Socal Multiunit Real Estate

LOS ANGELES WINS THE ENERGY STAR GRAND PRIZE…AGAIN

By Jodi Summers

Bravo to all of you greening your properties. According to our friends at the environmental protection agency, approximately 3,900 commercial buildings earned the Energy Star rating in 2009, representing annual savings of more than $900 million in utility bills and more than 4.7 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions. Impressively, nearly 9,000 buildings across the nation have earned the Energy Star for superior energy efficiency during the past 11 years.

A standing ovation for our beloved Los Angeles. The EPA ranked us as first on its annual list of metro areas with the most energy-efficient buildings. We led the field with 293 buildings labeled Energy Star in 2009, up from the 262 that qualified the city as No. 1 in 2008.

Kudos also go to our nation’s capitol. Washington, DC, ranked fourth place in 2008, is now in second, with 204 Energy Star buildings, up from 136 the previous year.

Energy Star is a voluntary labeling program run by the EPA and U.S. Department of Energy. In order to qualify, a building or manufacturing plant must score in the top 25 percent based , on the agency’s National Energy Performance Rating System and use less energy, reduce operating expenses and cause fewer greenhouse gas emissions.

Roll the credits - the top 25 cities with the most energy star labeled buildings in 2009 are:

1. Los Angeles, CA

2. Washington, DC

3. San Francisco, CA

4. Denver, CO

5. Chicago, IL

6. Houston, TX

7. Lakeland, FL

8. Dallas-Fort Worth, TX

9. Atlanta, GA

10. New York, NY

11. Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN

12. Portland, OR

13. Boston, MA

14. Seattle, WA

15. Detroit, MI

16. Sacramento, CA

17. San Diego, CA

18. Austin, TX

19. Miami, FL

20. Phoenix, AZ

21. Ogden, UT

22. Charlotte, NC

23. Indianapolis, IN

24. Des Moines, IA/Fort Collins, CO/Philadelphia, PA

25. Louisville, KY

**

http://www.greenbiz.com/news/2010/03/23/la-takes-top-spot-epa-green-building-rankings

http://www.costar.com/News/Article.aspx?id=624F645516667EF93A09A56906607F8E&ref=100&iid=174&cid=383F14EEE265B182474DA2442BACBBBF

http://gateway.costar.com/imageviewer/GetImage.aspx?webimage=EPA+Energy+Star.JPG

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http://www.staronetickets.com/images/Seattle.jpg

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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

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

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4 GREEN BUILDING TRENDS 4U

4 GREEN BUILDING TRENDS 4U

By Jodi Summers

Green building concepts are being embraced with as much wild abandon as kids grasping for the coolest new video game. It started pretty basic – green construction, then evolved into green renovation, and now it’s branching out in all directions. Here are 4 green building trends to watch and invest….

1 - Modular Green Homes – One of the most successful investors in history, Warren Buffett, recently expanded one of his business subsidiaries, Clayton Homes, to produces a line of green modular homes. These 750-square-foot eco homes, dubbed “i-houses,” can be purchased online for less than $75,000. It’s a good bet that if Buffet is invested in it, the area will grow. Our hero is second richest man in the United States with a net worth of $40 billion.

The i-houses are constructed as modules in a factory and then assembled in the field. I-houses are marketed as “affordable luxury in a green, energy-efficient package.”

Beyond Buffett, there are others, such as Zeta Communities and Blu Homes in the green prefabricated market. Modular home construction will be a wise choice for builders going forward because it may allow developers reduce risk, allowing the development of large sites to take place as sales come in rather than building a planned community in larger phases before the units are sold out.

2 – Energy Retrofits – California state measure AB 1103, which requires the tracking of the energy use of all nonresidential buildings for disclosure to prospective buyers and tenants, is a fine example of how critical energy retrofits will be in the future. Much of the country’s real estate is old and wastes energy…eventually these properties will need to be upgraded or replaced. Not to mention, this is a cornerstone of President Obama’s post recession job creation movement.

Energy Star, the government, and local utilities have been offering rebates for property owners on measures like energy audits, insulation and duct sealing. SBI Energy predicts that the U.S. home energy retrofit market will grow about 15 percent per year to $35 billion by 2013, up from $20.7 billion in 2007.

