Articles & Interviews
Welcome to our library of success stories in the office real estate market. Here you will find in-depth case studies, profiles on leaders in the real estate industry and new information on benefits and how-tos on achieving a high performance building.
Jones Lang LaSalle's Presentation on Existing Building Renewal and Lessons Learned from the Empire State Building
Download the presentation from Jones Lang LaSalle's Dana Schneider, Sustainability Services Market Lead.
U.S. GSA's Presentation on Existing Building Renewal
Download the presentation from U.S. GSA's Kevin Kampschroer, Office of High-Performance Green Buildings.
The Empire State Strikes Back. An Interview with Dana Schneider, Jones Lang LaSalle
In 2009, owners of the iconic Empire State Building embarked on a renovation to reduce the skyscraper's energy use by more than one-third by 2013. At 102 stories with 73 elevators, it has the scale to reap significant energy efficiency savings and to substantially reduce its more than 105,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide a year. Recently BetterBricks' Brian Libby spoke with Dana Schneider of Jones Lang LaSalle, a global real estate services firm overseeing the Empire State Building's energy retrofit.
Engaging Tenants and Brokers in Your Sustainability Initiatives
Two outstanding buildings in Seattle are pushing the boundaries of sustainability by showing that educating tenants about sustainability pays off. At the same time, they're extending their outreach to brokers, starting the sustainability conversation with tenants before they even sign a lease.
Kennedy Associates Set the Bar for Sustainable Tenant Improvements
Seattle-based commercial real estate investment advisor, Kennedy Associates, partnered with NEEA's BetterBricks initiative to develop a Sustainable Tenant Improvement (TI) Manual. By establishing minimum green requirements for all TI's - and providing extra suggestions for tenants that want to go above and beyond - the manual enables Kennedy's asset management team to both maintain and improve sustainability over time.
Download Kennedy's Sustainable TI Manual.
An Interview with Ada Healey, Vulcan
Ada Healey, vice president of real estate at Vulcan, won a BetterBricks Award in 2006, a time when the real estate market was booming, for Vulcan's commitment to high performance buildings. In the ensuing three years, the marketplace has become very different, but Healey's values about promoting sustainability and green construction are stronger than ever.
The Carbon Factor: NEEA Screens Potential Office Sites by Carbon Impact of Employee Commutes
In an assessment of possible locations for the growing staff of the Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance (NEEA), two questions emerged - how could NEEA's employees emit the least amount of carbon to get to work, and how could the offices use the least amount of energy possible? Learn how these two questions have guided NEEA's search for new office space.
Unico Appoints Sustainability Director
After pursuing a sustainability vision for several years, Seattle-based real estate investment and operating company Unico Properties LLC recently formalized that vision by promoting a forward-thinking property manager to the position of Director of Sustainability. In this new role, Margot Crosman will lead sustainability efforts for nearly nine million square feet of office, medical office, and multifamily properties in the western United States, as well as Unico's related investment, development and corporate initiatives.
Sustainability and Value: A Conversation with Scott Muldavin
BetterBricks sits down with Scott Muldavin, Executive Director of Green Building Finance Consortium, to discuss the challenges of quantifying sustainable real estate's enhanced value.
Kennedy Associates: Investing Responsibly Without Compromising Financial Returns
Learn about how they use Responsible Property Investing (RPI) as a framework to help better define and track investments for their portfolio. A major group of activities centers on how existing assets are managed. Energy efficiency plays a big role, along with water efficiency, waste management, and indoor air quality. Kennedy realized that energy use is one of the most costly components of building operations - but a controllable cost.
Ashforth Leads the Way
Before "green buildings" were the hot topic in real estate, Ashforth Pacific made a decision to be more sensitive to its properties' environmental impact. They have since earned a reputation as a leader in the field. In their Lloyd District portfolio, energy consumption in 2006 was nearly two million kWh lower than 1998 levels.
A Conversation with CB Richard Ellis
BetterBricks sits down with Dave Pogue and Kurt Sarchet of CB Richard Ellis to discuss the current state of the market, carbon neutrality, and CB Richard Ellis' energy and environmental efforts.
Energy Efficient Economics: What You Need to Know
Using sophisticated financial modeling to make the most-informed decisions when upgrading multi-tenant office buildings.
Gerding / Edlen Development Company
Wilde, a senior project manager at the Portland-based Gerding/Edlen Development Company, was recognized as a leader in sustainable, high performance building with a BetterBricks Awards last year.
Urban Land Institute - PricewaterhouseCoopers
Emerging Trends in Real Estate 2008 Highlights: Seattle. As a commercial real estate market, Seattle has been a rising star for the past five years, climbing back from a hole after the tech bust in the early 2000 to once again reach its late 1990's highs.
