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OCTOBER | NOVEMBER | DECEMBER | 2014
BUILDING STANDARDS
The industry introduces product declaration standards for all PG. 8
COMMERCIAL & RESIDENTIAL REAL ESTATE
TESTING 1, 2, 3
Labs around Bay Area provide real-world setting for a number of sustainable products PG. 18
LEED V4
The green system has global aspiration PG. 31
THE SUSTAINABILITY ISSUE 2014
FINANCING YOUR BOARDING SUSTAINABLE FANTASIES SFO brings the PROJECT latest of amenities
A number of financial models emerge to help companies adopt sustainable initiatives PG. 22
EXCLUSIVE:
BAY AREA MAP
to its terminals PG. 48
NOT ECO ENOUGH?
A prominent organization skips Bay Area for its national kick-off PG. 58
PG. 36
BAY AREA LEED PROJECTS OVER 50,000 SQUARE FEET
THE NEW GREEN VOLUME 3, NUMBER 4
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letter from
THE PUBLISHER Are we there, yet? Yes, I know, you’ve heard this trite expression of impatience more times than you would like to know. The reason I’m using this question to open my letter is to say: YES! We’re here! Observing the commercial real estate industry first-hand over the past seven years, watching it go from peak to trough to peak again, we have had the opportunity of seeing the game from the proverbial 50-yard line. During this time, riches were won, lost and won again, the Bay Area became more congested, and tech helped us get out of a recession faster than any other place in the world. Through it all, we have also managed to do something incredible—place sustainability into the core of real estate development. It all started with those little blue bins in your office, the ones with the white recycling logo. Rubbermaid loved that innovation. After instituting recycling programs around offices, we turned to accrediting employees up to the latest LEED standards. And then net-zero arrived in our lexicon, first as an esoteric, over-the-top notion of what may be possible at some point in the future (if no expense was too large), but then in matter of just a few years, a quite visible red line on the not-too-distant horizon. So much has changed in these seven years (the iPhone was first launched in 2007!); manufacturers today have the courage and the ways of disclosing materials used in their products; we made lighting and HVAC systems incredibly intelligent; we created ways to make financing sustainable projects achievable; and labs are built across the region to showcase the real-world impact of installing sustainable systems in our offices. Today, LEED has become table stakes in this game and new, holistic ways of evaluating the health of a building and the space inside it have emerged. So, yes, we have arrived. We are here, in a place that took a few years of travelling, but in a place from which the built environment will look decidedly different as we continue our journey. Summarizing all the efforts around the Bay Area is now an arduous task. In the enclosed map on page 36, we even limited the listing to projects above 50,000 square feet. There are over 200 additional projects around the Bay Area that didn’t make it into that list. The Bay Area is certainly a place to be when it comes to sustainable built environments. The innovation that drives our tech firms in the region will have a profound impact on new companies that will invent new sustainable products and services. We are here, and soon will be on our way again. Vladimir Bosanac
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PUBLISHER
Vladimir Bosanac (415) 738-6434 vlad@theregistrysf.com
PRESIDENT
Heather Bosanac (415) 738-6434 heather@theregistrysf.com
EDITOR
Robert Celaschi
DESIGN
Laura Myers Design
PHOTOGRAPHERS Eustacio Humphrey Steven Borja
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ETHICS POLICY
The Registry embraces a strict ethics policy for its staff and contributing writers, including columnists and freelance reporters. No person employed by or affiliated with The Registry has accepted or will accept any compensation, monetary or otherwise, in exchange for editorial content. All information that appears in the magazine is selected solely for its informational value to readers. The Registry is a registered trademark of Mighty Dot Media, Inc. ©2014 Mighty Dot Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This publication and/or its contents may not be copied, reproduced or republished in whole or in part without the written consent of Mighty Dot Media, Inc.
change the industry change the world ONE PROJECT AT A TIME $780,000 average value of small to mid-size projects in 2013
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WHAT’S Total Market Value of Firm YOUR Q? Q RATIO = Total Asset Value
SUSTAINABLE DESIGN LEEDING THE WAY
SFO TERMINAL 3 48
LEED UPDATE 27
SUSTAINABLE BAY AREA 55
Green Market Maker LEED continues to be the dominant rating system, and it’s global aspirations look healthy
BUILDING MATERIALS EPD & HPD 8
The Building’s Nutrition Facts Exposed The industry beings to standardize EPD and HPD standards
BUILDING MATERIALS 13
Glass and Light Innovations Bolstering Building Material Sustainability Advances in building skin and lighting materials is poised to transform the industry
LIVING LABS 18
Living Labs Guide Going Green
LEED Ups the Ante Again for the Building Industry V4 puts more focus on building materials
GREEN SKYLINE 33
Our Green Skyline A list of Bay Area’s LEED certified structures reveals the region’s office stalwarts
LEED LISTING 36
Map: Bay Area LEED Projects Over 50,000 Square Feet
Waiting There Is Half the Fun SFO brings the latest of amenities to its storied terminals
Leading The Pack California has the most LEED projects by far
ECO DISTRICTS 58
Environmental Change One Block at a Time Portland-based nonprofit skips the Bay Area as it kicks off its national initiative but hopes to be inclusive shortly
FINAL OFFER 64
Wellness Above All A new building industry standard takes a more holistic measure of the built environment
Where the largest, highest-rated LEED projects are
WORD ON THE STREET 46
Sustaining Sustainability Thoughts on evaluating and promoting green practices
Universities and private companies create places to ‘try before you buy’
GREEN FINANCE 22
All In to Synergize Adopting sustainable strategies can be easier today with a number of financial models
ON THE COVER: Thornton Tomasetti’s new office blends creative and practical by converting a hallway into a touchdown meeting space. PHOTO COURTESY OF BENJAMIN GRIMES
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BUILD BOLD BUILD BRIGHT
n o t r e n Swi ry o t S e Insid
#
#
OAKLAND | SAN FRANCISCO | SANTA CLARA | SACRAMENTO
CA Lic N˚ 92 w w w. s w i n e r t o n . c o m
BUILDING MATERIALS
PHOTO BY EUSTACIO HUMPHREY
EPD & HPD 8 | BUILDING MATERIALS 13 | LIVING LABS 18 | GREEN FINANCE 22
What are green buildings made of? Now it’s easier to find out. (See story on page 8.)
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EPD & HPD
THE BUILDING’S NUTRITION FACTS EXPOSED NANCY AMDUR WITH THE LATEST VERSION of the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) rating system, building owners can now get credits for health and environmental product declarations that can help architects, designers and their clients make greener choices when selecting building materials. Sometimes likened to nutrition labels, these disclosures provide transparency about building product contents. LEED Version 4 is “not widely used yet, but we’re launching into the era when it will be,” said Mark Palmer, the senior green building coordinator at the San Francisco Department of the Environment. The new rating system is available now but won’t officially replace Version 3 until next summer. An environmental product declaration, or EPD, is a life cycle evaluation that measures the environmental impact—such as the energy, water and transportation—tied
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to bringing a product to the marketplace. The health product declaration, or HPD, provides a standardized way of reporting the ingredients of building products and what their impact is on health, according to the USGBC. Engineering firm Thornton Tomasetti included EPDs and HPDs when it renovated its new 15,000-squarefoot office at 650 California St. in San Francisco. The company, which moved into its space in November, was part of a beta program comprising about 120 projects worldwide that tested LEED v4 before releasing it to the marketplace. “It’s eminently important” to issue the declarations, said Lynn Simon, a senior vice president at Thornton Tomasetti who has consulted on hundreds of LEED projects. “We need to understand what
they put in our materials, and healthy buildings are very important.” While the firm has not yet completed its paperwork, it is aiming to get LEED v4 Platinum certification, Simon said. EPDs have been in use for more than a decade, but HPDs were first brought within the green building industry in 2011.
The industry beings to standardize EPD and HPD standards Both provide “resources to make good decisions” about products, said Jean Hansen, the sustainable interiors manager in the San Francisco office of HDR Architecture, Inc., who also helped develop and pilot the HPD. Many designers and architects for years have requested details from suppliers about chemicals used in building materials and products, but there was no standard
PHOTOS COURTESY OF BENJAMIN GRIMES
Thornton Tomasetti included EPDs and HPDs when it renovated its offices at 650 California Street in San Francisco.
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EPD & HPD
“We need to understand what they put in our materials, and healthy buildings are very important.” LYNN SIMON, A SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT AT THORNTON TOMASETTI way to ask for or provide it, said Suzanne Drake, a senior interior designer in architecture and design firm Perkins + Will’s San Francisco office. “It’s really amplifying the message that we want to know, and we’re going to make it convenient for you to tell us,” Drake said. For manufacturers, providing these details can give them an edge over competitors, industry experts said. “The ones who are able to figure it out early on get the market share,” Drake said. Interface, a global modular carpet manufacturer, was one of the first companies in North America to market products with EPDs, said Mikhail Davis, Interface’s director of restorative enterprise, who is based in San Francisco. The company began issuing EPDs in 2009, and by 2012, issued them globally for nearly all of its products, he said.
Using EPDs is now much more common. “In the last two years, it’s really exploded,” Davis said. “No one wants to say they don’t have [EPDs].” Lisa Britton, president and founder of the 6-year-old Wassaic, N.Y.–based company Alpar Architectural Products, planned to provide healthier products from the start. Alpar, which makes wall protection such as corner guards and handrails, was among about 30 manufacturers that participated in a pilot program to test out the HPD format in 2012. “We spend a lot of our life in buildings, and not knowing what we’re exposing ourselves to is a considerable issue. This is the fist step in trying to get some of the harmful chemicals out of our buildings,” Britton said. But having the information doesn’t necessarily mean anything has to change,
even if a chemical in a product is determined to be hazardous. “Having an HPD is only a piece of information,” Drake said. “It doesn’t automatically mean that product doesn’t have toxic things in it. It just means now we know.” “The health product declaration is a starting point for evaluating health,” Davis said. Often manufacturers don’t realize what is in their products and once they find out, might decide to change it, he added. “Hopefully, you will get improvement just from people asking for transparency,” Davis said. “If no one actually has the data about what this product does or doesn’t do to the environment, there’s never going to be any improvement.” “We’re on the cusp of change here. This is just the beginning,” Hansen said.
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PHOTOS BY EUSTACIO HUMPHREY
Mikhail Davis (above): “Often manufacturers don’t realize what is in their products and once they find out, might decide to change it.”