David Leathers, senior vice president of energy services for mechanical contractor Limbach, confides that U.S. commercial building in the U.S. five years or older can likely benefit from a retrofit with payback for most measures taken in less than five years.

3 - Smart Building Materials - Energy-efficient building materials are the frame of green building. Serious Materials recently raised a $60 million third round of venture for the manufacture of energy-saving windows and environmentally friendly substitutes for sheetrock. More good investments - high-efficiency insulation system companies, such as walls with micro-encapsulated phase change materials to stabilize the indoor temperatures in buildings. More…Electrochromic technologies can darken or lighten the tint of a window when in contact with an electrical current, thus managing the amount of sunlight that passes through…Ventilated double-skin facades (already being used in Europe), use inner and outer glass walls with a thin cavity to provide insulation in between for the exterior shell of a building.

4 - More Energy Efficient Energy Codes - The American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE ) and the International Energy Conservation Code (IECC) are both developing the latest round of “model codes”— ASHRAE 90.1 and IECC — will likely require a 30 percent increase in energy efficiency.

Congress may soon mandate that all states raise their standards to the newest codes. The American Clean Energy and Security Act passed by the House this year includes a provision that would effectively create a baseline national building energy code by mandating the adoption of a standard set by the Department of Energy, who may very well call on the standards set forth by ASHRAE or IECC.

**

http://earth2tech.com/2009/12/23/4-green-building-trends-to-watch-in-2010/

http://www.motherearthnews.com/Green-Homes/Green-Modular-Homes.aspx

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warren_Buffet

http://www.socalgreenrealestateblog.com/?p=841

http://www.ashrae.org/

http://www.icis.com/blogs/green-chemicals/2009/01/green-building-is-still-recess.html

http://www.newenglandmetalroof.com/construction_directory/green-building.gif

http://www.charlesandhudson.com/archives/eco-friendly-building-materials.jpg

Energy to Sell - States with Renewable Portfolio Standards

States with Renewable Portfolio Standards

Edited by Jodi Summers

Here is a nifty map and chart from the U.S. Department of Energy showing states with renewable portfolio standards - a state policy that requires electricity providers to obtain a minimum percentage of their power from renewable energy resources by a certain date.

California is stellar with the objective of 33% renewable energy by 2030, but not nearly as aggressive as Maine, which is shooting for 40% renewable by 2017.

Currently there are 24 states plus the District of Columbia that have RPS policies in place. Together these states account for more than half of the electricity sales in the United States. Five other states, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, Virginia, and Vermont, have nonbinding goals for adoption of renewable energy instead of an RPS.

The chart below gives a rough summary of state renewable portfolio standards and links to organizations that are administering these standards or explain the details involved. Percentages refer to a portion of electricity sales and megawatts (MW) to absolute capacity requirements. Most of these standards phase in over years, and the date refers to when the full requirement takes effect.

http://apps1.eere.energy.gov/states/maps/renewable_portfolio_states.cfm?prin

YALE PICKS THE TEN MOST ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY COUNTRIES

YALE PICKS THE TEN MOST ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY COUNTRIES

Edited by Jodi Summers

Every year, Yale University releases an Environmental Performance Index (EPI), calculating national environmental factors such as a country’s environmental health, air pollution, water resources and productive natural resources. So let us present to you the most recent top 10 winning countries who can boast the title of the most eco-friendly nations in the world.

1 - Switzerland

Switzerland’s hard-line legislation on pollution makes it one of the world’s most eco-friendly nations. Switzerland’s strategy is to continue to foster cooperation between organizations and individuals. To make sure everyone is acutely aware of how precious the environment can be, Switzerland charges for their water and waste management services as well as establishing severe environmental taxes. Prevention is the third key tenet, shown by the 2006 development of the Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN), to sustain natural resources and develop safety measures for natural hazards.

2 - Norway

Overcast Norway is the home of the world’s largest solar production plant, owned by REC Group. Norway has also taken emissions seriously, and is now planning on becoming carbon neutral by 2030, not 2050 as originally expected. The change in anticipated timing has been reduced because of what Norway has learned by funding green projects abroad and reducing at-home driving and flying.

