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FEBRUARY 25 | OMNI PARKER HOUSE | BOSTON, MA
february 25, 2014
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WEEK OF MONDAY,FEBRUARY 3, 2014
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A Publication of The Warren Group MAKING THE GRADE? COMMERCIAL INTERESTS
Boston Building Owners Wary Of Energy Reporting Law
Patrick’s Superstorm Solution
A DROP IN THE BUCKET? Why New York’s Climate Change Plan Should Be Emulated Here
W
ow, sure is a lot cheaper dealing with climate change here in Massachusetts than down in the Big Apple, where not only real estate is more expensive, but apparently storm barriers as well. In case you missed it, New York City has rolled out a $20 billion plan to erect a veritable Atlantic Wall of coastal defenses against the next superstorm. Talk about flushing those billions right into the Hudson! Well, all I can say is thank the good Lord for Gov. Deval Patrick and our sage legislative leadership on Beacon Hill, who’ve figured it out how to do it all for a little over $50 million. So smart, these guys. Who knew? OK, I am being facetious. Here in the Bay State we are taking on the existential threat of climate change and coastal inundation with the equivalent of Elmer Fudd’s pop gun, while New York, deeply scarred by Sandy, is going at it full blast with a howitzer. And for developers in Boston and up and down the Bay State, who have invested untold billions, this is nothing short of a potential nightmare, with only a matter of time before Boston inevitably gets slammed by one of these monster storms.
Commercial Landlords Scramble To Compile Power, Water Use Data
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BY STEVE ADAMS BANKER & TRADESMAN STAFF WRITER
ommercial property owners in Boston have a big homework assignment due May 15 but some are praying for an extension and warning that their grades could be misleading. By May 15, owners of an estimated 1,050 commercial buildings that are 50,000 square feet or larger are required to submit data on 2013 power and water usage to the city. The Building Energy Reporting and Disclosure Ordinance (BERDO), approved by the City Council last May, was submitted by former Mayor Thomas Menino with the stated goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. While sympathetic to its greenfriendly goals, some real estate and business groups say the law is confusing, burdensome to smaller landlords and could scare away potential tenants when building data is publicly released in coming years. Many property owners were becoming anxious because they hadn’t received any outreach from the city until late January, said Greg Vasil, CEO of the Greater Boston Real Estate Board. “When you try to change someone’s behavior, you really have to reeducate them and unless you have a serious effort, that’s not going to happen here,” Vasil said. For now, there are no penalties for energy-hogging properties, only potential fines for owners who fail to submit the required data on time. The ordinance calls for fines of up to $200 a day and a maximum of $3,000 per year for each building that fails to report. The city began its outreach on Jan. 22, sending a letter to all landlords whose properties are required to report this year, based upon assessors’ Continued on Page 7
Residential ������������������������������������������������������������ 11 Classified Sections ������������������������������������������������� 13 Records Section ������������������������������������������������������ B1
6.6% YEAR: 2100 SEA LEVEL RISE: 3-6 FEET PERCENT OF BOSTON FLOODED:
30.1% Source: Boston Society of Architects
Amazingly, Gov. Deval Patrick has been playing up his $52 million proposal as if it were start of some global warming Manhattan project. Maybe he hasn’t read the headlines out of New York, or simply thinks most of us here – in the Hub of the universe after all – aren’t concerned about goings on in such distant lands. However, given the scale of the threat we face here in our coastal state, Patrick’s proposed $52 million is just large enough to draw ridicule from right-wing blockheads like radio host Michael Graham, but not enough to do much else. It is but a drop in the bucket, if that, spare the pun, with the money to be spread out over the state, instead of concentrated in Boston and a few other key and vulnerable coastal centers. We are talking about $10 million for seawalls in coastal communities – a Band-Aid compared to the billions New York plans to spend on floodwalls and reinforced dunes, bulkheads, surge barriers and levees. The other $40 million in Patrick’s plan will be doled out as grants to communities to build emergency power backup systems, using green energy, of course. Let’s just Continued on Page 3
Bill Shifts Liability After Hack Attacks
By The Numbers ������������������������������������������������������� 6
Banking & Lending �������������������������������������������������� 9
YEAR: 2050 SEA LEVEL RISE: 1-2 FEET PERCENT OF BOSTON FLOODED:
Small Thinking For Big Times
Proposed Law Targets Data Breaches
Points ����������������������������������������������������������������������� 4
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According to a report released last summer by the Boston Society of Architects, 30 percent of Boston will be flooded by the year 2100.
GUARDING THE GATE
CONTENTS
Commercial & Industrial ������������������������������������������ 7
HOW HIGH WILL IT GO?
BY SCOTT VAN VOORHIS BANKER & TRADESMAN COLUMNIST
A
BY LAURA ALIX BANKER & TRADESMAN STAFF WRITER
bill pending before the Massachusetts legislature would more evenly distribute the financial responsibility for dealing with data breaches at retailers, though bankers meanwhile have done what they can to mitigate their own security threats and recoup their customers’ losses. The wave of cyberattacks on retailers has
been seemingly endless. First it was Target. Then, Neiman Marcus. Most recently, the craft supply chain Michael’s announced it, too, was investigating a possible security breach. But the bill currently pending before the state legislature was actually not introduced in response to the Target fiasco. State Sen. Anthony Petruccelli sponsored the legisla-
tion around this time last year for consideration during this year’s session. David Floreen, a senior vice president at the Massachusetts Bankers Association, likens it to the assumption of liability in an automobile accident: The driver who caused the accident is responsible for assuming whatever automotive or medical costs the Continued on Page 9