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SUSTAINABILITY IN ACTION The SAP headquarters project, a 227,522 square foot office building, designed by FXFowle of New York, features flexible office spaces, private and open meeting areas, and innovative conferencing centers that promote conversation and collaboration for over 1,500 employees. The new structure connects to the existing building by an atrium enclosed by a triple-glazed curtain wall system and provides an expansive circulation area for social and corporate gatherings. A high degree of sustainable elements were included in the building and existing SAP Headquarters campus site that helped to synthesize the new facility into the natural landscape. Great care was taken to preserve old growth chestnut trees with protection throughout the duration of construction. Ten trees in the new facility’s footprint were harvested for sustainable re-use within the new building. The trees were milled and fabricated into 500 linear feet of railing cap for the spline rail that all employees would be in contact with on a daily basis.
LEED PLATINUM | CORPORATE HEADQUARTERS EXPANSION | LIVING ROOFTOP | CURTAIN-WALL ATRIUM | OPEN GATHERING SPACES + FLEXIBLE ENVIRONMENTS
SAP Corporate Headquarters - Newtown Square, PA
SAP AMERICA’S CORPORATE HQ
Building Materials
View has installed its Dynamic Glass windows in roughly 100 projects, including the W Hotel in San Francisco.
GLASS AND LIGHT INNOVATIONS BOLSTERING BUILDING MATERIAL SUSTAINABILITY JOE GOSE EFFORTS TO CREATE SUSTAINABLE
commercial buildings by boosting energy efficiency for the past few years have included a range of options, from incorporating materials such as eco-friendly cellulose insulation to installing remote energy management systems. But advances in two other everyday components—a building’s skin and lighting—are beginning to get notice and promise to further drive the greening of commercial properties, as well.
said Brandon Tinianov, vice president of business development with View. So far the company, formerly known as Soladigm, has installed its windows in roughly 100 projects, including the W Hotel in San Francisco, NASA Sustainability Base in Mountain View and Steamboat Christian Center in Steamboat Springs, Colo. “When you’re building a new office and know that the peak load is going to be 25 percent less, that means you can make the HVAC system 25 percent smaller,” he said. “That’s a significant savings. So you have savings on the design side and operations side.” Those savings should be especially attractive to property owners, developers and builders in California, which has mandated that, by 2030, commercial buildings must not consume any incremental energy under the state’s “zero net energy” endeavor. View is working on about 50 projects currently, Tinianov said. The company’s prospects have caught the attention of Menlo Park-based Madrone Capital, a growth company investor that’s tied to Walmart family heirs, which earlier this year announced that it had plowed $100 million into the firm.
PHOTO COURTESY OF VIEW
Advances in building skin and lighting materials is poised to transform the industry Milpitas-based View, for example, has created dynamic glass windows that provide four tints of transition for continuous views without heat or glare. While dynamic glass is nothing new, the 7-year-old company introduced five technological innovations to the windows to enhance their effectiveness, including allowing users to control tinting remotely with smart devices and adding intelligence that anticipates the sun’s angle year-round. All told, the firm’s View Dynamic Glass windows can cut energy usage during peak load times by 25 percent to 30 percent,
The potential contribution that View’s windows and similar products can make to the sustainable building movement also is becoming better understood by organizations that measure the growth and impact of alternative energy solutions. In a report looking at the revenues generated by clean energy companies in varying business segments, Navigant Research estimated that smart glass products in the building industry generated $88 million globally in 2013. But it also marked the first year that windows were included in the building category. Navigant conducted the study on behalf of Advanced Energy Economy, a clean energy association founded by activist Tom Steyer. On the whole, it estimated that sustainable building products generated nearly $44 billion in revenues in the U.S. in 2013, an increase of roughly 25 percent over 2011. By comparison, companies serving the clean electricity business segment focused on solar, wind, nuclear, natural gas and other technologies accounted for revenues of $31.3 billion in the U.S. in 2013, according to the report. Within the building segment, Navigant suggested that sustainable lighting companies generated $52 billion globally in 2013. In particular, it projects that global sales of LED products for commercial buildings will exceed $25 billion in 2021, about 10 times the sales last year.
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EUSTACIO HUMPHREY
Global sales of LED products for commercial buildings are expected to exceed $25 billion in 2021.
“The market potential for this system is enormous.” VERNON NAGEL, CEO OF ACUITY Among other benefits, an LED, or light-emitting diode, is smaller, provides longer life and uses less energy versus incandescent and fluorescent lights. But LEDs are still more expensive today. According to Managed Green, an Anaheim-based firm that provides LED retrofits for businesses, commercial building owners or operators that switch to the technology can reduce power usage by 70 percent and produce enough savings to cover the installation’s cost in about 30 months. A typical apartment complex, in one example, can generate $110,000 in operational savings over five years. John Bruner, president of Managed Green, said that unfamiliarity with LEDs a few years ago posed the biggest challenge to the technology’s widespread adoption. That’s changing as LED products increasingly populate the shelves of Home Depot, Target and local hardware stores. “Business activity, and more importantly the follow-through of management, has turned the corner,” he said. “Now everyone understands that LED is the next wave, and it has become more of a pure financial investment decision that either will or won’t make sense. And there are very few times that it won’t make sense.” While users are benefitting from innovation in the LED space, a growing number of LED manufacturers and suppliers are discovering a deep profit potential. Durham, N.C.-based LED maker Cree, which supplied the lights for eastern span of the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge, in May introduced its LED T8 lamp to replace fluorescent bulbs and is specifically targeting the commercial market. The company estimates that fluorescent sockets are the dominant lighting fixture in commercial buildings, which make up about 40 percent of all lighting in the U.S. Meanwhile, Atlanta-based lighting solution company Acuity Brands was recently recognized for 11 lighting and control products in the 2014 Illuminating Engineering Society Progress Report, which showcases the year’s most significant developments in the art and science of lighting. In early 2013, Acuity acquired San Francisco-based Adura Technologies, a developer of wireless controls and energy management systems. Acuity reported in its fiscal third quarter earnings call this summer that the purchase of Adura and other companies would expand Acuity’s technological expertise as well as geography as it pursues commercial users such as health care facilities, offices and industrial buildings. Among other products, Acuity is testing new retailer-targeted LEDs designed to not only cut power usage and enhance the environment, but to also communicate with customers in the store via smartphones. “The market potential for this system is enormous, adding billions of dollars of potential future growth for Acuity and its partners,” said Vernon Nagel, CEO of Acuity, during the call.
PHOTO COURTESY OF COSTEA PHOTOGRAPHY, INC.
LPA’s new San Jose office features a ventilated fold that helps air circulate throughout the space.
Living Labs
PHOTO BY LAURA KUDRITZKI
Project Frog’s San Francisco office features a working air and lighting monitoring system.
LIVING LABS GUIDE GOING GREEN JOE GOSE
Universities and private companies create places to ‘try before you buy’
CALIFORNIA’S MANDATE that commercial buildings achieve zero net energy performance by 2030 and the U.S. Department of Energy’s goal to halve building energy usage are creating a sense of urgency within the commercial real estate industry. They’re hardly on their own, however, particularly in the San Francisco Bay Area. Several so-called “living labs” in the region are fostering innovation by creating buildings of the future. Their goal is to help developers, architects, corporations and others understand the real-life implications of selecting lights, windows and operating systems that best optimize energy efficiency for their particular use. Some of the labs are tied to universities and have been around for years, while
others have only recently opened and have been primarily driven by the private enterprises that benefit from their findings. DPR Construction, for example, retrofitted 945 Front St. in San Francisco in an effort to create a certified net-zero building that will produce more energy than it consumes. In May, the company moved into the 24,000-square-foot building, where its regional headquarters will be based. Not only does it fulfill the contractor’s mission to promote sustainability and environmental responsibility, but it also is a green showroom where clients can observe the actual impact of products. Among other components, DPR added solar power, a solar thermal water heater, 13 Big Ass brand fans, solar tube lights and three living walls—plants rooted in a structure attached to the walls. And DPR wants to take this experience further. It can easily bring in new products and materials to test them and measure their impact on the spot. The company has already hosted a design charette, said Ted van der Linden, director of sustainability. “The space has been so well received, and everyone that walks into it has had sort of a ‘wow’ moment,” he said. “The reality is that we were able to do it for just under a couple of hundred dollars a square foot, which fits into the same vein as to what our clients want to spend.” Similarly, Irvine, Calif.-based architecture firm LPA opened a new office in a downtown San Jose office tower late last year that showcases the firm’s commitment to sustainable technologies as it seeks to expand its growing number of clients in Silicon Valley. Innovations include a “ventilated fold” in the center of the space that’s designed to promote air circulation, light reflectance and sound absorption. At 501 Second Street in San Francisco’s South of Market neighborhood, a landlordtenant collaboration between the Swig Co. and Project Frog led to the creation of a
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Living Labs
The space has been so well received, and everyone that walks into it has had sort of a ‘wow’ moment.” TED VAN DER LINDEN, DIRECTOR OF SUSTAINABILITY AT DPR CONSTRUCTION
living lab that displays how lighting and other power systems affect a building’s energy grid. Project Frog produces readyto-assemble component building elements with an emphasis on sustainability. More recently, in July the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory opened FLEXLAB, a research facility that enables private companies to test cutting-edge, energy saving technologies under realworld operating conditions. FLEXLAB features four test beds that contain two separate cells of 600 square feet each. Of the test beds, three are single-story structures, and one is two stories. One of the structures has the ability to rotate in an effort to maximize sun exposure and test its effects. The Berkeley Lab developed the project after it won a $15.9 million contract from the U.S. Department of Energy, which in 2009 began searching for testing facilities to squeeze more energy savings from buildings. FLEXLAB focuses on configuring various building systems such as HVAC, lighting, windows, the building envelope,
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roofs and skylights, furniture, flooring and partitions to maximize efficiency. It’s a strategy that’s needed to produce energy efficiency called for by California’s zero-net energy policy, said Cindy Regnier, the facility’s executive manager. But more broadly, FLEXLAB is supporting the Department of Energy’s mission, she added. Genentech, which is building a 255,000-square-foot office in South San Francisco, has been using the rotating test bed to help optimize the building’s design. The subsidiary of the Roche Group is testing lighting systems, lighting controls, shading products and even materials used in a raised floor, among other elements, she said. PG&E, meanwhile, plans to soon begin two research projects that will last about a year. “Historically, utilities have been giving rebates for installing energy efficient components like air conditioning units or dryers,” Regnier said. “But they’re increasingly getting interested in a system-level approach so that they can get deeper energy savings.”
The California Lighting Technology Center at the University of California at Davis, meanwhile, is a decade-old lab that tests lights for varying uses and publishes its findings for general consumption. Two of its more recent reports look at the changes to Title 24 that took effect July 1 and LED retrofit options for fluorescent lamps, said Kelly Cunningham, the center’s outreach director. Replacing fluorescent lights with LEDs is an especially big topic now, she said, and building owners or managers considering it essentially have three choices: Replace old fluorescent tubes with LED tubes, replace part of the fixture or replace the entire fixture. While simply installing a long-lasting LED tube and “forgetting about it for 15 years” would appear to be the simplest option, it’s tough to gauge which companies in the relatively young industry will be around the long-haul to honor warranties, Cunningham explained. “It’s very much buyer-beware right now in that marketplace,” she said. “You’ve got to do your homework.”
