With gas prices steadily on the rise once again, developers and architects alike are looking more closely at alternatives to new construction in the suburbs. The antidote to sprawl, urban infill development has served as a catalyst for the urban revitalization process nationwide.

Part of this process involves a closer examination of transit-oriented development. While the easy solution would be to simply place housing near public transportation, many urban areas are lacking in resources and funds. Around the country, the industry is asking how the market will affect the creation of new transit options that are meant to enable further transit-oriented development.

Also garnering interest is the adaptive reuse of existing—sometimes even historic—buildings from commercial to residential. Such projects are just one more example of building greener; as Patrick Turner, the developer of Silo Point in Baltimore, notes, adaptive reuse projects are often greener than the greenest of new projects, as reusing an existing building is inherently environmentally friendly. But these projects tend to come with their own set of challenges, often forcing project teams to weigh the costs against the benefits.

Take, for example, Turner’s project—an old grain elevator that was converted into a mixed-use community with 228 luxury condos. The development team not only had to convince the city to rezone the site so it could be converted into a residential use, but they also had to deal with myriad physical constraints associated with the old industrial site. (Click here for MHN’s article)

With similar challenges a concern in other adaptive reuse developments, how will the credit crisis even further impact multi-housing and mixed-use projects on the boards?

At Multi-Housing World, join a panel of architects, including Rick Hammann, managing principal of WDG Architecture; Mark Humphreys, CEO of Humphreys & Partners Architects LP; and Randy Gerner, principal at GKV Architects PC, for a discussion of the future of urban infill.

In a session entitled, “Repurposing the Urban Landscape: Infill Case Studies,” the panel will discuss where the upcoming opportunities are, how you can tap into public/private partnerships, and what the hottest design trends are that can help urban infill projects blend into the existing urban fabric while also ensuring maximum lease-ups

And don’t forget—you can earn one AIA HSW/SD credit by attending this course.

See you in San Diego, September 29-October 1!

Click here to see the full Multi-Housing World 2009 Leadership Summit conference schedule. Registration is now open.

(Erika Schnitzer is Associate Editor at Multi-Housing News. She can be reached at Erika.Schnitzer@nielsen.com)

As CAP rates rise, property managers and owners are looking to adjust to their current realities. The economic and financial crisis has forced owners to change course and look to plans B and C. In many cases, the proposed cash out year of 2009 has been pushed back to at least sometime in 2010 at the earliest, based on a new owner’s ability to obtain financing.

So what does plan B and C look like? For many, this concept was never thought of upon acquisition. But that is okay. It is never too late to change direction and tact for a while when you hit a stiff headwind.
Because holding on to properties for longer is now plan B, many have to readjust. "As Vacancies rise – and as some owners are also forced to hold on to buildings longer than intended – assisting clients' bottom lines has risen to the top of property managers' job descriptions. Thus, such firms have set out on the hunt for savings and revenue." Commercial Property News, Dec. '08, pg. 24

What does it look like to hunt for savings and revenue? Obvious answers are water-saving devices in tenant’s bathrooms and kitchens and CFL lighting in the common areas. But did you know that while these are good measures, there are better ones for this category? For example, using LED lighting in the common areas instead of CFLs. LEDs use, on average, 6 to 12 watts of energy compared to 23 to 35 watt CFLs. They cost more but payback is typically under two years and they last up to 10 times longer than a CFL. Wireless water control monitoring of tenant’s water usage makes sense in some markets where there are federal and state tax benefits. There are several utility companies who will pay for you to install regulators on your boilers.

The three endeavors above not only put money back in your pocket, but more importantly they raise the value of your property in this difficult financial time. Thus, you are better positioned for prosperity when it comes time to resell.

