Southern California Office Real Estate Blog

THE GOVERNMENT WILL WANT YOU TO GO GREENER ON COMMERCIAL BUILDINGS

by Jodi Summers

42 years – That’s when the government is projecting that commercial buildings should have zero emissions. In August, the House passed the Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation Tax Act of 2007 (H.R. 3221). The legislation is intended to find ways to make U.S. commercial buildings, which accounted for 18 percent of all U.S. energy use in 2003 (the last year data was available), zero-net users of energy by 2050. The bill, which has no companion legislation in the Senate, would required that all buildings constructed before 2025 reduce energy consumption 50 percent by 2035 and that all buildings constructed after 2025 be zero-net-energy compliant. 

It also authorizes a study to determine the feasibility of these proposals. IREM, CCIM, and NAR, along with other real estate industry groups, have formed a coalition to help ensure that energy-saving measures are not unrealistic. 

HOW DOES YOUR PROPERTY COMPARE?

HOW DOES YOUR PROPERTY COMPARE?  Good info for you comes in the 2007 Income/Expense Analysis® reports from the Institute of Real Estate Management. This analysis offers an easy, authoritative way for you to benchmark your property’s performance on many key operating metrics. The reports are designed to help property owners, managers, appraisers, and other commercial real estate professionals compare a buildings’ performance to industry norms.  Individual reports for office buildings, conventional apartments, federally assisted multifamily properties, condominiums, and shopping centers are available in  book form, downloadable PDFs, and in customizable Excel file formats. Each format contains national data as well as selected regional and city breakouts. (Think Los Angeles is included on that list?)  Allow us to share are a few key trends from the 2007 reports, which use 2006 data. Office Net operating costs for suburban office buildings increased 2.9 percent to $6.02 square foot for 2006, while costs for downtown properties decreased 1.0 percent to $6.64 per square foot. Vacancy levels for both suburban (5 percent) and downtown (7 percent) office properties remained unchanged from 2005.  Shopping Centers

BIG OFFICE LANDLORDS SUPPORT NEW SECURITY GUARD CONTRACTS

Some of L.A.’s largest office landlords and the union representing local security guards both say that they hope to sign a contract that will mean higher wages and family healthcare for the security officers. The building owners include the Blackstone Group, Jamison Services and Maguire Properties.
 
 The pact that the landlords and the Service Employees International Union are negotiating would be the first-ever union contract of its kind in Southern California, according to Stuart Korshak, labor counsel for Blackstone. Faith Culbreath, president of SEIU Local 2006 Security Officers United in Los Angeles, says that the building owners’ support for the deal with the security guards “should bring us a fair contract before the holidays.”
Paul T. Kim, president of Jamison Services, which owns 22 million sf of commercial office space in Los Angeles, says that although the contract will mean “some increased costs to us,” it will be worthwhile for the building owners. “We believe that these expenses ultimately add value for our investments and improve quality for our tenants,” Kim says.
According to officials representing the building owners and the security union, Beacon Capital Partners and Rreef have also sent letters to their security contractors indicating their support for raising security officers’ wages and benefits up to standard with other union contract service workers in commercial properties. Peggy Moretti, SVP at Maguire Properties, notes that Maguire is encouraging the BOMA chapter of Los Angeles and the SEIU in the same way that they have done in negotiations for other building services.
Two of the biggest firms providing security for the building owners are Universal Protection Services and ABM Security Services, which are among the security contractors that are in negotiations for the pact. The contract will cover 4,000 security officers who work in hundreds of high rises and commercial properties in Downtown L.A., Century City, Mid-Wilshire, the San Fernando Valley and throughout the county.
Security officers have been organizing for more than five years to win higher wages and family healthcare, among other issues in the contract negotiations. The officers on average earn $21,000 a year and do not have affordable healthcare for themselves or their families, which are among the reasons cited for a turnover rate of up to 300% yearly among security officers–even greater than the average turnover rate of the fast food industry.
 info courtesy of Bob Howard, GlobeSt.com
http://www.globest.com/news/1046_1046/losangeles/166410-1.html?type=pf