg

GLOBAL USE OF GREEN BUILDING PRODUCTS SKYROCKETING

GLOBAL USE OF GREEN BUILDING PRODUCTS SKYROCKETING

By Jodi Summers

Keep studying those lists of top rated green building products, because global purchasing of green building products will grow to $571 billion by 2013. This growth is more than tenfold from the $455.3 billion spent on green materials in 2008, notes the study by Allied Business Intelligence Research.

“Innovation, particularly in wood and insulation, is a key driver behind the growth of green building products,” observes Larry Fisher, research director of ABI Research’s next generation practice.

“The most significant driver of growth in the green building materials sector is concern for the environment. While environmental preservation has been a topic of discussion for decades, only recently has the level of concern for the environment driven governments, manufacturers and consumers to respond.”

The study notes that businessmen and builders will look toward products with greater energy efficiency produced in an environmentally-friendly manner. Preferred lumber and wood products will come from well-managed forests.

Now if we can only figure out an efficient way to make drinkable ocean water.

**

http://www.purchasing.com/article/439362-Buying_of_green_building_products_to_increase.php

http://www.mossgreenchildrensbooks.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/iStock_000001111800Small-2.jpg

20% OF CITIES HAVE PASSED GREEN POLICIES

20% OF CITIES HAVE PASSED GREEN POLICIES

Edited by Jodi Summers

Here’s a note of real estate optimism in dismal economic times - according to a recent survey by the American Institute of Architects (AIA), more than one in five U.S. cities with populations greater than 50,000 report having a policy to promote green buildings.

The AIA report, titled Green Building Policy in a Changing Economic Environment, is an inventory of legislation intended to help policymakers advance a more sustainable legislative agenda for growth and development.

The report contains detailed case studies of the green building programs in Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Boston, Nashville, and Grand Rapids, Mich.

“It is encouraging that cities are recognizing the economic benefits of energy-efficient buildings, and equally encouraging that the number of programs across the country are increasing despite such difficult economic conditions,” said AIA Executive Vice President / CEO, Christine McEntee. “Our ultimate goal is to achieve carbon neutrality in buildings by 2030 and that all design projects will be sustainable as a matter of course.”

Highlights from the report:

* 138 cities have green building programs, compared with 92 cities in 2007 – an increase of 50 percent

* 24 of the 25 most populated metropolitan regions in the United States are built around cities with a green building policy

* The Western region has the most green building programs with 56 cities in just six states

* The Mountain region is second in the percentage of cities with green building programs, with 24 percent of residents living in those cities

* The Eastern region has seen a 75 percent rise in green building programs since 2007

* The central region has 21 cities with green building programs

The report goes on to make recommendations McEntee added, “The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is helping to move sustainability efforts forward, with programs such as the Energy Efficient and Conservation Block Grant that are providing an unprecedented opportunity for the advancement of green building efforts nationwide. The inclusion of strong green building provisions in energy and climate legislation before Congress shows that our message about the importance of sustainable design is getting through.”

There are also a series of recommendations for steps a municipality could take to green their city. The AIA initially conducted this survey in 2007 for a Local Leaders in Sustainability report that has just been updated. It accounts for more than 53 million people.

**

http://www.aia.org/walkthewalk

http://www.mclib.org/colorentrance.jpg

http://www.aia.org/press/AIAB081674

http://urbandesignalliance.files.wordpress.com/2009/03/aia150_logo.jpg

http://www.archicentral.com/wp-content/images/lakeside.jpg

THE GOVERNMENT HAS $72 BILLION FOR GREEN REAL ESTATE

By Jodi Summers

Experts have calculated that the Obama administration has put together more than 30 programs worth $72 billion that can be used to increase energy efficiency in commercial buildings and multifamily housing.

“The Obama Administration has tremendous, untapped opportunities to use legal tools already at its disposal to enhance the energy efficiency and sustainability of the nation’s multifamily and commercial buildings — all without seeking new funds or authority from Congress,” observes a report prepared by Van Ness Feldman. “All told, the programs identified in this report have the potential to directly provide or facilitate over $72 billion in funding or loan guarantees, and can leverage hundreds of billions of dollars in private investment through instruments such as mortgage insurance and regulation of the real estate lending market.”

Titled “Using Executive Authority to Achieve Greener Buildings: A Guide for Policymakers to Enhance Sustainability and Efficiency in Multifamily Housing and Commercial Buildings,” the legal analysis, suggests several ways the Obama administration can use existing programs to enhance building efficiency:

* Reforming appraisal and underwriting practices at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Greening federal banking regulations

* Promoting flexible FHA insurance products

* Integrating energy efficiency and sustainability criteria into competitive grants and funding formulas

* Strengthening minimum property standards for federal housing and economic development programs to reflect energy efficiency and sustainability standards

* Improving performance standards applicable to federal buildings and leases

* Refining guidance applicable to the energy efficient commercial buildings tax deduction and the national historic preservation tax credit

* Using SBA funding mechanisms to support small business energy efficiency investments

* Streamlining Title 17 loan guarantees to make them suitable for buildings

“As an early adopter of green buildings and the LEED green building certification system, the federal government has been a leader in bringing green buildings to cities and towns across America,” said Roger Platt, the USGBC’s senior vice president of Global Policy & Law declared. “This new report unveils an even larger opportunity for the Obama Administration to increase our nation’s energy efficiency, while creating thousands of jobs and saving taxpayers money.”

**

http://www.usgbc.org/government

http://www.greenbiz.com/news/2010/04/30/obama-already-has-72b-tap-green-buildings-study-says

http://www.boulderindependentbusiness.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/namaste_obama_0093.jpg

http://www.rechargenews.com/multimedia/archive/00032/obama_solar_3_32125a.jpg