PHOTOS COURTESY OF DREW KELLY
Some of the green features adopted by DPR are highly visible, such as a break room with a communal eating area made of recycled bowling alley tables. Other elements are more subtle, such as Solatubes that bring sunlight deep into the building, and fans that minimize the need for mechanical cooling of the air.
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Green Finance
ALL IN TO SYNERGIZE ROBERT CARLSEN
MORE AND MORE, building owners and developers are adopting sustainability strategies to seek long-term cost savings as well as increasing the long-term value of their assets. For new construction, it doesn’t even have to carry a premium price. As long as the sustainability conversation comes early in a project’s planning and programming stage, a sustainable building’s overall cost can be on par with traditional construction, said Kim Kuettel, marketing manager for Environmental Building Strategies, an energy efficiency consultancy firm based in San Francisco. The firm guided more than 65 million square feet of building projects across the globe, and it was on the team that recently helped develop two net-zero energy retrofit projects in the Bay Area. The costs associated with sustainable practices rise when builders try to add in sustainable elements after the design is set or, even worse, after construction is underway. So where does that leave owners of existing buildings who want to add sustainability features? The answer may lie in financing mechanisms such as MESA, ESA, PACE, ESPC and other premier programs that can in some cases deflect the entire up-front cost of such installations. The Energy Savings Performance Contract (ESPC), implemented with an Energy Service Company (ESCO). This is a scenario where the customer owns the energy efficiency
Adopting sustainable strategies can be easier today with a number of financial models
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improvements and the initial cost of equipment, while the installation may be self-funded by the energy service company. Typically, these contracts are financed by the installer, particularly if the host customer is a municipality, university, school or hospital (collectively known as MUSH) and can access university funds, maintenance and reserve accounts or other cash on hand. MUSH building owners have also combined some equity contributions with some form of debt or lease financing to fund the up-front costs. The Energy Services Agreement (ESA) and Managed Energy Services Agreement (MESA) models. In both these models, the customer does not front the initial cost of the energy efficiency project, but instead enters into an energy services agreement or a managed energy services agreement with an energy services provider that handles the first-cost hurdle by fronting 100 percent of the capital to finance the improvements. The Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) and On-Bill Financing and On-Bill Repayment (OBF/OBR) models. PACE addresses the first-cost and split incentive hurdle, allowing local
Matt Macko, Kimberly Kuettel and Ryan Potvin of EBS check out the rooftop of 945 Front St, where the company is a sub-tenant.
PHOTO BY EUSTACIO HUMPHREY
Improving the energy efficiency of our built environment represents a $279 billion opportunity in the U.S. alone. governments to use their traditional assessment or improvement district authority to provide property owners with the up-front capital for energy efficiency projects. The capital investment is then repaid through assessments levied on property that benefits from these improvements. OBF/OBRs address first-cost hurdle for the customer in a different way. The utility or a third party provides a zero- or low-interest loan or tariff to the customer to finance up to 100 percent of the project cost. Repayment is done through the utility bill. “Improving the energy efficiency of our built environment represents a $279 billion opportunity in the U.S. alone,” states a white paper titled “Innovation and Opportunities in Energy Efficiency Finance,” which was published by the Palo Alto-based law firm of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati. Investment of private capital in this market has the potential to “drive deeper energy savings, grow the clean energy economy and lead to reduced greenhouse gas emissions, as well as produce significant returns for the market leaders that emerge.”
So, how do owners get more bang for their buck in energy efficiency retrofits? “It’s as simple as managing, or, better yet, optimizing the spread between the cost of capital and the return on capital,” said EBS principal and co-founder Matt Macko. “We know from the current lending environment and financial markets that we are in a time of historically low costs of capital—between 3 percent and 5 percent. We also have proven data on decades of energy efficiency investments—many done by large institutional capital providers, REITs and commercial real estate market players—that returns are possible at between 15 percent and 40 percent,” he said. That spread, he added, provides the ability for real estate asset holders to do some pretty creative things with their money, budgets and tenant retention/attraction strategies. “The most bang,” Macko said, “is created not by lightly picking the low-hanging fruit, but by going all in to the point where synergies emerge and economies of scale are created.”
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LEEDING THE WAY
PHOTO COURTESY OF DREW KELLY
LEED UPDATE 27 | GREEN SKYLINE 33 | LEED LISTING 36 | WORD 46
LEED isn’t the only green rating system, but it’s still the most widely accepted. When it promotes something like recycled materials, people listen. (See story on page 27.)
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LEEDing sustainable building in the Bay Area. 2 3 4 5
1 899 West Evelyn Mountain View | LEED Platinum 2 Channel @ Mission Bay San Francisco | LEED Gold 3 Mission District Boys & Girls Club San Francisco | LEED Gold 4 The Exploratorium San Francisco | LEED Platinum 5 Merritt Crossing Oakland | LEED Platinum
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LEED Update
GREEN MARKET MAKER NEIL GONZALES THE LEADERSHIP IN ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENTAL DESIGN
program emerged at a perfect time during an era of increased consciousness about greenhouse-gas emissions, climate change and energy efficiency. When the U.S. Green Building Council launched LEED in 2000, government policies and other initiatives to combat global warming and heighten environmental stewardship were gaining momentum. As part of this movement championing environmental responsibility, commercial construction increasingly was looking to incorporate sustainable elements such as solar power and recycled
The growth in LEED certifications of American office buildings has been particularly dramatic in the past decade. In 2005, LEEDcertified buildings represented less than 1 percent of the total office stock across the 30 largest markets in the country. That has risen to 5.1 percent this year, according to the National Green Building Adoption Index report by the commercial real estate services firm CBRE. Among the factors behind that surge “is the active implementation of energy-efficiency programs by most large institutional owners across very large portfolios,” the report said. “This has been the result of a desire to reduce operating costs, a genuine interest in demonstrating environmental stewardship to investors and recognition that many Fortune 500 firms—the most desired tenants—are now demanding sustainable buildings to meet their own environmental policies.” One key reason why LEED is the ratings standard-bearer is that it is a flexible grading system covering an array of “sustainability issues, including energy, water, waste, supply chain and location,” said Nils Kok, the report’s project leader. In addition, “LEED is grounded in a series of industry best practices and addresses issues important to institutional investors.” While LEED certification in the U.S. distinguishes a structure as having been built beyond the minimum code compliance, Kok added, it gains even more weight in many non-U.S. markets because that designation “represents a high-quality building and is pretty much a requirement for attracting high-quality multinational tenants that are mostly found in institutional investment portfolios.” While the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Energy Star program is complementary to and incorporated into LEED as a best practice, Kok said, it “is not a holistic green-building rating. It’s single-issue (energy only) and gives a rating on comparative energy use for a whole building.” The Seattle-based nonprofit International Living Future Institute issues the Living Building Challenge certification, which
LEED continues to be the dominant rating system, and it’s global aspirations look healthy materials. In the years leading up to LEED’s creation, “there were efforts to make buildings green, but there wasn’t a consistent way to evaluate and verify a building was green,” said Ralph DiNola, executive director for the New Buildings Institute, a nonprofit based in Vancouver, Wash., that works to improve the energy performance of commercial buildings. “Then LEED came about,” DiNola said. It became “a tool for market transformation. It really met a market where [companies] wanted to be leading edge.” Today, LEED is far from the only rating system. Also competing for attention are Energy Star, the Living Building Challenge and Green Globes. But LEED remains the undisputed standard for green-building certification in the U.S. and internationally. LEED is expected to remain the coveted designation for those wanting to show not just their building’s strong sustainable capabilities but high overall quality. LEED provides a framework for identifying and integrating practical and measurable ecologically friendly components in a structure’s design, construction, operations and maintenance. To date, about 54,000 commercial and residential projects in 135 countries are participating in LEED, comprising more than 10 billion square feet.
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LEED Update
PLATINUM GOLD SILVER CERTIFIED
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One key reason why LEED is the ratings standard-bearer is that it is a flexible grading system covering an array of sustainability issues, including energy, water, waste, supply chain and location. NILS KOK, PROJECT LEADER FOR CBRE requires a project to meet a series of ambitious criteria—including net-zero energy—over a minimum of a year of continuous occupancy. Net zero means a building produces the same amount of energy that it consumes. DiNola pointed out that the Living Building Challenge, unlike LEED, is based on a building’s actual performance, not just what it’s projected to achieve. He believes that attaining Living Building Challenge status is the future trend in green construction. “It’s an aspirational program getting a lot of traction,” he said. “It’s a market differentiator. Companies know [achieving net zero] is the next big thing, and they want to lead it.” California is encouraging net-zero construction. The state’s energy and public utilities commissions have called for all new homes to be constructed to net-zero standards by 2020 and all new commercial buildings to be that way by 2030. But the Living Building Challenge has a high degree of difficulty—even more so than LEED’s top rating of Platinum certification. “Frankly, the Living Building Challenge is hard,” said David Pogue, CBRE global director of corporate responsibility in San Jose. “Over time, people could move closer to that goal, but I don’t see a lot of clients clamoring for that now.”
The-Registry_Ad_9-18-14.indd 3
Green Globes was developed by a division of Chicago-based commercial real estate services firm Jones Lang LaSalle. This system is structured as a self-assessment done in-house by a project manager and a design team. Last year, the U.S. General Services Administration recommended Green Globes and LEED as the certification options for federal construction projects. While popular in Canada, Green Globes has never really caught on in the U.S. partly because it “essentially is self-scored,” Pogue said. “People give more validity to third-party scoring like LEED.” Lesser-known rating systems are trying to draw more attention and acceptance by focusing on a niche market, Kok said. Build It Green, for example, targets residential projects, and Enterprise Green Communities covers affordable housing Other systems used across the globe include Green Star in Australia, CASBEE in Japan and BREEAM in the United Kingdom. But experts say LEED will continue to lead the pack. “Although the barrier to entry for other rating systems could be somewhat low,” Kok said, “switching costs are high as LEED is the dominant language of green building. I think the future of LEED both in the U.S. and internationally is very bright.”
9/18/2014 3:10:41 PM
New Name. New Horizons. Now operating in Northern California as Newmark Cornish & Carey, following our acquisition by BGC Partners, and as a part of Newmark Grubb Knight Frank, we are building upon our #1 standing as the largest Bay Area commercial real estate firm with the most commercial transactions in 2013, continuing as the dominant force in commercial real estate. With best-in-class brokers providing a full range of commercial services to clients in each discipline and market, backed by eight decades of local business operations, Newmark Cornish & Carey’s experience and growth as a company parallels the birth of Silicon Valley and its emergence as a global economic power center. As Newmark Cornish & Carey, we will continue to be Northern California’s premier commercial real estate brokerage.
