Business Management Executive Q&A
Aug 1, 2007
What are the thoughts of industry leaders on some of the biggest issues of the day? To find out, CPN posed the following question to insightful executives with experts’ views of the commercial real estate landscape: What impact will New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s plan to take the city on a major green campaign have on future sustainable development?
John Albers, President, Opus Architects & Engineers Inc.
Even though sustainable development has been top of mind for many cities and our industry already, Mayor Bloomberg’s initiative will help sustainable development more quickly evolve into a mainstream concept. Cities embarking upon sustainable building initiatives is not a new concept. During the last few years, we’ve seen cities such as Seattle and Chicago make similar commitments by requiring commercial buildings over a certain size to achieve various levels of sustainable design. His announcement received a significant amount of media coverage and it helped elevate awareness of buildings’ contributions to greenhouse gas emissions and energy demands and how sustainable design can significantly curb those issues.
As more people become aware of the benefits of sustainable buildings, we’ll continue to see an increased interest and demand for sustainable design from our customers in both the private and public sectors. As a result, those developers that make sustainable design a core capability will be more competitive in the marketplace. This is one of the main reasons we have more than 40 LEED-accredited architects; engineers; (and) real estate development, property management and construction personnel at Opus.
David Michonski, CEO, Coldwell Banker Commercial Properties Unlimited
Mayor Bloomberg’s announcement will reverberate throughout every aspect of the real estate and building trades in New York City and around the U.S.A. It will mark the single most profound and far-reaching aspect of his administration and it will be his most lasting legacy to (the city). It affects the office market and the housing market, but more important, it will affect all levels of our real estate society by making them go green, from the affordable rental market to Section 8 housing. It provides a green acceptance in the political sphere, an acceptance that has already been established in the building standards sphere by LEED through its Green Building Rating System.
Now, Bloomberg has supplied the political will, which in turn will accelerate everything green. His actions finally get the political message in line with what younger consumers expect from their politicians and from our industry: a greener America. Bloomberg has now in effect said that real estate has to be sustainable, too, and not just affordable or luxurious or aesthetically pleasing. It is real leadership in that he has set forward the destination and the guardrails on either side of the highway of real estate development for the next 50 years. It marks profound and enlightened leadership from someone who will go down as one of New York City’s greatest mayors.
Michael Winters, President of Central Florida, GVA Advantis
We have seen a monumental shift in the past few years, with commercial real estate interests jumping on the Green Movement. Mayor Bloomberg’s campaign for New York City will accelerate and broaden this movement. With New York City home to corporate interests and much of the real estate industry, his push will certainly reverberate beyond the city. The green movement has been under way across the country for several years. Green or sustainable development has a positive impact on business, whether investors in real estate or corporate occupants. There are financial savings and positive effects on the environment that benefit everyone.
It has been fascinating to watch the green movement gain momentum over the years. Now it is mainstream, and every week we see more articles published related to green development. In Tampa, where I am based, we had our first LEED-certified office development announced this year. Several more have followed suit in the span of just months.
Reflecting on how the movement is taking hold and is more than just a fad, one can trace the genesis back a few decades (to) when commercial buildings focused on implementing energy savings and recycling programs. The motivation is the same today as it was then: Reduce energy consumption and therefore operating costs and lessen the effect of commercial buildings on the environment.
Commercial real estate professionals are conscientious about energy savings and the environment, as you can see in the programs (that) professional associations for the industry like the Urban Land Institute, NAIOP, BOMA, IREM and (CoreNet Global) have developed. Corporations now make green building criteria part of their decision matrix when selecting a location.
Mayor Bloomberg’s initiative will further highlight these issues for the industry. People want employees, shareholders and the community to feel they are contributing toward being environmentally friendly and energy efficient. With the increasing costs of energy, it becomes even more important and is the right thing to do.
What are the thoughts of industry leaders on some of the biggest issues of the day? To find out, CPN posed the following question to insightful executives with experts’ views of the commercial real estate landscape: What impact will New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s plan to take the city on a major green campaign have on future sustainable development?
John Albers, President, Opus Architects & Engineers Inc.
Even though sustainable development has been top of mind for many cities and our industry already, Mayor Bloomberg’s initiative will help sustainable development more quickly evolve into a mainstream concept. Cities embarking upon sustainable building initiatives is not a new concept. During the last few years, we’ve seen cities such as Seattle and Chicago make similar commitments by requiring commercial buildings over a certain size to achieve various levels of sustainable design. His announcement received a significant amount of media coverage and it helped elevate awareness of buildings’ contributions to greenhouse gas emissions and energy demands and how sustainable design can significantly curb those issues.
As more people become aware of the benefits of sustainable buildings, we’ll continue to see an increased interest and demand for sustainable design from our customers in both the private and public sectors. As a result, those developers that make sustainable design a core capability will be more competitive in the marketplace. This is one of the main reasons we have more than 40 LEED-accredited architects; engineers; (and) real estate development, property management and construction personnel at Opus.
David Michonski, CEO, Coldwell Banker Commercial Properties Unlimited
Mayor Bloomberg’s announcement will reverberate throughout every aspect of the real estate and building trades in New York City and around the U.S.A. It will mark the single most profound and far-reaching aspect of his administration and it will be his most lasting legacy to (the city). It affects the office market and the housing market, but more important, it will affect all levels of our real estate society by making them go green, from the affordable rental market to Section 8 housing. It provides a green acceptance in the political sphere, an acceptance that has already been established in the building standards sphere by LEED through its Green Building Rating System.
Now, Bloomberg has supplied the political will, which in turn will accelerate everything green. His actions finally get the political message in line with what younger consumers expect from their politicians and from our industry: a greener America. Bloomberg has now in effect said that real estate has to be sustainable, too, and not just affordable or luxurious or aesthetically pleasing. It is real leadership in that he has set forward the destination and the guardrails on either side of the highway of real estate development for the next 50 years. It marks profound and enlightened leadership from someone who will go down as one of New York City’s greatest mayors.
Michael Winters, President of Central Florida, GVA Advantis
We have seen a monumental shift in the past few years, with commercial real estate interests jumping on the Green Movement. Mayor Bloomberg’s campaign for New York City will accelerate and broaden this movement. With New York City home to corporate interests and much of the real estate industry, his push will certainly reverberate beyond the city. The green movement has been under way across the country for several years. Green or sustainable development has a positive impact on business, whether investors in real estate or corporate occupants. There are financial savings and positive effects on the environment that benefit everyone.
It has been fascinating to watch the green movement gain momentum over the years. Now it is mainstream, and every week we see more articles published related to green development. In Tampa, where I am based, we had our first LEED-certified office development announced this year. Several more have followed suit in the span of just months.
Reflecting on how the movement is taking hold and is more than just a fad, one can trace the genesis back a few decades (to) when commercial buildings focused on implementing energy savings and recycling programs. The motivation is the same today as it was then: Reduce energy consumption and therefore operating costs and lessen the effect of commercial buildings on the environment.
Commercial real estate professionals are conscientious about energy savings and the environment, as you can see in the programs (that) professional associations for the industry like the Urban Land Institute, NAIOP, BOMA, IREM and (CoreNet Global) have developed. Corporations now make green building criteria part of their decision matrix when selecting a location.
Mayor Bloomberg’s initiative will further highlight these issues for the industry. People want employees, shareholders and the community to feel they are contributing toward being environmentally friendly and energy efficient. With the increasing costs of energy, it becomes even more important and is the right thing to do.
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