The Cost of Sustainability: Real World Data

Some facts revealed:
• Energy consumption in commercial office buildings exceeds transportation.
• Since energy costs are such a significant part of operating costs, reductions in usage has a recognizable impact on NOI.
• Energy consumption measurements are becoming a bigger factor in determining building values in California.
• The School District of Palm Beach County built the first LEED Gold-certified K-12 school in Florida. Pine Jog Elementary now serves as an efficiency model in the county's facility management decisions because of its measurable success.
• Incorporating green management practices is becoming more the norm since sustainability applies to environment and economics.
• Educating tenants and end users is key to a successful sustainability plan.

LOUISE BENDIX,LEED-AP | Office Leasing Speicalist
ComReal Miami, Inc.|Commercial Real Estate Services
366 Altara Ave., Suite 102 | Coral Gables, FL 33146
T 786-433-2376 | F 888-316-6818 |Join my Network
lbendix@comreal.com

Networking with Social Media Presentation at CREW Miami lunch

CREW Miami hosted a very informative luncheon event yesterday on Social Media Networking. Adam Japko, of Digital Sherpa, explained the goals of a Social Networking Marketing compaign, the benefits, and the power of a successful Social Networking Campaign. The Goals are to:
- Increase Google Rank meaning, when someone Googles a generic phrase like "Commercial Real Estate lenders in Miami" and you want your web-site to come up on the first page, you would definately be interested in increasing your Google rank.
- Grow WEB traffic meaning you want more people clicking on your web-site, reading your content, and ultimately paying for your products or services.
- Build community and engagement. Ultimately you want to be known as the expert in your field and the community in which would utilize your services.
- Drive leads & refferals. When you are known as the expert in your field leads and referrals will follow.

Peter Zalewski, a principal with the consulting firm Condo Vultures® LLC, contributed with his personal success story of building his brand Condo Vultures solely through his WEB presence.

Both re-iterated that everything that is posted will be there forever on the Web. Think twice before posting anything you might regret. Do you need proof? Go to http://WaybackMachine.org

80 hours a month to keep up with this? Happy tweeting and blogging!

LOUISE BENDIX,LEED-AP | Office Leasing Specialist
ComReal Miami, Inc.|Commercial Real Estate Services
366 Altara Ave., Suite 102 | Coral Gables, FL 33146
T 786-433-2376 | F 888-316-6818 |Join my Network
lbendix@comreal.com |

"ComReal is Commercial Real Estate"

Louise Bendix closes another Coral Gables office lease deal

Louise Bendix, the landlord representative for 262 Almeria Ave. in Coral Gables, has found a tenant for her clients first floor space. The tenant will be moving in October 1, 2010 and is looking forward to moving into the Gables area from Coconut Grove. The lease is for 3 years. Another fully leased building!

ComReal Miami, Inc. is closing office deals

Louise Bendix, LEED®-AP, of ComReal Miami has been busy closing office deals in Miami Dade County. The deals range widely in square footage and lease term but the increased activity is a testament to the fact that tenants and buyers are looking for alternatives and landlords are not settling for vacant space.

The most recent lease transaction is for approximately 7,000 square feet in the Data Access building in Deerwood Office Park by tenant Noven Pharmaceuticals. Data Access currently leases 5,000 of an approximate 12,000 square foot second floor and Noven is currently moving administrative personnel into the remaining 7,000 square feet. Noven’s Corporate Headquarters are currently around the corner from this building so it was an easy expansion for them. They were not only excited about the close proximity to their core business but also to the upgraded technology available in the Data Access building. The Data access building is provisioned with T1 data technology and has photo-optics cable wired to the building. ComReal signed on Enterprise Rent-a-car as a tenant in the building on the first floor 2 years ago. The landlord is very satisfied that his building is completely leased for the time being.

The Commercial Real Estate Revolution

Last night Bill Black, co-author of The Commercial Real Estate Revolution, offered up a humorous and convincing case for shifting the way we design and build buildings.

The book was the outcome of Mindshift, a consortium of progressively-minded corporate real estate interests that are studying how corporate facilities are currently being designed and built. By proactively addressing the full life cycle of a project, Mindshift seeks business cases for sustainability that result in lower costs, better ROI and higher quality working environments for clients.

He suggests a new paradigm in building and design where quality and performance are the guiding principles.

The book is a must read for all of us in this industry. Much to think about.

CIASF program: Saving Green by Retrofitting Green on

Thursday night, November 12, Becker & Poliakoff, hosted a very informative program on “Greening” existing buildings to the members and guests of CIASF. (Commercial and Industrial Association of South Florida.) It is no accident that the offices of Becker & Poliakoff are in the elegant Alhambra Towers which is an energy star rated building for 2009. The message conveyed by Alan Krinzman, LEED-AP and host of the event, that the business of creating more energy efficient and healthy building environments needs to begin now and that energy efficiency and LEED principles are not a fad, but a necessity that we all need to embrace.

Paul Cohen of CBRE was the moderator of a panel the included Scott Alexander of ProLogis that shared the success ProLogis has in California and Oregon in leasing roof space to the utilities for solar panels. He did share that this arrangement would not work well here for several reasons one minor one being the frequency of hurricanes. Two knowledgeable representatives from FPL attended and shared some very good information on taking advantage of their rebates and other initiatives some of which can be viewed at: http://www.fpl.com/business/savings/rebates_and_incentives.shtml

Hamad Rodriquez, the principal of Hamed Rodriguez Architects Inc. and Co-Owner of Energy Cost Solutions Group, LLC holds the esteemed honor of designing the first LEED Gold building in Dade County. His message was clear. Since LEED is a rating system, there are several points already built into our code and it is not difficult to make some conscientious and simple changes to achieve LEED certification and make a significant difference in the energy and water use of a building while creating a healthy environment for occupants. He also brought up that EA (Energy and Atmosphere) Credit One is just a portion of LEED, yet can still reduce energy costs and help the environment. You can download your own checklist from his web-site to see how close your building might be to earning LEED certification. http://www.energycostsolutionsgroup.com/

For more information of Miami’s office space market, please feel free to contact me at anytime at 786-433-2376.

Louise Bendix
ComReal Miami, Inc.

Green Building Impact Report 2009

This second annual report, researched and written by Rob Watson, the "Founding Father of LEED," explores the impacts that LEED-certified buildings have already had on energy, water, waste and employee productivity -- and projects those impacts for the next 20 years.

According to report author Rob Watson, floor area registered and certified by the U.S. Green Building Council's LEED green building rating system in 2009 is estimated to grow by over 40% compared to last year's totals, for a cumulative total of over 7 billion square feet worldwide since the standard was launched in 2000.

DOWNLOAD HERE

Louise Bendix,LEED-APOffice Specialist

ComReal Miami, Inc. Commercial Real Estate Services

T 786-433-2376 F 305-591-9704 O 305-591-3044 X115

lbendix@comreal.com www.ComRealMiami.com