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LEED Sidebar
V1 V2 V3 V4 LEED UPS THE ANTE AGAIN FOR THE BUILDING INDUSTRY NEIL GONZALES LAST YEAR, the U.S. Green Building Council adopted a new version of LEED that reflects the increasing sustainability improvements in 21st century construction. The latest update, dubbed LEED v4, raises the technical rigor of the greenbuilding rating system, seeking to push the building industry forward along the path of environmental responsibility. “LEED v4 was really needed with the evolution of the building industry,” said Ralph DiNola, executive director for the New Buildings Institute. Among the things that DiNola likes about v4 is the recognition of a growing focus on components of building materials. “There are materials that have health impacts even during the manufacturing process,” he said. Under v4, a building product can contribute to a LEED point just by disclosing that it may adverse environmental and health consequences. “It’s clear v4 will go a long way to bringing greater transparency to the market,” said Nils Kok, project leader of the CBRE-commissioned National Green Building Adoption Index 2014 report. The transparency issue involving building materials “is probably the biggest
thing to come out of LEED v4,” said Brian Back, senior vice president of the council’s Northern California chapter. Materials transparency a key focus of a new effort led by the San Francisco-based chapter—the Building Health Initiative, an ambitious two-year program in which industry leaders from technology, architecture, health care and other sectors pledge to help improve built environments. “There’s big construction going on in the Bay Area” from Salesforce Tower to other campus expansions by major tech firms, Back noted, and these companies “are determining what’s going into the materials. They want to source the healthiest materials. They want to provide the healthiest workplaces and want to communicate that to employees.” To that end, Back said, the initiative provides information and resources pertaining to sustainable materials as well as other concerns. Companies then “can better source materials to satisfy LEED v4,” he added. “LEED is set to change every 3 to 5 years, which is intentionally done by the council as each version of the LEED rating system incorporates new industry best practices and updates to existing industry standards,” Kok said.
The revised LEED also rewards projects for using existing infrastructure and embracing the principles of walkability, connectivity, density and quality alternative transportation. In addition, v4 boosts requirements involving such areas as rainwater management and reducing artificial-light pollution, and expands the scope of water efficiency to total building use. With v4, “USGBC got it right this time when they required building-level energy metering as a new prerequisite, and when they significantly increased the point weighting for enhanced commissioning,” Kok added. LEED’s revamped water credits could be of particular interest in San Francisco, especially considering the state’s severe drought. “I’ve recently seen data that shows San Francisco is lagging in the uptake of the LEED water credits when compared to the other LEED-certified projects in California and the U.S. more broadly,” Kok said. “It’s likely that San Francisco developers and owners will engage with LEED with a greater focus on water savings. Investors will watch this closely given the potential for future volatility in the price of water.”
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Green Skyline
OUR GREEN SKYLINE ROBERT CELASCHI
A list of Bay Area’s LEED certified structures reveals the region’s office stalwarts
READ ON
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Green Skyline
The largest existing entry on the list is One Market Plaza at 1.86 million square feet.
THE U.S. Green Building Council has bestowed its two highest ratings—Platinum and Gold—on 350 Bay Area structures in the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design program. Even just counting the buildings larger than 50,000 square feet and with owners willing to make LEED certification public produces a list of 126. Yes, the identities of some LEED buildings are kept secret, though not by the USGBC. “Confidential status is entirely up to each project team,” said spokesman Jacob Kriss. “There are any number of reasons why a project might choose to be confidential. In some instances, it may have to do with not wanting their competitors to know what they’re up to.” For instance, there’s a confidential 1.4-million-square-foot LEED Gold project in San Ramon. It may be only a coincidence that Chevron Corp. happens to have the most well known 1.4 million square feet in San Ramon. After all, 16 other projects in Bishop Ranch also earned Platinum or Gold certification. The list also doesn’t include a pair of buildings that have been pre-certified before completion. One is the 61-story Salesforce Tower, scheduled to open in 2017 and named for the company that is leasing about half of the total 1.4 million square feet. Salesforce Tower is already pre-certified Platinum. Each floor will draw in outside air, while special glass and sunshades will adjust to allow light in but controlling solar heat gain. Also pre-certified is 535 Mission St. The 27-story office tower already has a Gold designation for the core and shell, and developer Boston Properties is aiming for Platinum for the finished product.
The largest existing entry on the list is One Market Plaza at 1.86 million square feet. It’s really a complex of three buildings in San Francisco’s financial district adjacent to the Embarcadero, the thoroughfare that spans the city’s waterfront. The oldest of the three is the 11-story Landmark, built in 1916 for the Southern Pacific Railroad, and occupied as its headquarters until 1998. The other two are the 42-story Spear Tower and the 27-story Steuart Tower, both built in 1976. Together the three earned LEED Gold certification. One of its green initiatives is a commingled recycling and composting program that management claims can divert 75 percent or more of the building’s waste stream. Actual performance depends on tenant participation, of course. In addition to that, One Market Plaza also works with Green Citizen Inc. to recycle electronics for free, including computers, scanners, printers, copiers and cell phones. Google has recently signed up for 250,000 square feet in the Spear Tower, and Visa has taken 111,000 square feet in the Steuart Tower where it built an executive office and client showcase center. The property is also known for its One Market Restaurant, named by the Gayot Guide as one of the top 10 American restaurants in the United States. The PG&E headquarters building at 245 Market St. takes the No. 2 spot among existing buildings at 1.58 million square feet, and also with a Gold rating. This address is another combination of properties, built from the 1920s through the early 1970s: a 32-story office tower, a 16-story historic office building, a 500-space parking garage and a computer operations center.
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CONSTRUCTION INC. 690 Gibraltar Drive Milpitas, California 95035 408/942-8200 www.devcon-const.com
CAMPUS
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“There’s a reason 95% of our business comes from repeat cu
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PHOTO BY EUSTACIO HUMPHREY
Collectively, the buildings of Embarcadero Center comprise more than 3 million square feet of LEED certified office space.
About 5,000 PG&E employees and contractors work there. The original headquarters building earned LEED Gold in 2007, the first building in the National Register of Historic Places to do so. When that certification expired in 2012, the company submitted the entire complex for certification. Development company Hines revamped the headquarters while making sure it still qualified for the National Register of Historic Places, enabling PG&E to recover 20 percent of the project costs through a federal rehabilitation tax credit. In addition to LEED certification, the complex has an Energy Star Certified rating of 92, meaning it’s in the 92nd percentile of energy efficiency in all U.S. buildings. The largest existing Platinum building on the list is 101 California St. Its score of 94 points in 2011 was the highest ever awarded in the Existing Building category at the time.
RESIDENTIAL
The 1.46 million-square-foot building was then 29 years old. Hines developed the 42-story tower and still manages it. The company claims 101 California is 42 percent more energy efficient than the average U.S. office building. It’s a popular building for tenants in financial services and insurance; some of its tenants include Merrill Lynch Wealth Management, Deutsche Bank Alex Brown, trading firm Susquehanna International Group and Beazley Insurance Services. Individually, Embarcadero Center One, Two, Three and Four rank Nos. 6, 8, 10 and 11 on the list by size. Viewed collectively, however, they’d top the list at a combined 3.32 million square feet. The quartet of buildings went up between 1971 and 1981 and reach between 30 to 45 stories. This is another effort by Boston Properties, which has been pushing to make older buildings more energy efficient.
