July 2012
Past Issues | Advertise

Convention Highlights

Print this Article | Send to Colleague

Full Disclosure 

BOMA/NY President Louis J. Mantia in his role as Senior Managing Director, Corporate Occupier & Investor Services, Cushman & Wakefield, Inc. and Sylvester Giustino, BOMA/NY’s Director of Legislative Affairs, were joined by Rebecca Baker, Sustainability Coordinator for Seattle’s Office of Sustainability & Environment as panelists on Full Disclosure: The Debate on Mandatory Energy Benchmarking and Building Labeling.

Our two BOMA/NY representatives were brought onto the panel to lend their insight on how NYC property professionals complied with the new mandatory building labeling requirements, giving fellow professionals a head start on how they can attain compliance as their cities enact similar requirements.

Their best advice?

The NY team first gave some kudos to the home town, noting that at 21 percent, NYC buildings’ greenhouse gas emissions are the lowest of any large US city, even fellow panelist Seattle. Then they walked the audience through PlaNYC 2030, and how BOMA/NY and other members of the real estate industry became partners in crafting the green buildings law.

• They urged others to use the NYC model of advocating for incentives, not mandates, and shared our multifaceted strategy of participating in negotiating sessions, providing detailed comment, "pounding the pavement and meeting with decisions-makers," and forming a coalition of affected and concerned organizations.

• By "remaining at the table and developing key allies on the City Council," BOMA/NY’s panelists said, "we were able to have costly and unnecessary parts of the legislation removed, including removing the posting of scores and a longer timeline for compliance."

• Lou covered all aspects of compliance, with some good news about the ease of compliance: new buildings are typically Energy Star benchmarked, so compliance is much easier and older buildings managed by experienced managing agents are not an issue. However, owner/operated buildings that have not kept up-to-date have had trouble benchmarking, particularly in the Class B and C categories.

However, he continued, NYSERDA/Con Ed rebates and Mayoral office workshops made compliance easier.

• He also reported that it might have been a good idea for the program to have been delayed a year to finalize all features of reporting, but the City’s buildings did well, given a challenging timeline, and had an 80 percent response rate—the best of its kind in the nation.

Sylvester summed up the lessons learned, saying that "it's essential to stay involved at all levels throughout the process—even after the bill is signed into law. We are still commenting on some aspects of the Commissioner’s Rule, which is added to the legislation, as it contains requirements contrary to the original criteria of the passed legislation."

" Even if you don’t get what you want in the final bill," he concluded, "it’s important to stay in the debate so that in the future, you can have your policy visions enacted into law."

Strong Defense

Convention keynote Speaker former Defense Secretary Robert Gates (at left), who served under both Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama, had this to say about the "old nemesis club" of China, North Korea and Iran:

On China: Despite the economic rise of China and its accompanying power and belligerence, "there’s no reason to be enemies. If we treat them like one, they will become one."

1. On North Korea: "Don’t overestimate capabilities, but do not become complacent."

On Iran: "We need to ratchet up economic pressure and isolation so that they are hurt by their own quest for nuclear power."

Compounding the complexity of the outlook for future peace? Increasingly, our allies are leaving the work up to the US and are less willing to take risks or be our full partners in conflicts—even the British are reducing their commitments. For the US to cut back its defense and intelligence commitments, would be, in the eyes of the Secretary, "a grave mistake."

Fiscal Cliffs and BOMA's Top Five

Vacancy rates, demands/life balance, real estate asset values, job security and a qualified workforce are the BOMA Top Five—the key concerns of BOMA members when they look to their personal and professional futures.

BOMA International President Henry Chamberlain offered both bad news—the coming "fiscal cliff" or combination of difficult financial issues awaiting resolution (from tax cuts and tax extenders to alternative minimum tax, sequestration, healthcare and the debt ceiling) and good news: vacancy rates are down nationally by 16 percent, high-tech firms are rebounding first and the lack of Class A supply is pushing rentals higher.

The corporate world offered up a surprising statistic. According to CoreNet, corporate users will be shedding up to 40 percent of their space by 2020, leading to a bifurcated market. Chamberlain felt, however, that multi-tenant buildings are still well-positioned to remain healthy.

Brave New World Other trends noted were how tenants want to do more with less, have more flexible space and not all the action is in CBDs. And, more and more tenants are opting to work remotely, with some space being used only 40 percent of the time.

Where America Goes to Work

Economist Steven Fuller of George Mason University offered this overview from a recent study of the impact that the 9.9 billion square feet of office building space operated by BOMA local associations has on the economy. And the impact is powerful. Operations:

• Generate $79.7 billion in expenditures.

• Provide workspace for 44.3 million workers.

• Create 19.6 jobs for each $1 million in expenditures.