News
BuildingsNY and Green BuildingsNY: Day 2
June 18, 2009
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| Yesterday, we dropped by day two of BuildingsNY/Green BuildingsNY to see more exhibits and seminars. First stop, a panel addressing the “split incentive” of landlords deferring cost-saving building retrofits because underlying leases divide the returns with the tenant, diminishing the landlord's investment recovery. (Got all that?) The panelists: (standing) HR&A Advisors' Candace Damon, Brookfield's David Cheikin, Natural Resources Defense Council's Ashok Gupta, and Deutsche Bank's Ron Herbst, Studley's Stan Towne, and Stroock & Stroock & Lavan's Jacob Bart. We learned a forum recently convened and came up with guidance for both parties negotiating lease provisions that overcome the incentive. |
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| One of our friends from DC, Akridge CTO Tommy Russo, on hand to pass along his wisdom on energy efficiency. Tommy, who moonlights as a LEED-AP, has a personal interest in savings, having retrofitted his century-old, 4.2k-SF house with no energy bill more than $125. For instance, installing motion detectors in the stairwells of DC's 700 Sixth saves Akridge $78 per stairwell, per month. He hails predictive maintenance and building automation, and says that bringing assets to the next level keeps them occupied (Akridge boasts 99% across its portfolio.) |
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| Don't let the doorman with Virtual Doorman's Ralph Stein and Colin Foster fool you―he's actually a jack of all trades (albeit cardboard). The firm just launched an interactive web portal that allows residents and tenants to use traditional doorman services remotely, notifying the Virtual Doorman about arriving guests, expected packages and deliveries, and other activities. Need to get in at 11pm? You may need to give the Virtual Doorman a password. It even monitors buildings' temperature and HVAC. It's in over 100 residential buildings, but Colin says it's expanding into commercial, aimed at the 10k to 100k-SF building. |