INSTITUTIONAL
ustomers — people trust us.” — Gary Filizetti, President, Devcon
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LEED Listing
BAY AREA LEED PROJECTS OVER 50,000 SQUARE FEET 16
24 26 28 29 31
12
4 37
36
27 38 32
21 1 30
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11
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8
2
40
39
23
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34 15
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ON THE MAP WITH THE TOP 40 PROJECT NAME | PROJECT STREET, CITY | GROSS SQUARE FOOTAGE
PLATINUM
GOLD
1 101 California Recertification 101 California St., San Francisco 1,464,955
21 One Market Plaza 1 Market St., San Francisco 1,8553,27
2 525 Market Street Recertification 525 Market St., San Francisco 1,183,847
22 PG&E General Office 245 Market St., San Francisco 1,578,271
3 Pleasanton Corp. Commons Recert 6200 Stoneridge Mall Rd., Pleasanton 608,588
23 Moscone Convention Center 747 Howard St., San Francisco 1,202,650
4 The Pyramid 600 Montgomery St., San Francisco 571,527
24 Four Embarcadero Center 4 Embarcadero Center, San Francisco 933,813
5 100 Montgomery Recertification 100 Montgomery St., San Francisco 475,518
25 Market Square SF 1355 Market St., San Francisco 851,390
6 California Academy of Sciences 55 Music Concourse St., San Francisco 426,000
26 One Embarcadero Center 4 Embarcadero Center, San Francisco 833,539
7 123 Mission EBOM 123 Mission St., San Francisco 402,052
27 345 California Center 345 California St., San Francisco 791,951
8 221 Main Street 221 Main St., San Francisco 388,990
28 Two Embarcadero Center 4 Embarcadero Center San Francisco 780,304
9 75 Hawthorne Recertification 75 Hawthorne St., San Francisco 357,410 10 Federal Bldg 50 UNP
50 United Nations Plaza, San Francisco 350,213 11 One Bush Street 1 Bush St., San Francisco 313,906 12 655 MWT LLC 655 Montgomery St., San Francisco 291,755 13 Mission Towers II
3979 Freedom Circle, Santa Clara 283,135 14 180 Grand – Recertification
180 Grand Ave., Oakland 280,630
15 SFPUC Administration Office Building 525 Golden Gate Ave., San Francisco 277,511
29 Three Embarcadero Center
4 Embarcadero Center, San Francisco 776,350 30 One Front Street 1 Front St., San Francisco 755,069 31 50 California 50 California St., San Francisco 741,500
GOLD CONTINUED 100 Pine Street Recertification 100 Pine St., San Francisco 443,191 360 Third Street 370 3rd St., San Francisco 410,319 505 Montgomery 505 Montgomery St., San Francisco 365,466 Union Bank 350 California 350 California St., San Francisco 348,500 1 TENTH 875 Stevenson St., San Francisco 343,091 550 California Street 550 California St., San Francisco 336,589 Electronic Arts HQ 209 Redwood Shores Pkwy., Redwood City 328,201 550 Terry Francois 550 Terry A Francois Blvd, San Francisco 315,322 Metro 2 800 Metro Center Blvd., Foster City 295,750 Levi Strauss & Co. 1155 Battery St., San Francisco 290,299 Northgate Mall Redevelopment San Rafael 289,896 1390 Market Street 1390 Market St., San Francisco 287,868 2000 Alameda 2000 Alameda, San Mateo 285,882
32 The Mills Building
BR7 R 2527 Camino Ramon, San Ramon 276,180
33 SFO Terminal 2
Mission Bay 499 Illinois Street 499 Illinois St., San Francisco 270,000
220 Montgomery St., San Francisco 626,014 San Francisco 600,061
34 Intercontinental San Francisco 888 Howard St., San Francisco 564,614 35 Stoneridge Corporate Plaza 6120 Stoneridge Mall Rd., Pleasanton 559,829
100 Spear Street EBOM 100 Spear St., San Francisco 265,413 Pacific Plaza – Recertification 1340 Treat Blvd., Walnut Creek 259,741
The Embarcadero, San Francisco 225,031
36 650 California Street
650 California St., San Francisco 554,665
150 California Street 150 California St., San Francisco 249,960
17 501 2nd St., San Francisco
37 275 Battery Street
BR1 X 6101 Bollinger Canyon Rd., San Ramon 249,045
16 Exploratorium at Piers 15/17
197,396
18 PG&E – San Francisco
2270 Folsom St., San Francisco 128,900 19 Clif Bar Headquarters 1400 65th St., Emeryville 74,508 20 Communty and Student Services Center 25,555 Hesperian Blvd, Hayward, 52827
275 Battery St., San Francisco 521,455 38 Russ Building 235 Montgomery St., San Francisco 512,439 39 595 Market Street 595 Market St., San Francisco 461,271 40 345 Spear Street
345 Spear St., San Francisco 447,059
BR1 Y 6111 Bollinger Canyon Rd., San Ramon 249,045 BR1 Z 6121 Bollinger Canyon Rd., San Ramon 249,045 88 Kearny Street 88 Kearny St., San Francisco 248,682 continued on the next page
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GOLD CONTINUED
BR15 BB 12667 Alcosta Blvd., San Ramon 196,716
Energy Biosciences Building 2151 Berkeley Way, Berkeley 117,665
BR15 DD 12647 Alcosta Blvd., San Ramon 196,716
Shorebreeze II 255 Shoreline Dr, Redwood City 115,623
BR15 AA 12677 Alcosta Blvd., San Ramon 196,716
Shorebreeze I 275 Shoreline Dr., Redwood City 115,309
475 14th Street 475 14th St., Oakland 196,485
Bernal Corporate Park – Blg 2 6800 Koll Center Pkwy., Pleasanton 108,564
UCSF HSE5 CBTR Remodel 835 Market St., San Francisco 192,164
Bernal Corporate Park – Blg 1 6700 Koll Center Pkwy., Pleasanton 108,564
255 California 255 California St., San Francisco 188,636
BR9 S 2409 Camino Ramon., San Ramon 106,740
Treat Towers – 1255 1255 Treat Blvd., Walnut Creek 188,507
CCSF Joint Use Facility San Francisco 102,400
Treat Towers – 1277 1277 Treat Blvd., Walnut Creek 188,507
Interface San Francisco 717 Market St., San Francisco 94,736
114 Sansome 114 Sansome St., San Francisco 182,395
750 Lindaro (Building A) 750 Lindaro St., San Rafael 93,659
1500 Owens St.– Life Sciences Building 1500 Owens St., San Francisco 181,417
Walnut Creek Library 1644 N Broadway., Walnut Creek 91,925
Metro 3 901 Metro Center Blvd., Foster City 175,703
Meraki Headquarters 500 Terry A Francois Blvd., San Francisco 90,165
Facebook MPK16 16 Hacker Way, Menlo Park 166,580
BioMarin – 770 Andersen Dr., San Rafael 74,760
Emery Tech 1400 65th St., Emeryville 227,824
Facebook MPK17 17 Hacker Way, Menlo Park 166,376
781 Lincoln (Building B) 781 Lincoln Ave., San Rafael 73,204
UC Office of the President 1111 Franklin St., Oakland 227,600
CCSF CNB Lot 9 & 10 808 Kearny St., San Francisco 157,353
The Monadnock Building 685 Market St., San Francisco 222,918
College of San Mateo Bldg 10N 1700 W Hillsdale Blvd., San Mateo 142,901
UCSF Institute For Regeneration Medicine 35 Medical Center Way., San Francisco 68,500
Lake Merritt Tower 155 Grand Ave., Oakland 218,801
T2772: San Rafael 125 Shoreline Pkwy., San Rafael 133,997
California Memorial Stadium 210 Stadium Rim Way, Berkeley 216,527
Facebook MPK 12 1601 Willow Rd., Menlo Park 133,837
BR8 Q 3000 Executive Pkwy., San Ramon 210,526
Facebook MPK 14 1601 Willow Rd., Menlo Park 133,700
BR8 O 5000 Executive Pkwy., San Ramon 210,526
Armstrong Senior Housing 5600 3rd St., San Francisco 130,930
BR8 P 4000 Executive Pkwy., San Ramon 210,526
1100 Park Place 1100 Park Pl., San Mateo 127,633
1300 Clay 1300 Clay St., Oakland 210,165
Sycamore Plaza II 6701 Koll Center Pkwy., Pleasanton 123,063.
Metro 4 801 Metro Center Blvd., Foster City 208,398
Clark Kerr Campus Renewal (Phase 2) 2601 Warring St., Berkeley 121,611
500 Howard Street Foundry Square IV 500 Howard St., San Francisco 247,957 475 Brannan 475 Brannan St., San Francisco 247,254 UCSF Building 19A 1675 Owens St., San Francisco 237,000 BR3 EE 2603 Camino Ramon, San Ramon 233,674 BR3 HH 2633 Camino Ramon, San Ramon 233,674 BR3 FF 2613 Camino Ramon, San Ramon 233,674 BR3 GG 2623 Camino Ramon, San Ramon 233,674 2 Harrison Street 2 Harrison St., San Francisco 232,927 188 Spear Street 188 Spear St., San Francisco 232,156 Jamestown Premier Pacific Place II 22 4th St., San Francisco 231,995 UCSF Cardiovascular Research Building 555 Mission Bay Blvd. So., San Francisco 231,000
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Kaiser Bishop Ranch MOB 2300 Camino Ramon., San Ramon 66,461 1200 Park Place 1200 Park Pl., San Mateo 60,270 UC Berkeley – Boalt Hall-South Addition Berkeley 54,823 GitHub 275 Brannan St., San Francisco 54,673 800 Market Street 800 Market St., San Francisco 53,715 MTA (1SVN) 6th Floor/Basement TI 1 S Van Ness Ave., San Francisco 53000 SEC San Francisco Regional Office 44 Montgomery St., San Francisco 52,159
Excellence in Sustainable Building Management
488 Almaden Managed by Randy Shuayto Embarcadero Realty Services, LP
DESCRIPTION OF ECHO. Founded in 1989, CREW Network is the industry’s premier business networking organization dedicated to advancing the achievements of women in commercial real estate. Our nearly 9,000 members represent nearly every discipline within the industry and are located in more than 70 major markets across North America. CREW Network seeks to influence the success of the commercial real estate industry by focusing on fulfilling four key initiatives: business development, leadership development, industry research and career outreach. Bringing together members of the commercial real estate industry from the I-80 and 680 corridors, East Bay CREW’s members include everyone needed to “do the deal.” We take pride in doing business with one another. We share news about pending deals, development trends, economic forecasts, and other key insights with one another to facilitate the success of CREW members. The ECHO Awards celebrate the deals and achievements of the most influential women in commercial real estate, from the East Bay and beyond.
deal OF THE YEAR NOMINEES RIVER ISLANDS, A MASTER PLANNED COMMUNITY Lathrop, California Susan Dell'Osso, Colleen Edwards, Lisa Freilicher Headed by The Cambay Group, the development team for River Islands includes some of the nation’s premier designers, planners and thinkers. The resulting master plan is both innovative and engaging. The community embraces the natural landscape of the San Joaquin Delta, a place that celebrates classic elements of sky, land and water. This master planned community includes well-designed homes near mass transit, and is connected to the Tri-Valley via BART and to the Silicon Valley by ACE train. As an eco-sensitive community with an emphasis on healthy living, approximately 40% of River Islands is devoted to open space, parks, lakes, new waterways and trails. The commercial components of the development include several new schools, a planned town center, and plans for approximately 350 acres for a business campus of about 3 million square feet.
emerging LEADER NOMINEES
Pictured left to right: Anagha Clifford, Ella Glower, Inga Miller, Laura Scripture, Paula Sieron
ANAGHA CLIFFORD Attorney, Wendel Rosen Black & Dean LLP My current responsibilities: Counselor, advocate, advisor and attorney for public entity and private business clients with a focused practice on land use and real estate. The best advice I’ve received in my career is: Create personal relationships and to never take anyone for granted. For women just starting out in the commercial real estate industry, my advice is: Ask questions. Don’t be afraid if you do not know everything. Embrace being the only woman in the room... Learn the work and the trade. Acknowledge that you are a whole person with a family, friends and interests outside the industry. ELLA GOWER Partner / Attorney, Miller Starr Regalia My current responsibilities: Prepare governing documents for residential, commercial and mixed-use developments and related easement and land sharing agreements; assist clients with obtaining project approval. The best advice I’ve received in my career is: On a professional level, keep working hard and believe in yourself. On a personal level, you may not have balance in one day or even one week, but you will have balance in your life if you make it a priority. I’ve learned that in order to succeed in this business: You need to enjoy what you do and also enjoy the people you work with. INGA MILLER Associate Attorney, Timken Johnson LLP My current responsibilities: Assist individuals and businesses
structure their real estate companies and investments, including drafting and negotiating arrangements for corporate governance, purchases, easements, leases, and financing. The best advice I’ve received in my career: Do what you love and the success will follow. Those words motivate me to ever re-evaluate whether I am making the most of my life. LAURA SCRIPTURE Principal and Project Manager, Summit Construction Management My current responsibilities: Help fast growing Bay Area-based companies realize their vision of physical spaces. My greatest professional achievement is: Successfully starting my own company and hiring employees who look forward to working with me. The best advice I’ve received in my career is: Do what you love, because if you find that you will pour your heart into it and realize success. PAULA SIERON Financial Services Officer, Bank of the West My current responsibilities: Provide financial services and lending solutions for commercial and business clients and property owners while delivering the highest satisfaction and customer service. My greatest professional achievement: Becoming the number one in the East Bay Region, and joining Elite Circle at Bank of the West, by bringing over $7 million in loans and other investments to the bank in my first nine months.