3 - Sweden

Sweden’s mandate for a country free of fossil fuels by 2020 puts it as the third most eco-friendly country on the planet. Already, a majority of Sweden’s power is either nuclear or hydroelectric. Solutions for automobile and flight transport include ethanol and animal waste conversion. Additionally, Sweden is one of the world leaders working on harnessing the power of waves. At the University of Uppsala, Sweden is developing “wave power” which converts waves into 4x as much energy as solar power in the same amount of time, with no waste and no emissions.

4 - Finland

Finland is experiencing a remarkable recovery from industrialization, using initiatives to clean up water and air quality in industrial areas, and practicing land preservation. Bravo as Finland has managed to reverse deforestation. The country’s forests are now growing at a greater rate than they are being deforested, showing an environmental gain even with the annual timber harvest. Finland can also be attributed with starting the United Nation’s Environmental Program (UNEP) Task Force for Sustainable Building and Construction, which looks not only at the sustainability of the building, but of the resources and process used to construct it.

5 - Costa Rica

With 5% of the world’s biodiversity contained in one country, Costa Rica has always been on the forefront of environmental conservation. Did you know that a full quarter of the nation is devoted to park preservation? That helps the country score high on the EPI list. Couple their conservation efforts with the fact that Costa Rica uses hydroelectric power in 80% of the country, and add on their 5% gas tax which funds environmental programs, and Costa Rica comes in fifth.

6 - Austria

It’s very impressive that Austria’s environmental conservation measures are enforced by all levels of government, from federal to municipal authorities. For example, waste disposal is a highly regulated department encompassing everything from individual waste to corporate chemical, air and agricultural pesticide pollution. Water quality and forest preservation, are extremely high on Austria’s list of priorities, thus the quality level for Austria’s lakes and rivers is among the highest in the world. The development of Austria’s National Protective Forest Plan has also helped in keeping the nation’s natural beauty pristine.

7 - New Zealand

New Zealand‘s relatively small population in relation to land mass has helped preserve this nation’s natural resources. While automotive emissions and industrial pollutants are still problematic, New Zealand is working hard to develop restrictive legislation and alternative energy sources. The nation was host to the 2008 World Environment Day, and has developed the Environmental Risk Management Authority, which regulates the introduction of non-native species and environmental components so as not to threaten New Zealand’s pristine atmosphere.

8 - Latvia

The Baltics weigh in. By monitoring and reducing water pollution, Latvia’s salmon crop and freshwater bodies are all in the range of “good.” Taken steps toward improvement, Lativia has begun dismantling pollutive farms to reduce fertilizer and insecticide chemicals and allow room for the return of natural forests. Since obtaining freedom from the Soviet Union 1990, Lativa has decreased stationary pollution by 46% and wastewater by 44%, devoting a major portion of environmental funds to water treatment and energy conservation techniques.

9 - Colombia

Beating Costa Rica, Colombia is home to 10% of the world’s species, giving the country a wealth of ecological diversity. While Colombia has had problems in the past concerning deforestation, the detrimental effects of the coca trade, and political strife involving their natural oil deposits, these factors have served to motivate Colombia towards energy conservation and new, less politically tumultuous resources. Colombia has also begun programs for the cultivation of natural parks that support the growth of native medicinal plants with preserves such as the Orito Igni-Ande Medicinal Flora Sanctuary, a 10,626 hectare preserve.

10 - France

The French government is very aware of the problem of climate change. Their strict environmental protection measures are incorporated into the national Constitution and reviewed every year with the eventual goal of 54 million tons of saved C02 by 2010. France is one of the few in the Kyoto agreement to cut such a large amount of emissions so quickly. The country’s laws are comprehensive, covering every layer of production from supplier to producer to consumer. This has helped make France the number one producer of renewable energy sources in the EU, 78% of its energy being nuclear powered, which in turn has reduced nitrogen oxide and other hazardous emissions by 70%.

