Friday, December 4, 2009

Why Would a Tenant Desire a Green Building?

The tenant’s desire may stem from a company directive designed to enhance its
reputation by adopting a mission or philosophy to be green (e.g., “reduce carbon footprint”).
Additionally, health and human resource experts have found higher worker productivity and
employee attraction/satisfaction/retention in a green building. Corporate profitability may
increase in a variety of ways, an obvious example being the potential for long-term utility cost
savings.
Companies that have either opened green stores or branches or are constructing one or
more such facilities include Starbucks, PNC Bank, Wal-Mart, McDonald’s, Subway, Staples,
Kohl’s and Best Buy. Patagonia and REI have opened green distribution centers (Patagonia in
Reno, Nevada; REI in Bedford, Pennsylvania). Starbucks has a prototype store approved by the
U.S. Green Building Council, and although now opening fewer new stores than it did a few years
ago, it has set a goal that all new company-owned stores worldwide will be LEED certified by
December 2010.
While the above examples are owner-occupied properties, there will undoubtedly be
companies that mandate green leases going forward. Such mandates will mean more tenants
looking for green buildings in which to operate. Cities such as Seattle and Bellevue have so far
not mandated the use of green leases even though one (Seattle) requires that all new civic
buildings be certified LEED Silver.
A Building Owners and Managers Association (“BOMA”) Seattle survey recently
showed that 61% of real estate leaders believe that green buildings enhance their corporate
image, and 67% of the leaders believe that over the next five years, tenants will make (and are
already making) the “greenness” of property a significant factor in choosing their space.

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