To enhance professional growth and business opportunities for women as influential leaders in the commercial real estate industry, and to promote their success by providing resources, recognition and networking.
lifetime ACHIEVEMENT NOMINEES
Pictured left to right: Candace Andersen, Ann Blackburn, Joan Buchanan
CANDACE ANDERSEN County Supervisor, District II, Contra Costa County My current responsibilities: Making land use decisions, creating policies and laws, and approving budgets, working to improve the quality of life for those living in Contra Costa County. My greatest professional achievement is: Finding the balance of raising my six children to become successful adults while having a very interesting and fulfilling career as an attorney, elected official, culminating with my current position as County Supervisor. It’s a privilege to shape the future of our community. I’ve learned that in order to succeed in this business: You must act with integrity, show respect for all you deal with, and find solutions where both sides leave the table feeling that they ended up with a fair, equitable or mutually beneficial deal. My personal motto: I can do it all, but I don't have to do it all at once. There is a time and a season for everything. ANN BLACKBURN Founder/CEO of Executive Advisory Forum President/Owner of Blackburn Advisory Services My current responsibilities: Business Management Consultant and Chapter Chair for Executive Advisory Forum, an advisory peer board for CEOs and business owners; Executive Coach and management consultant to larger organizations and
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executives through Blackburn Advisory Services. The best advice I’ve received in my career is: Sometimes you have to move out to move up. I’ve learned that in order to succeed in this business: You must have both the attitude and the aptitude for it. One without the other won’t work. You have to be able to understand the economics, communicate well, and market yourself and your product or services, all the time. For women just starting out in the commercial real estate industry, my advice is: Align yourself with other successful and interesting people both in commercial real estate and other businesses as well. My personal motto: Plan work around life, not life around work. JOAN BUCHANAN Assemblymember, 16th District, State of California My current responsibilities: Legislative policy/laws, and constituent outreach and support. The best advice I’ve ever received in my career is: Always remember that people work with you, not for you. I’ve learned that in order to succeed in this business: There is no substitute for intellect and hard work, and I have learned that women must learn to “ask.“ How do I consistently apply the highest standards in your business, in your networking, and in your philanthropic
lifetime ACHIEVEMENT NOMINEES
Pictured left to right: Leslie Lundin, Sandra Weck
work? I work and meet with all parties, do my homework, and endeavor to make decisions in the best interest of the communities I represent. For women just starting out in the commercial real estate industry, my advice is: Find at least one mentor. My personal motto: Success means doing your personal best. LESLIE LUNDIN Managing Partner, LBG Real Estate Companies, LLC My current responsibilities: Overseeing all things capital, including raising debt/equity for investments, due diligence, reporting, asset management, sales. The best advice I’ve received in my career is: Keep your eye on the ball. I’ve learned that in order to succeed in this business: Don’t take anything personally. How do I consistently apply the highest standards in your business, in your networking, and in your philanthropic work? Set lofty goals and accept nothing less….. don’t hire lazy, thin skinned people who have no common sense. My personal motto: If they can do it, I can do it.
SANDRA WECK Senior Vice President, Colliers International My current responsibilities: Commercial Real Estate broker with Colliers International, with projects that include leasing as a landlord broker, retail tenant representation throughout the Bay Area, retail commercial property sales, apartment complex sales, and residential housing project sales. My greatest professional achievement is: Receiving awards that have been bestowed upon me and which illustrate how I am perceived in the business. The best advice I’ve ever received in my career is: There are two pieces of advice I will give to a woman in this business: (1) Treat everyone equally. The smallest client you have today could be one of your most important clients tomorrow. (2) Do not try to be “one of the boys.” My personal motto: People may forget what you did but they will never forget how you made them feel.
ECHO AWARDS TO BE PRESENTED ON: Wednesday, October 22, 5:30 - 8:00 PM Cerruti Cellars, 100 Webster Street, Oakland Register to attend the ECHO Celebration at
www.eastbaycrew.org
To enhance professional growth and business opportunities for women as influential leaders in the commercial real estate industry, and to promote their success by providing resources, recognition and networking.
sustained LEADER NOMINEES
Pictured left to right: Cheryl Hayes, Kristina Lawson, Julie Massey, and Amy Matthew
CHERYL HAYES Vice President / Business Development Officer, SBA Lending, Bank of the West My current responsibilities: Working with small and medium-sized companies to provide them the financing that they need to grow their business, with a specialization in SBA lending. The best advice I’ve ever received in my career is: To always have integrity. When you act with integrity, you can always feel good about what you are doing and others will also notice that about you. The most valuable thing that you have is your reputation and that should be protected and nurtured throughout your career. KRISTINA LAWSON Partner, Manatt Phelps & Phillips LLP & Mayor, City of Walnut Creek My current responsibilities: Shaping the future of communities across California through work as a land use and environmental attorney and through public service as Mayor of the City of Walnut Creek. My greatest professional achievement: ...Is yet to come. When I grow up, I want to be: Known as someone who makes a difference in other people’s lives. The best advice I’ve received in my career is: Learn everything you can from everyone you meet. You have to build strong relationships that will endure the inevitable industry changes.
JULIE MASSEY Escrow Officer and Branch Manager, Old Republic Title Company My current responsibilities: Performing escrow functions and issuing title insurance for all types of commercial real estate. The best advice I’ve received in my career is: Don’t be afraid to pick up the phone. I’ve learned that in order to succeed in this business: You must be practical, prompt & personable, knowledgeable, nice and confident, and have excellent resources you can call upon when you need help. For women just starting out in the commercial real estate industry, my advice is: Know that you are capable of being great at your job. Don’t be afraid to utilize your resources. Raw strength aside, men have nothing on you. AMY MATTHEW Partner / Attorney, Miller Starr Regalia My current responsibilities: Real estate litigator representing developers, land owners, homebuilders, title companies and financial institutions in all facets of real estate disputes. When I grow up, I want to be: Doing exactly what I am doing today. I have control over my career, I have a successful marriage and two wonderful sons. I enjoy my practice and enjoy my commitments to others in my community. For women just starting out in the commercial real estate industry, my advice is: Work hard and find a mentor that will challenge you to improve.
sustained LEADER NOMINEES projects that shape communities. The best advice I’ve received in my career is: Collaboration is better than competition. Teams deliver a better product and are usually more efficient and cost effective in the long run. Working with a supportive and collaborative team is more satisfying than a job filled with people trying to undermine one another.
Pictured left to right: Pamela Mintzer and Lori Sanson
PAMELA MINTZER Partner / Attorney, Wendel Rosen Black & Dean LLP My current responsibilities: Represent public agencies in matters involving eminent domain, inverse condemnation and public agency law, helping to deliver transportation and infrastructure
LORI SANSON Executive Vice President, DeNova Homes, Inc. My current responsibilities: Responsible for overseeing Sales & Marketing and Property Management, as well as working with DeNova’s legal team on corporate and contract review. Also responsible for working closely with Forward Planning, architects and designers to ensure DeNova Homes’ products continue to be the very best. For women just starting out in the commercial real estate industry, my advice is: Be true to yourself. Don’t worry about being a “woman in a man’s world.” Let your work speak for itself.
corporate EXCELLENCE NOMINEES ARGO INSURANCE BROKERS
COOPER WHITE & COOPER
As the Managing Director of Argo Insurance, Linda Giffin has served the needs of commercial real estate clients through Argo Insurance and its acquiring organization, Integro, for decades. Integro’s dedication to support and promote women in their careers is evident by the management team: In addition to Linda’s leadership, Ann Anderson is the President of Integro Northern California and leads up the New York Real Estate Division; Sue Carson leads the San Francisco office’s construction team.
Cooper, White & Cooper LLP is a 100+ year old law firm that has long been committed to influencing the success of women lawyers and particularly those servicing the real estate industry. Cooper's approach has been two pronged: support of women currently in the field to keep them engaged and on a path to success, as well as education about and exposure to the practice to create a pipeline of women interested in such a career in the future.
BANK OF THE WEST Bank of the West has a long history of supporting women at all levels of the bank as well as women specifically involved in the commercial real estate arena. Over 40% of its Vice Presidents and top staff are women; women are well-represented throughout the organization. Bank of the West was recently recognized by American Banker as the bank that has the Most Powerful Female Team in Banking.
HOMEAID NORTHERN CALIFORNIA HomeAid builds new lives for homeless families and individuals through housing and community outreach. Homelessness impacts women and their children because of issues like domestic violence, poverty, divorce and addiction. HomeAid advances the achievements of women within the building industry by providing community outreach and networking opportunities.
To enhance professional growth and business opportunities for women as influential leaders in the commercial real estate industry, and to promote their success by providing resources, recognition and networking.
Word on the Street
What are the most important ways to evaluate or measure a sustainable project? There are many measures of a project’s sustainability, including occupant health, mechanical system efficiency, or the materials used in a building. The USGBC LEED system is commonly used to qualify these. Approximately 80 percent of XL’s work is going through LEED certification. As we continue to raise the bar for sustainability, our goals will include the Living Future Institute’s Living Building Challenge. Where LEED currently rates buildings based on assumed use and outcomes, the Living Building Challenge calls for the creation of buildings that operate as cleanly and efficiently as nature’s architecture. SARAH THOMPSON, SUSTAINABILITY COORDINATOR, XL CONSTRUCTION
What does sustainability in the future entail?
SUSTAINING SUSTAINABILITY Thoughts on evaluating and promoting green practices
Sustainability today is impacting every aspect of owning or occupying a building. It’s no longer confined to ownership’s back of the house operating systems and a high LEED rating. Sustainability going forward includes the tenant and how they use the space, making sure they pay for their energy use, and encouraging them to furnish the space with low VOC (volatile organic compound) and sustainable furniture, fixtures and equipment. It also has to do with outdoor space/roof decks, EV charging stations, bike storage, showers and location near mass transit. MEADE BOUTWELL, SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, CBRE
What can we do to apply sustainable practices throughout the industry more broadly? We must prioritize radical sustainability and regeneration in the fullest sense. We must dare to question and minimize our total carbon footprint including mobility, energy and water use, embodied carbon, impacts of consumption and waste personally and socially. Projects must start from the premise of repairing and improving the social and environmental fabric and the health of the community, reducing our collective resource demands, addressing the disparities of income and access, and aim for a response that promotes and supports a healthy, equitable community. We must innovate to create opportunities from the challenges we face. ANDREA TRABER, PRINCIPAL, INTEGRATED DESIGN SERVICES
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SUSTAINABLE DESIGN
PHOTO COURTESY OF JOE FLETCHER
SFO TERMINAL 3 48 | SUSTAINABLE BAY AREA 55 | ECO DISTRICTS 58 | FINAL OFFER 64
There’s nothing boring about the new boarding area at San Francisco International Airport. (See story on page 48.)