**

Sources:

http://epi.yale.edu/Home

http://epi.yale.edu/CountryScores

http://www.bemoreeco.com/2009/03/top-10-eco-friendly-countries/

http://www.sussex.ac.uk/International/europe/Sweden.jpg

http://greenferret.files.wordpress.com/2008/09/switzerland-mountain-lake.jpg

http://www.boxturtlebulletin.com/tag/norway

http://www.ippnw-students.org/Chapters/Finland/finland.jpg

http://www.unitedplanet.org/volunteer-in-costa-rica-long-term/images/costa-rica-ocean-view.jpg

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/adventure/0510/photos/Jpegs/NewZealand.jpg

http://www.austria-trips.com/images/Austria-Mountains.jpg

http://www.e-architect.co.uk/riga/jpgs/jurmala_latvia_hoskins_m06.jpg

http://img5.travelblog.org/Photos/61720/335583/p/f/1781.jpg

http://i40.tinypic.com/2qncqxi.jpg

http://www.bargesinfrance.com/premier-burgundy-countryside.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3115/2352156385_c389b09b15_b.jpg

http://www.pbase.com/pj48/image/45644972/original.jpg

LIVE GREEN –> IDEAS TO GREEN YOUR PROPERTIES

Edited by Jodi Summers

1. Double-Paned Windows

According to the Department of Energy, the typical U.S. family spends $1,300 a year on home energy bills. Double-paned windows are up to 40 percent more energy-efficient than standard windows, and allow you to save from 10 to 25 percent off your heating or cooling bill, on top of saving five tons of carbon dioxide emissions per household per year.

2. Caulking and Storm Panels

Double-paned windows are expensive, and it could take decades for their savings to counterbalance their cost. To improve insulation without switching windows, seal up any leaks or gaps around doors and windows with caulking and weather stripping, then add a storm panel to your single-pane window to increase energy efficiency for far less money than double-paned windows.

3. Plant Trees

On top of soaking up carbon dioxide, trees that surround your house can provide hading in the summertime, keeping your property cooler and requiring less energy-intensive air conditioning.

4. Swap Your A/C for a Ceiling Fan

Ceiling fans are remarkably effective in cooling and use far less energy than air conditioning. If you still need a little A/C, consider running it on low, and using ceiling fans to effectively circulate the cool air.

5. Get Your Ducts in a Row

Faulty duct work can cause serious, life-threatening carbon monoxide problems in the home. Check your ducts for air leaks. Look for sections that should be joined but have separated, and then look for obvious holes. If you use tape to seal your ducts, experts suggest using mastic, butyl tape, foil tape, or other heat-approved tapes (look for tape with the Underwriters Laboratories logo). A well-sealed vapor barrier on the outside of the insulation on cooling ducts prevents moisture buildup.

6. Be Reasonable with the Thermostat

No reason to be uncomfortable in your home to save energy or reduce emissions, but try to keep it as warm as you can stand it in the summer, and turn it down to 68 or below in the winter.

7. Change Your Bulbs

Electricity is the largest source of U.S. carbon emissions, using about 38 percent. A switch to compact fluorescent lights (CFLs) or light-emitting diodes (LEDs) can reduce emissions and energy use drastically. Keep in mind, CFLs still contain mercury; LEDs are considered the best bet.

8. Turn Off and Unplug

Research conducted by the DOE shows that in the average American home, 75 percent of the electricity used to power home electronics is consumed while the products are turned off. Unplugging seldom used appliances could shave up to $10 off your monthly electricity bill.

9. Reach for the Energy Stars

There’s an ENERGY STAR version of almost every appliance these days from a computer to a refridgerator. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), by choosing their ENERGY STAR-qualified products, consumers can cut energy use by 30 percent, a savings of about $450 each year.

10. Switch to Solar or Wind Power Without Buying Your Own System

According to the DOE, at least 50 percent of customers have the option to purchase renewable electricity directly from their power supplier. Such power is sometimes referred to as “green power” or “clean power,” and costs an average of $1.25/month extra.

11. Shower Efficiently

With our new tiered water rates, it’s wise to be conscious about how much time, and water, you’re spending in the shower. A one- or two-minute reduction in shower time can save up to 700 gallons of water per month.

12. Use the Cold Water

If your shower takes awhile to heat up, catch the cold water in a bucket and use it to water your garden or lawn.

13. Go Native

Using native plants in landscaping can reduce residential water use by 20 to 50 percent.

14. Green Paints, Materials, and Accessories

According to the California Air Resources Board, indoor air quality in the state is worse than outdoor air quality, thanks to the toxins in paint, wood finishes, carpet, adhesives, and solvents. Air quality in new and recently renovated homes can be up to 10 times more polluted than outdoor air quality. To cut down on indoor toxins, opt for Green Seal certified paints and solvent-free adhesives.

