Sustainable Development Update - October 2018

Allen Matkins
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Sustainable Development Focus

Green-certified office buildings reach record number

COMMERCIAL PROPERTY EXECUTIVE - Sep 28 Green-certified space across 30 U.S. metros has reached a record-high, accounting for 41 percent of the market’s total stock, according to the fifth annual U.S. Green Building Adoption Index by CBRE and Maastricht University. Additionally, 11.5 percent of all buildings the report analyzed are Energy Star-labeled, while 5.2 percent are LEED-certified. Chicago continues to be the nation’s greenest city, with a total of nearly 70 percent of certified space, and well above the national 41.2 percent share. San Francisco follows closely with a 64 percent share of certified space.

Workspaces that promote health, wellness can save companies millions

BISNOW - Oct 1 High-performance buildings can increase a tenant’s profits by millions during the course of a standard 10-year lease, according to a new report form stok, released Tuesday. This savings comes from increased retention, productivity, and reduced absenteeism. High-performance buildings are designed to improve health and wellness, and they also improve resource efficiency, minimize environmental impacts from design to demolition, increase resiliency, and provide a higher financial return than traditional buildings, according to the report. Organizations inside high-performance buildings average an annual profit increase of $3,395/employee or $18.56/SF, providing tenants additional value that they can expect when leasing or designing space in these buildings, stok partner Warren Neilson said. This equates to about $2.8 million in annual profit, according to the report.

New initiative helps more schools go solar

SOLAR INDUSTRY MAGAZINE - Oct 2 Solar Schools 2025, an initiative of the nonprofit Renewable Nation, is seeking 50 K-12 schools across the U.S. that can partner with schools that have already gone through the process of installing solar. Under the new initiative, Solar Schools 2025 will target 50 schools per year to partner with schools that have gone solar; provide a step-by-step package of materials for schools that want to go solar; and produce a weekly series of webinars about installing solar at schools.

U.S. Supreme Court denies Vinod Khosla’s appeal

THE MERCURY NEWS - Oct 1 The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected a request from Silicon Valley billionaire Vinod Khosla to weigh in on the long-running battle over Martins Beach in San Mateo County, turning down a case that could have rewritten coastal access laws in California and across the United States. Khosla, in his petition for the nation’s highest court, had argued that the California Coastal Commission violated his property rights by requiring him to obtain a permit before he could legally padlock the gates to a private road to the beach south of Half Moon Bay. Monday, after losing his fourth legal challenge on the issue, Khosla conceded he will apply for the permit. But he vowed further lawsuits if the commission does not rule in his favor. Advocates for opening the beach rejoiced at Monday’s latest turn in a saga that has drawn national attention and tested the limits of California’s laws that protect the public’s right to access the state’s beaches.

California gives BART control over development at its stations

SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE - Sep 30 BART can draft plans to fill empty station parking lots with dense housing and shops, under a state law that Governor Jerry Brown signed late Sunday. The bill empowers the transit agency to zone its properties — an estimated 250 acres of blank asphalt — and limits cities’ ability to delay or obstruct development. Democratic Assembly Member David Chiu of San Francisco and his co-sponsor, Democratic Assembly Member Tim Grayson of Concord, pitched AB2923 as a sensible solution to two gnawing regional problems: traffic congestion and the housing crisis. They say BART could replace surface parking spaces with compact parking structures — going vertical instead of sprawling. Supporters said the bill would add 20,000 new homes and ease pressure on jammed freeways.

DISCLAIMER: Because of the generality of this update, the information provided herein may not be applicable in all situations and should not be acted upon without specific legal advice based on particular situations.

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