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SFO Terminal 3
WAITING THERE IS HALF THE FUN ROBERT CARLSEN BUOYED BY POSITIVE PUBLIC AND PRIVATE RESPONSE to its design of San Francisco International Airport reconfigured Terminal 2 (the former international terminal), architecture firm Gensler had a host of tried-and-true sustainable and hospitality ideas for the redesign of a boarding area in Terminal 3. T2, which was originally built in 1954, reopened in April 2011 after a massive $383 million renovation through a design-build partnership between Turner Construction and Gensler. Today it is used by American Airlines, one of its first tenants, and Virgin America airlines, and it is the nation’s first LEED Gold-Registered Terminal and one of the most modern and sustainable terminals in the United States. It’s the larger of the two projects at 640,000 square feet, covering 14 gates. Work on T3 had been broken down into two phases, Terminal 3 Boarding Area E, which wrapped up this past January at a cost of $138 million, and Terminal 3 East Connector and Checkpoint, which is scheduled to be completed by the summer of 2015 at a cost of $209 million. Gensler’s main design directors on T2 project, principal Jeff Henry and senior associate Melissa Mizell, also took control of the T3 effort. “San Francisco International wanted to replicate the success of T2, so before the T3 project began we held a visioning session on site at the old BAE, collecting ideas from all parties,” said Henry. All existing concession leases were re-done for a newer, fresher, healthier offering. The team, which included general contractor Hensel Phelps, learned from T2 that today’s airline passenger wanted certain “comforting” things in the holdrooms, post-security concessions and restrooms, Henry said. “We learned from the T2 project about certain passenger conveniences that were extremely popular,” said Mizell. “Then we amped it up with T3.”
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T3 BAE is seeking a LEED Gold certification. Gensler and Hensel Phelps led the team that also included The KPA Group, Hamilton + Aitken Architects, Robin Chiang & Co. and sustainability consultants Thornton Tomasetti. Boarding Area E is only the first phase of the Terminal 3 East project, according to airport spokesman Doug Yakel. The second phase, now under way, will connect Boarding Areas E and F with a new concourse. Gensler and Hensel Phelps are again teaming up for this $209-million project, along with PGH Wong Engineering. The new concourse features a new security checkpoint with up to 10 lanes and new “wait time” security checkpoint technology, an additional three boarding gates and expanded concessions and guest amenities. One of the most important amenities incorporated in the T3 BAE project was “power,” Henry said, as in 375 power outlets and nine state-of-the-art work stations, plus free WiFi throughout. Following the success of a yoga room in T2, Henry said they added another in T3, along with restrooms that include private changing rooms and nursing areas with comfortable loungers for mothers and their children. “We also added a flight deck concept (designed by Razorfish) that provides interactive, extensive information about SFO, displacement ventilation for a more comfortable environment, free filtered water from hydration stations, healthier food options, super comfy lounge furniture and adaptive circadian lighting in holdrooms,” he said.
SFO brings the latest of amenities to its storied terminals
“We learned from the T2 project about certain passenger conveniences that were extremely popular, then we amped it up with T3.”
PHOTOS COURTESY OF JOE FLETCHER
MELISSA MIZELL, ONE OF GENSLER’S MAIN DESIGN DIRECTORS ON THE PROJECT
C R I S S Y F I E L D C E N T E R — L E E D P L AT I N U M
3 8 8 F U LT O N S T R E E T, S A N F R A N C I S C O
B R EG A N T E + C O M PA N Y L L P — L E E D G O L D
W E S T E L M , E M E RY V I L L E
BUILDING IN THE BAY AREA SINCE 1971 www.fisherinc.com Pre-construction | General Contracting | Construction Management | Sustainable Construction | Historic Preservation Retail | Education | Corporate Interiors | Residential | Mixed-Use | Restaurant | Cultural
SFO Terminal 3
PHOTO COURTESY OF JOE FLETCHER
Recycled glass chips and recycled-content carpeting add up to a new aesthetic experience at the airport.
Sustainable design furthers SFO’s goal of becoming carbon neutral, said Jay Wilson, Gensler’s construction manager. With new identical, unitized skylights across the ceilings, natural light is one of the project’s main focal points at Boarding Area E. In addition, “vertical fins on the exterior east and west façades add interest and rhythm to the building while providing a more human scale, and when combined with the high-performance glass they reduce heat gains throughout the day,” Wilson said. Other sustainable elements include terrazzo flooring with recycled glass chips, recycled-content carpet, and wood certified by the Forest Stewardship Council. Energy efficiency is another priority, Wilson said. The main energy uses within the building are fan power for ventilation and interior lighting. He said fans use the energy-saving displacement ventilation system deployed successfully in Terminal 2 and interior lighting is at least 15 percent more efficient than the maximum allowed
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Sustainability Coblentz is proud to work with our clients to achieve their sustainability goals. Our experienced attorneys advise clients on a variety of issues, including green building, renewable energy development, CEQA compliance, project finance, tax credits, and policy formation and advocacy.
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SFO Terminal 3
PHOTO COURTESY OF JOE FLETCHER
Passengers don’t have to just sit or shop while waiting for a flight. There’s also a yoga room.
by the state’s energy code. The project also includes solar photovoltaic panels to offset some of its electrical load. The holistic atmosphere of the area is highlighted by certain San Francisco “cultureal” elements, such as four restaurants (local favorites including Klein’s Deli and Mission Bar & Grill) and eight stores, including two “pop-up” shops (with six-month leases). Also, a children’s play area is strategically tucked between the restaurants. What also drove the success of the two terminal projects was the design-build construction delivery system, which SFO’s Yakel described as “our preferred approach.” This gave the team the time to work out complicated design aspects in a compacted schedule before construction actually begins. “We had the time, for example, to discuss variations of design ideas with the general contractor and SFO in order to find the best and least expensive way,” said Mizell.
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www.arborwell.com
Sustainable Bay Area
Whimsical art and a living wall showcased outside of 555 Mission.
LEADING THE PACK DAVID GOLL THE GREEN MOVEMENT has taken root mostly in the so-called “blue” states. San Francisco ranked second in the nationwide 2014 Green Building Adoption Index, barely eclipsed by Minneapolis-St. Paul in the annual survey conducted by CBRE Group Inc. Cities were scored by the percentage of commercial space certified by the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design program of the U.S. Green Building Council. San Francisco has 39.2 percent of its commercial space LEED certified. Other Bay Area cities on the list included 12th-ranked Walnut Creek with 20.1 percent and San Jose in 18th place with 17.5 percent. “California is head and shoulders above the rest of the country, leading the pack
PHOTO BY STEVEN BORJA
California has the most LEED projects by far
on sustainability issues,” said Daniel Murtaugh, corporate director of engineering in the San Francisco office of Boston Properties Inc. The Boston-based real estate investment trust owns, manages or has developed more than 46 million square feet of Class-A office space in the Bay Area, Boston, New York and Washington, D.C. “We are codifying best practices on both the state and major city level. The social climate has been present in California for many years to protect natural resources, so the fundamental foundation is in place to encourage the conservation of energy and water. And the current drought, of course, has only heightened our sensitivity to saving water,” added Murtaugh. San Francisco took the lead six years ago with its adoption of green building codes, two years before the California Legislature passed the statewide CALGreen requirements. California, in turn, is the only state in the nation with such a standard. All new San Francisco buildings of any size, as well as renovations to existing structures exceeding 25,000 square feet,
must include water and energy conservation measures and use of environment ally friendly materials. San Francisco requires all existing municipal buildings where more than 5,000 square feet is being upgraded to achieve LEED Silver certification. Toxic construction materials are banned, as are certain types of wood, in new construction as well as renovations of city structures. According to the USGBC, California ended in a tie with New York for fifth place last year in the per capita square footage of building space it built or converted to LEED standards. Illinois finished first. But, because of its size, California’s sheer numbers dwarfed other states. California recorded 595 projects that were LEED certified during 2013, encompassing more than 73 million square feet of space. The next closest, New York, recorded 259 projects and nearly 38 million square feet. In San Francisco, Boston Properties’ showcase sustainable building projects include the 27-story 535 Mission building and the 61-story Salesforce Tower at 415
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Sustainable Bay Area
At left: Kilroy Realty’s development at 333 Brannan, featuring a green roof, windows that open, and the abililty for tenants to monitor their own energy use. Upper right, the ceiling at 680 Folsom, developed by Boston Properties. Bottom right: Danny Murtaugh of Boston Properties at Embarcadero Center. here?
DANIEL MURTAUGH, CORPORATE DIRECTOR OF ENGINEERING, BOSTON PROPERTIES INC. Mission St. Green features will include photo cell sensors to lower artificial lighting during daytime hours, light-colored “cool” roofs to reflect heat, and capture of rainwater to use for landscape irrigation. One of Boston Properties’ most visible green renovations has been at the 4.8 million-square-foot Embarcadero Center office and retail complex, built between 1972 and 1982. Murtaugh said his company is also busy upgrading to LEED status other existing buildings it owns in the Bay Area, including a seven-story, 150,000-square-foot building at 2440 W. El Camino Real in Mountain View— a mid-rise structure more typical of office campus-filled Silicon Valley. San Francisco, the Bay Area and California are leading the green pack because the environmental ethic has translated into political action to support and even require green building standards, said David Kaneda, San Jose-based managing principal of the Integral Group Inc., a global sustainable building design firm.
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Kaneda spent several days in Washington, D.C., in September as part of a subcommittee of the federal General Services Administration devising sustainable building targets for government buildings. His subcommittee’s recommendation that half of all federal building space nationwide become net zero by 2030 was accepted by the larger GSA Green Building Advisory Committee, and is now under consideration by top GSA officials. Not to be outdone, Kaneda said, California officials hope to reach that same goal in space operated by the state government by 2025. Efforts to promote green building measures still face stiff hurdles throughout the Bay Area. There are no fewer than 80 jurisdictions with their own building codes, said Ron Fong, a member of the Silicon Valley committee of the USGBC’s Northern California chapter. The Bay Area also has a hodgepodge of smaller water districts. But market forces are harder to resist. “The main advantage [of going green] is market competitiveness,” Murtaugh
said. “Clients in places like San Francisco are concerned with business return on investment, but also providing leadership in sustainability. It’s critically important to them.” For example, installing green energy features like sensors to limit lighting and heating and air conditioning can slice a tenant’s energy bill by 18 to 25 percent. Sara Neff, vice president of sustainability for Kilroy Realty Corp., said her company’s West Coast tenants demand buildings with sustainable features. The Los Angeles-based real estate investment trust operates 13.2 million square feet from San Diego to Seattle. “Unless you’re including those features, you’re not building a product people want. Our tenants know their employees care about sustainability. Because they want top-notch employees, they care about it, too. This is true in technology, biotechnology, entertainment media and start-ups, too,” Neff said.