15. Displace Water

Put a plastic bottle or a plastic bag weighted with pebbles and filled with water in your toilet tank. Displacing water in this manner saves five to 10 gallons of water a day. That’s up to 300 gallons a month, even more for large families.

16. Seal Your House

Visit the DOE’s Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy site for a printable home energy audit, check your home for cracks, and have adequate installation installed.

28. Keep Your Garden Green

It might surprise you to learn that homeowners actually use 10 times more pesticides and fertilizers per acre than farmers, on average; 67 million pounds of the stuff are applied on lawns each year. Opt for native plants, safer pesticides, and compost for fertilizer instead.

www.realtor.com

www.dinnergarden.org/victoryGardens.html

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.

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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

MULTIFAMILY WIZARDS OFFER INSITE INTO HOUSING’S FUTURE

MULTIFAMILY WIZARDS OFFER INSITE INTO HOUSING’S FUTURE

��

Key players in the multifamily industry offered insight on the �strengths and challenges multifamily housing market in the next few years at the Multifamily Trends Conference portion of the Pacific Coast Builders Conference, held recently in San Francisco. The Multifamily Trends Conference offered an opportunity to collaborate with the best and brightest thinkers in the multifamily industry; a forum for experts and practitioners to dialogue on emerging trends in designing, developing, financing, marketing and managing the next generation of for-rent and for-sale multifamily housing.

����Professional opinions were optimistic:�� �

• Camden Property Trust CEO Ric Campo noted that “multifamily is a great place to be…Underlying fundamentals are good, and as a result of foreclosures on the single-family side, we are seeing an increase in the renter pool from 30.9 [percent] to 32.2 percent. That’s 1.5 million new renters looking for an apartment…some of the forecasting indicates that by 2011 we might even be facing rental shortages. The next several years are going to be a time of great opportunity but in a market…”���

• Chip Conley, founder and CEO of boutique hotel chain Joie De Vivre, advised to continue to leverage the opportunities of the Internet, which “has created a promiscuous customer that changes product with the click of a mouse.” When it comes to tenant concessions, “add value rather than dropping prices,” Conley advised. “Instead of cash discounts, offer to throw a $5,000 move-in party, or provide a $1,000 gift card to Best Buy for a resident to outfit their apartment with the latest technology. Instead of creating a better transaction, create a memory.”�

�

• �The overall feeling was that operational efficiencies as the key to bottom-line success. “Be a revenue rat,” Stellar Management CEO Robert Rosania suggested. “The revenue rats of 2008 will become the bulls of 2009 and slaughter the pigs of 2010. The burden to execute now is 100 percent.”�

�

• Bob Gardner, managing director of consulting firm RCLCO, noted that there are very little economic surprises in multifamily. While condo prices have plummeted nationally on average by 40 percent, the apartment market has enjoyed a different ride, as vacancies drop and effective rents rise. Gardner paid much heed to the Gen Y set, citing U.S. Census numbers that indicated 82 percent of the under-25 set will be more likely to rent than to buy housing. The largest segment of Gen Y will be graduating from college in 2009, Gardner noted, and the best Gen Y market will fall between then and 2013, when this set is first likely to begin exiting rentals for home ownership. Regardless, Gardner saw a propensity toward higher density, urban lifestyle living across all age demographics. “Multifamily is a product type that is now a lifestyle product of choice, and that holds for the long term,” he concluded.��

�������Get all the glorious dirt @

• http://www.pcbc.com/multifamily/

• http://www.multifamilyexecutive.com/industry-news.asp?sectionID=565&articleID=728855

UPGRADE YOUR BUILDINGS + GET A REBATE

UPGRADE YOUR BUILDINGS + GET A REBATE�Southern California property owners (and property managers) of existing residential multifamily complexes with two or more dwelling units may qualify for rebates from Southern California Gas Company (Sempra). The rebates are for upgrades such as high-efficiency dishwashers, attic insulation, wall insulation, and natural gas storage water heaters.�Rebates are available on a first-come, first-served basis until December 31, or until funds are depleted. To qualify, energy-efficient products must have been purchased and installed on or after January 1, 2006, and applications postmarked by December 31, 2008. The amount and availability of rebates may change during the year. Contact the Multifamily Rebate Program Info Line Program at (800) 427-4400.