Here’s How To Reduce Energy Costs In Commercial Real Estate

High-quality automated shading slashes lighting energy use, while at the same time enhancing occupant comfort. Modern LED lighting with advanced controls also greatly cuts lighting energy use, and offers superior results. These are among key findings of research undertaken by the Portland, Ore.-based New Buildings Institute (NBI). The insights should provide commercial real estate owners and operators with keys into implementing lighting and shading retrofits in today’s commercial buildings.

In 2017, NBI spearheaded a major research undertaking underwritten by the California Energy Commission. Titled “Leading in LA,” the project addressed the crucial need to deliver cost-effective, scalable means of dramatically reducing energy use in existing commercial buildings throughout the Golden State. Lawrence Berkeley National Lab and well-known energy-efficiency companies took part in the four-year endeavor, which incorporated lab testing and field demonstrations at two sites.

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New Year, New Approach to Budgets

Budgeting season is typically mundane. Most businesses have their standard process for creating the next year’s budget that has been that way for ages. But this year, we can all agree creating your company’s budget has been anything but normal. To start, with shelter-in-place orders varying across the country as COVID-19 hot spots flare up, 2021’s budgeting process should include a thorough evaluation of how productive your brokerage business can work digitally if it is required. Running a 20-person brokerage and acting as principal of a CRE software company (which has since been sold to Yardi), I had the opportunity to speak with numerous managing principals. These experiences gave me insight into conducting self-evaluations of business and operations. During your evaluation, every aspect of your business will likely be under review as the industry moves into an increasingly digital age. Although there seems to be overwhelming opportunities to digitally market listings, multiple options can help your CRE brokerage operate more productively and profitably on the back-office side. Amid all this chaos, covering the basics is still important when creating a thorough budget for the upcoming year. Some managing brokers have shared that they are also focused on enhancing agent time, effectively managing corporate desk cost, and understanding their deal pipeline. Click here to read more at www.ccim.com.

Longpoint Realty Partners of Boston Started Construction on Point 35/190 a 178,000 SF State of the Art Office Warehouse Project

Carrollton, Texas – Longpoint Realty Partners of Boston has started construction on Point 35/190 a 178,000 square foot state of the art office/warehouse project. The project is located at the northwest corner of Interstate 35 and George Bush Freeway. The building is designed for one to four tenants and provides excellent exposure to the freeways. The building features a 32-foot clear height, 44 dock high doors, two drive in ramps and a 142-foot-deep truck court. Additionally, the project has four acres of extra land that can provide abundant trailer parking spaces or vehicle parking spaces for a tenant’s requirements. The project is scheduled to be completed June 2021. Proterra Properties is providing development services as well as leasing services for the project.

Eruption Ahead: Pent-Up Demand Will Drive the Economy

January has long been the time for market predictions, for economists to put their nickel down on which way the dollar will go. But how do you do that following the most fractious three quarters in living memory? Undaunted by the events of 2020, Dr. Mark Dotzour did exactly that, providing the keynote remarks for the 19th annual Commercial Real Estate Forecast Conference. While offering the caveat that economists are generally only right 50 percent of the time, he nonetheless expressed bullishness for the upcoming year. The biggest factor that will impact the U.S. economy during the next 12 months is pent-up demand. Currently, Americans aren’t spending money, they are saving it. This is an untenable situation since, as Dotzour put it, “Americans don’t tolerate deferred gratification.” COVID fatigue set in months ago for many people. Once the vaccines have been widely distributed, he foresees an explosion in spending. But instead of toilet paper and hand sanitizer, there might be a shortage of hotel rooms and airline seats. Dotzour said he is not underestimating the power of this pent-up demand for goods and services such as new clothes, vacations, conventions, gyms, live music, restaurants, weddings, theaters, business travel, going back to school and more. The supply chain proved to be more fragile than most people would have expected once the lockdown started in March of last year. As an example, half of all toilet paper typically goes to restaurants and half goes to homes, but most domiciles don’t have the hardware for three-foot-wide wheels of toilet paper, hence the shortage of that product. Will the supply chain fail us again once life returns to “normal”? Dotzour believes it’s hard to say. His biggest concern is that the supply chain remains robust enough to dispense the vaccines, pointing out that there are thousands of distribution job openings right now. Another worry is that there may be runaway inflation in our future, though Dotzour downplays those concerns. Factors such as higher gas prices, hotel rates, airline tickets and tuition could lead to inflation of the U.S. dollar. However, he feels that there are enough protections in place to prevent a runaway scenario. The Federal Reserve’s control of interest rates, for example, should mitigate escalating mortgage rates as housing is going to help lead us out of this recession. The real long-term concern is the likelihood that we will see another jobless recovery. That doesn’t mean we won’t have new jobs, but they will materialize too slowly. Historically, regardless of which political party is in office and notwithstanding tax cuts, the U.S. averages job growth at 2.5 percent. The main factor for this is globalization. Emerging economies around the world are creating more competition for the U.S. “We have purposely exported our jobs around the world. These are now tough competitors,” Dotzour said. “The world in which the U.S. is competing in 2021 is different than it was in 1980.” That said, Dotzour believes that money is going to flood in again. Private equity is sitting on $204 billion of dry powder. While we are all aware of distressed sellers, Dotzour labels these funds as “distressed buyers”—they’ve raised the capital and are hungry to deploy it. Global institutions continue to raise their allocations to real estate. The general rule of thumb used to be to spread funds 50/50 between bonds and real estate. Each year, higher CRE yields have led to more growth in institutional investment. “If you thought there was too much money chasing deals before, there’s a lot more coming down the road,” Dotzour said. The pandemic has impacted the U.S. just as it has other nations, though we may be taking a larger hit than most. Additionally, 2020 and even early in 2021 have proven that there is a lot of societal and political angst in our populace. Despite its problems, however, America is still going to be an attractive target for global investors. “Money is not flowing out of U.S.,” said Dotzour. “We have our problems, but we are still the prettiest pig at the trough.” Dotzour covered many more topics during his keynote, such as the urban to suburban migration, the future plans of the Biden administration, rising shipping costs and much more. It will be interesting to see how the next 12 months shake out; the ride hopefully won’t be as bumpy as the past 12 months.