FAR LEFT: RENDERING COURTESY OF KILROY REALTY; UPPER RIGHT & BOTTOM PHOTOS BY STEVEN BORJA
“The main advantage (of going green) is market competitiveness.”
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Eco Districts
ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE ONE BLOCK AT A TIME DAVID GOLL A MOVEMENT to improve the environmental and economic health of larger metropolitan areas one neighborhood at a time is rising out of the Pacific Northwest, though it has some of its origins in San Francisco. EcoDistricts, a Portland-based nonprofit organization created last year out of the former Portland Sustainability Institute, in June announced its new Target Cities program, a two-year effort to jumpstart a nine-neighborhood revitalization and redevelopment project. The list includes projects promoting economic growth through sustainability in Los Angeles, Denver, Atlanta, Boston, Cambridge, Mass., Washington D.C. and Ottawa, Ontario. No Bay Area cities made the list, but EcoDistricts may add some this fall. “We are continuing to seek opportunities to add to the first list of pilot projects and are looking at a Bay Area project or two,” said Adam Beck vice president of programs. He noted that EcoDistricts has a staff member who lives in Oakland, and Rob Bennett, EcoDistricts’ CEO, formerly served on the task force of San Francisco’s Central SoMa district revitalization project surrounding the $1.6 billion Central Subway rail corridor project along Fourth Street. This part of the city is already considered an eco-district by city planners—with sustainable features such as transit-oriented development and thousands of new residences within walking distance of jobs and stores. Criteria for inclusion in the initial Target Cities list included geographic diversity, a variety of socioeconomic neighborhoods being chosen, and a combination of public, private and nonprofit sponsoring agencies of the projects, Beck said. The Target Cities program has the backing of the Clinton Global Initiative, a nonprofit founded by President Bill Clinton, giving it greater visibility and potentially attracting public and private investment. “Every year, (CGI) endorses projects to help change the world, a project considered a game changer,” Beck said. “Over the next two years, we are amassing an army of partners to provide in-kind and financial help, and we are required to report annually to CGI how we are performing and how we made a difference.” Financial help from CGI for any given project must be matched with funds raised by EcoDistricts, Beck said, adding that the amount of work reflected in the initial list of nine projects is valued at up to $10 million.
Portland-based nonprofit skips the Bay Area as it kicks off its national initiative but hopes to be inclusive shortly How other cities go green (clockwise from top): Ottawa The Isles Linear Park; Los Angeles Little Tokyo Cultural Ecodistrict event; Boston green and clean event; Washington D.C. St. Elizabeths Gateway Pavilion
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Counselor at Law
“The framing of a problem is often far more essential than its solution” Albert Einstein
Steve Wood has served in-house counsel, corporate CEOs, investors, local businesses and family interests, on multi-million dollars transactions, litigation, and dispute resolution. He has provided real estate clients— adjoining landowners, developers, lenders, lessors, borrowers, lessees—with business-oriented, results driven counsel based on substantial experience at the beginning, middle, and end of the investment or project cycle. Virtually all commercial disputes, in particular real estate matters, require a “resolution transaction” (the settlement). Having handled a wide variety of complex and high value matters, he sees the “big picture” in any given transaction or dispute and always operates according to the mantra, “Advocacy for Solutions.” A recent example of his “Advocacy for Solutions” involved multiple disputes between investors over a $75 Million multifamily project in North Hollywood. The parties had been locked in dispute for nearly four years, due to their prior failures to structure and document their goals and understandings. Within less than a month after becoming counsel for one of the investors, he proactively engaged opposing counsels, structured a tolling agreement, then a settlement, and achieved his client’s transaction goals. Put simply, Steve ensures solutions by effectively framing the problems.
Over the past sixty years, Ropers Majeski Kohn & Bentley has conducted a multi-service practice offering litigation and transactional services to domestic and international businesses and individuals. Visit us at www.rmkb.com San Francisco 415.543.4800
Los Angeles 213.312.2000
San Jose 408.287.6262
Redwood City 650.364.8200
New York 212.668.5927
Boston 617.850.9087
Eco Districts
Washington, D.C.’s plans include more sustainable public infrastructure, such as this Virginia Railway Express station.
“We are continuing to seek opportunities to add to the first list of pilot projects and are looking at a Bay Area project or two.”
RENDERING COURTESY OF ECODISTRICTS
ADAM BECK VICE PRESIDENT OF PROGRAMS AT ECODISTRICTS EcoDistricts officials say an incremental approach to greening and improving urban areas is the best way to take a bite out of climate change, economic inequality and crumbling infrastructure. The only California project so far in the Target Cities program is an effort to expand transit-oriented development and more sustainable infrastructure in Little Tokyo, a 20-acre residential and commercial district on the northeast flank of downtown Los Angeles. Other projects cover a wide array of goals: ■■ Improve the ecological condition of a creek area, as well as the local economy and social conditions in Vine City, a largely African-American neighborhood in Atlanta. ■■ Upgrade energy efficiency of housing developments and promote transit-oriented development in the Norfolk Triangle district of Boston. ■■ Upgrade energy efficiency and install more sustainable public infrastructure in downtown Washington D.C., a 138-block area with 90 million square feet of real estate development. ■■ Conversion of The Isles, a 37-acre, a historically significant brownfield site, into a walkable mixed-use urban “village” along the riverfront of Canada’s capital city of Ottawa. Jon Swae, planner in the San Francisco Planning Department, said city officials are considering whether they want to get involved with the Target Cities program. He said the Central
SoMa revitalization could receive beneficial technical support from EcoDistricts, though program participation also requires a financial contribution. The city’s Chinatown neighborhood is also being considered, Swae said. “We are one of the leaders nationally and internationally in encouraging sustainable city making,” Swae said. “Other cities, particularly on the West Coast, like Portland, Seattle and Vancouver, rival us in some areas of sustainability. But we are far ahead of most other cities in terms of water and energy conservation and reducing greenhouse gases.” But, the City by the Bay does not yet have perfect green credentials, he added. It has yet to develop a green or “cool” roof program, and it has one of the smallest tree canopies of any urban area in the nation. Whether it makes the Target Cities list or not, Central SoMa is on its way to becoming a sustainable showcase for San Francisco, Swae said. The district may even include its own water treatment plant that can treat wastewater for reuse as gray water, suitable for use on landscaping. “New housing and investment can provide the catalyst for new infrastructure,” Swae said. “It is going to take a public-private partnership. We can set goals, like creating a net-zero district (energy used offset by renewable energy created on site). Some of that can be accomplished through the city, but we also might need private help.”
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IFMA Credentials
Thank You
to our
2014 SPONSORS
The Silicon Valley Chapter of IFMA is offering exceptional local credential classes led by seasoned facility professionals. IFMA’s SFP® is an assessmentbased certificate program delivering a specialty credential in sustainability.
Sustainability Facility Professional (SFP) October 8-10 Part 1 November 5-7 Part 2 Register today! East Bay CREW always welcomes new members and inquiries.
For more information or to register: www.ifmasv.org admin@ifmasv.org 408-226-0190
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Building for the Future BSB is proud to partner with organizations that positively impact our community. Focusing on local children and those with disabilities, together we can build a legacy for generations to come. Learn more about our community engagement at barryswensonbuilder.com SAN JOSE JESUIT HIGH SCHOOL
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WELLNESS ABOVE ALL ROBERT CELASCHI
A NEW TYPE OF CERTIFICATION is entering the building industry, this one called the WELL Building Standard. Slated to make its debut Oct. 20 in New Orleans at the first WELL Building Symposium, the new standard is a performance-focused system for measuring, certifying and monitoring features of the built environment that impact human health and wellbeing. That includes air, water, nourishment, light, fitness, comfort and mind. The International WELL Building Institute and the Green Building Certification Institute had entered into a formal collaboration to streamline how LEED and WELL work together. To get some insights on the new standard, we spoke with PAUL SCIALLA and PHIL WILLIAMS of research, consulting and real estate development firm Delos Living LLC. Scialla is a founder of both Delos and the WELL Building Institute, and formerly was with both Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley. Williams is the new executive director of project delivery at Delos. He joined this summer after 12 years as vice president of Webcor Builders in San Francisco. Delos has its headquarters in New York City, but early in September it also opened a small San Francisco office in the mid-Market neighborhood.
Why do we need a WELL Building Standard? Are today’s buildings that unhealthy? SCIALLA: We looked at the great work that certain indices like LEED, starting to address the human condition in the environment, and we wanted to push the envelope a great deal further. We wanted to move beyond daylighting and air exchange. We want to look at every way the work environment affects the human condition.
There are a lot of building standards out there already, such as LEED, EnergyStar, Green Globes, the Living Building Challenge and others. Can the industry absorb another one? SCIALLA: We are very pleased to announce our affiliation with GBCI. We felt it was essential for us to take advantage and partner up with that infrastructure. The last thing the industry wants is yet another governing body and registration. We felt [that] we could streamline the effort. WILLIAMS: As we have gotten more mature on energy, it is more important that we look at what is happing within the building. Everybody
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always recognizes they don’t have individual expertise to have the certification. Everybody would like to rely on evidence-based health and wellness. Right now it’s what the industry recognizes that it needs. The response has been extremely supportive.
How will you cut through the noise of so many certification types? SCIALLA: We find for the most part they are complementary. With LEED and the WELL Building Standard we have identified up to 20 percent of overlap in things that are already addressed, especially in the indoor air quality bucket. We are seeing synergy here. WILLIAMS: The ability to have companies like Webcor, CBRE or Gensler to be early adopters is key. You’ll also see people like DPR [Construction] was one of the peer reviewers.
What is your role in introducing and promoting the Well Building Standard? How will you measure success? WILLIAMS: We have some pilots for the last year. One of the first certified WELL spaces is the CBRE office in Los Angeles.
On Oct. 20 will be the official rollout with the WELL Building Symposium in New Orleans. There will be a published set of guidelines. There will be online registration. For right now a lot of the expertise resides in Delos, but that will be rapidly transferred to the industry. It’s an idea that appears to be revolutionary, but it’s really evolutionary. It’s physically taking information from science and medicine and giving it to people who didn’t know it existed. We were all doing our best. We weren’t doing things wrong, but we weren’t doing things to the best of our ability because we didn’t know the information existed. SCIALLA: We’ve got upwards of 40 projects now registered to achieve WELL Building certification. We look forward to demonstrating to industry the collaborative nature of this approach. The well building standard is going through a peer review. This is about taking a half-decade body of work that we have assembled and opening it up for industry.
[Please go online for a full version of this interview, which will debut during the month of October]
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