Southern California Office Real Estate Blog

CALGREEN – > CALIFORNIA NOW HAS THE COUNTRY’S GREENEST BUILDING STANDARD

By Jodi Summers

Bravo to us! California has adopted the greenest building standards in the United States…and the world.

The new code, called Calgreen, goes into effect next January 2011. It requires all builders to:

v Install plumbing that cuts indoor water use.

Mary Nichols, chairwoman of the California Air Resources Board, said the new building code would require developers to slash water use in their buildings by 20%, using more efficient toilets, shower heads and faucets.

v Divert 50 percent of construction waste from landfills to recycling.

v Use low-pollutant paints, carpets and floorings

v Buildings will be given certificates of occupancy occupied only after strict energy standards were verified.

In addition, for non residential buildings:

v Install separate water meters for different uses.

v Mandates the inspection of energy systems by local officials to ensure that heaters, air conditioners and other mechanical equipment in nonresidential buildings are working efficiently.

v It allows local jurisdictions, such as Los Angeles and San Francisco, to retain their stricter existing green building standards, or adopt more stringent versions of the state code if they choose.

“California should be proud… These are simple, cost-effective green practices. …” notes Tom Sheehy, acting secretary of the state Consumer Services Agency and chair of the California Building Standards Commission, which approved the standards. “This is (something) no other state in the country has done - integrating green construction practices into the very fabric of the construction code.”

While California’s largest metropolitan areas have adopted their own green building standards, these new regulations will be particularly useful for smaller jurisdictions that have been unable to develop their own green construction guidelines.

This is a positive alternative to LEED construction standards. Sites Sandra Boyle, an executive vice president of Glenborough, a developer, “The cost for owners to go through this rating system is astronomical — in a very challenging commercial real estate market.”

“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.”

Buildings currently account for about one-quarter of the state’s total greenhouse gas emissions. These new standards are applauded as an important step in helping California meet its goal in reducing the state’s greenhouse gas emissions by 30 percent by 2020.

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http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2010/01/13/MNDR1BH9SA.DTL#ixzz0dJ9grkaW

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2010/01/13/MNDR1BH9SA.DTL

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-green-building11-2010jan11,0,1841989.story

http://www.thedailygreen.com/cm/thedailygreen/images/WA/Kohler-DualFlush-BR08-lg.jpg

NATIONAL DO NOT CALL LIST CELL PHONE REMINDER

NATIONAL DO NOT CALL LIST CELL PHONE REMINDER

Shortly, all cell phone numbers are being released to telemarketing companies and you will start to receive sale calls.

…. YOU WILL BE CHARGED FOR THESE CALLSTo prevent this, call the following number from your cell phone:

888-382-1222.
It is the National DO NOT CALL list. It will only take a minute of your time. It blocks your number for five (5) years. You must call from the cell phone number you want to have blocked. You cannot call from a different phone number.

THE D.A. INVESTIGATES L.A. 1031 EXCHANGE COMPANY VESTA STRATEGIES LLC

THE D.A. INVESTIGATES L.A. 1031 EXCHANGE COMPANY  VESTA STRATEGIES LLC

A couple of years back, we sold a property on Vesta St. in Inglewood which involved some very shady characters. Now IRS 1031 Exchange qualified intermediary called Vesta Strategies LLC is under investigation by the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office for criminal fraud. Acting on complaints that the company embezzled millions of dollars from clients and the fact that the principals have each pointed the finger at the other in federal civil lawsuits, investigators with the DA’s office served search warrants yesterday on four sites, including the company’s offices and the homes of its principals, and hauled away boxes of business records.

There’s lots of finger pointing involved in this one - the DA’s office says the company’s founders, John Terzakis and Robert Estupinian, have filed federal civil suits against each other alleging the embezzlement of millions of dollars in company assets in recent years. In addition, multiple independent Vesta clients are claiming that over the last eight months they gave millions of dollars to Vesta in 1031 exchanges and that Vesta has failed to provide their money when requested, according to the DA’s office.

It’s sure to be a Court TV thriller. Keep up with the dirt @

http://www.globest.com/news/1213_1217/sanfrancisco/172959-1.html

Green Future for Commercial Buildings

Green Future for Commercial Buildings

Today’s interesting statistic… buildings account for 29 percent of all carbon dioxide emissions, according to Andy Ehrlich, senior vice president of B&D Consulting, a national advisory and advocacy firm.

Ehrlich spoke He spoke to commercial practitioners at the Commercial Legislative and Regulatory Subcommittee at the National Association of Realtors’ Midyear Meetings.

FYI - Congress has created an agency in the U.S. Department of Energy to evaluate ways in which commercial buildings could reduce emissions and save energy. A proposed bill (S. 2191) follows up green building themes set by cities like New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco, requiring commercial buildings to reduce energy use by 30 percent beyond the standard currently espoused by American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE).

After 2019, standards would get even tighter.

The bill also offers incentives to states to update their building and energy efficiency codes.

The goal of the legislation, according to Ehrlich, is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by approximately two-thirds by 2050.

“Most scientists estimate that this level of reduction would be sufficient to prevent significant climate change,” observed Ehrlich.

Necessity is preceding regulation. Rising fuel prices and growing tenant demand are pushing the demand for green buildings in the U.S. Currently, green buildings account for about 2%  t of new commercial construction; it’s estimated that by 2010, that percentage will increase to 10% percent of new construction.

“There’s no perfect bullet to reducing green house gases; we’re all going to have to take part, including the owners and managers of commercial real estate,” he concluded.

http://www.realtor.org/RMODaily.nsf/pages/News2008051506?OpenDocument

REAL ESTATE BILLIONAIRES FAMOUS FAMILY FEUDS

FAMOUS FAMILY REAL ESTATE FEUDS

Forget Donald Bren and Donald Trump - The Kwok family of Hong Kong are the world’s richest real estate billionaires…and perhaps also the best TV show fodder.

The long-running saga of strife among the Kwok brothers, Hong Kong’s second-richest family, reached another dramatic peak last week. The eldest sibling, Walter Kwok Ping-sheung, on Thursday obtained an interim injunction to prevent his brothers from booting him out of the management of Sun Hung Kai Properties. The battle, which points to the problems Hong Kong’s family-run businesses encounter in trying to modernize their management and corporate governance, is bound to dampen investor confidence in the company.

At 1 p.m. Thursday, just an hour before a board meeting was scheduled to convene at Sun Hung Kai Properties’ headquarters to vote on a resolution to terminate Kwok’s appointment as chairman and chief executive officer, he filed a last-minute application to Hong Kong’s High Court to stop the company and each one of its directors, including younger brothers Thomas Kwok Ping-kwong and Raymond Kwok Ping-luen, from proceeding with their agenda. The court swiftly granted the injunction because, the company said, there was insufficient time to hear the board’s arguments.

The whole story at…http://www.forbes.com/2008/05/16/kwok-shkproperties-injunction-face-markets-cx_vk_0516autofacescan01_print.html

And for the record

46 Billionaires Who Made Their Fortunes in Real Estate, taken from Forbes list of the richest people on the planet:

1. Raymond, Thomas, and Walter Kwok (#31, $10.9 billion), Hong Kong

2. Lee Shau Kee (#38, $9.3 billion), Hong Kong

3. Gerald Cavendish Grosvenor and family (#80, $5.6 billion), Chester, United Kingdom

4. Eitaro Itoyama (#103, $4.9 billion), Tokyo, Japan

5. Fukuzo Iwasaki (#117, $4.4 billion), Kagoshima, Japan

6. Donald Bren (#122, $4.3 billion), Newport Beach, Calif.

7. Cheng Yu-tung (#132, $4.2 billion), Hong Kong

8. Kwek Leng Beng and family (#138, $4 billion), Singapore

9. Yoshiaki Tsutsumi (#149, $3.7 billion), Tokyo, Japan

10. Frank Lowy and family (#151, $3.6 billion), Sydney, Australia

11. Akira Mori (#170, $3.2 billion), Tokyo, Japan

12. Nina Wang (#188, $3.1 billion), Hong Kong

13. Stefan Schörghuber (#203, $2.9 billion), Munich, Germany

14. Charles Cadogan and family (#219, $2.7 billion), London, United Kingdom

15. Ng Teng Fong (#228, $2.6 billion), Singapore

16. Donald Trump (#228, $2.6 billion), New York

17. Leonard Stern (#243, $2.5 billion), New York

18. Melinda Esterhazy (#272, $$2.3 billion), Zurich, Switzerland

19. Leona Helmsley (#292, $2.2 billion), New York

20. Samual Zell (#292, $2.2 billion), Chicago

21. Matthew Bucksbaum and family (#321, $2 billion), Chicago

22. Chen Din Hwa (#321, $2 billion), Hong Kong

23. Peter Woo and family (#321, $2 billion), Hong Kong

24. Melvin Simon (#355, $1.9 billion), Indianapolis

25. John Whittaker (#387, $1.7 billion), Isle of Man, United Kingdom

26. Manual Jove (#413, $1.6 billion), La Coruna, Spain

27. Mortimer Zuckerman (#413, $1.6 billion), New York

28. Archie Aldis (Red) Emmerson (#437, $1.5 billion), Redding, Calif.

29. William Pulte (#437, $1.5 billion), Detroit

30. John Sobrato (#437, $1.5 billion), Atherton, Calif.

31. Edward Debartolo Jr. (#488, $1.4 billion), Tampa, Fla.

32. Paul Raymond (#488, $1.4 billion), London, United Kingdom

33. John Gandel and family (#507, $1.3 billion), Melbourne, Australia

34. Vincent Lo (#507, $1.3 billion), Hong Kong

35. Harry Triguboff (#507, $1.3 billion), Sydney, Australia

36. George Argyros (#548, $1.2 billion), Newport Beach, Calif.

37. Carl Berg (#548, $1.2 billion), Atherton, Calif.

38. Thomas Flatley (#548, $1.2 billion), Milton, Mass.

39. Olav Thon (#548, $1.2 billion), Oslo, Norway

40. Albert Gubay (#584, $1.1 billion), Isle of Man, United Kingdom

41. Edward Roski Jr. (#584, $1.1 billion), Los Angeles

42. Alexander Spanos (#584, $1.1 billion), Stockton, Calif.

43. John Arrillaga (#620, $1 billion), Palo Alto, Calif.

44. Neil Bluhm (#620, $1 billion), Chicago

45. Richard Peery (#620, $1 billion), Palo Alto, Calif.

46. A. Alfred Taubman (#620, $1 billion), Bloomfield Hills, Mich.

This is Forbes’ 19th annual list of the world’s billionaires. For details go to Forbes.com.

To see the entire Forbes list, go to www.forbes.com/billionaires.