What do your current ads look like? Pick up any local apartment guide in your city and you will notice that the benefits in the ads almost always read something like this:
•    1, 2, and 3 bedrooms
•    Large floor plans
•    Pet friendly
•    Pool
•    Nearby shopping
Wouldn’t it be more interesting if your ads read something like this:
•    Cleanest property in fill in your town name here
•    Larger kitchens and living rooms for your comfort
•    Dog run for man’s best friend
•    Sparkling blue water in our pool
•    Walking distance to Wal-Mart

Since you are already paying for print advertising you may as well make it impactful. Not many do. I would write on the power of Google AdWords for your advertising but that is for another column.

Let me leave you with a ‘maintenance man’ tip of the week. Now that the warm weather months are upon us, more water is likely to be used via hose. Make sure all the bibs around your property are checked bi-weekly for drips that you are unnecessarily paying for. Tighten those bibs!

(Scott Yahraus is the president of Apartment Energy Consultants, a company that certifes multifamily properties as being “National Green Apartment Certified”. Click here to visit their Web site or www.GreenRetrofitter.com email Scott at Scott@GreenRetrofitter.com)
 

The nation’s economic data has turned from a seemingly endless parade of bad news, to more of a mixed bag as of late, with some positive (or relatively positive) readings sprinkled in among the doom-and-gloom. The dichotomy is of course providing optimists and pessimists alike with plenty of grist for their respective mills. We’ll try to keep a clear-eyed view of things.

April saw retail sales continue their slump as consumers kept their purse strings tight on non-essential purchases. According to a Commerce Department report, retail sales sagged 0.4 percent during the month; but for those apt to look on the bright side, the rate of decline was considerably slower than March, during which sales sunk 1.3 percent. Still though, most economists deemed the report cause for concern–no strange words over the past year or so.

Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner plans to head to China later this month, for discussions on strengthening relations between the two nations. The Secretary will depart on May 30th for Beijing, in the Obama administration’s most direct overture yet to that nation. Considering China’s status as both one of our largest trading partners as well as one of the biggest holders of American debt, here’s hoping Geithner makes a good impression.

The job market got some bad news and some good news last week. The bad news was that unemployment hit a 25-year high in April, but the—relatively—good news was that monthly job losses fell to their lowest level in six months. The Labor Department said Friday that employers cut 539,000 jobs during April, down from nearly 700,000 in March and the best figure since last October. But the Labor Department also said unemployment rose to 8.9 percent in April, up from 8.5 percent in March and the highest level since September 1983.  Since the beginning of 2008, the economy has shed 5.7 million, and some economists are projecting job losses to continue into 2010.

And speaking of record highs, the single-family home market continues to take major lumps, as the rate of foreclosures spiked to a new peak in April. One in every 374 homes in America was foreclosed upon last month, according to industry monitor RealtyTrac. This far this year, foreclosures are up 32 percent from this time in 2008. RealtyTrac predicts another three to six months until the market picks up again. It’s a pretty good indicator of how bad things have gotten that that prediction seems like cause for celebration.

Meanwhile, consumer borrowing plunged in March, falling a record $11.1 billion according to the Federal Reserve. Borrowing dropped 5.2 percent from February to a total of $2.55 trillion—it was the biggest percentage drop since December 1990. Non-revolving credit, which is typically taken out for big ticket items including cars and college educations, fell 4.2 percent, while revolving borrowing on credit cards dropped 6.8 percent.

Despite the slow state of consumer borrowing, there are plenty of other indicators out there that the economy might be putting the worst behind it. And these reports are pushing oil prices higher. Light sweet crude has ticked up of late toward $60 a barrel, prices not seen since last November. Since closing at $33.98 a barrel on February 12, oil is up nearly 75 percent, but remains well off the sky-high price it reached last summer. 

Finally, the financial meltdown claimed its latest victim last week when Westsound Bank in Bremerton, Washington, was closed by regulators, marking the 33rd bank to fail this year. The closing will cost the FDIC some $108 million in deposit insurance. Another Washington State institution, Kitsap Bank, will assume Westsound’s deposits and take over the nine branches of the failed bank.

(Adam Perrotta is a news writer with Commercial Property News, MHN's sister publication. He can be reached a tAdam.Perrotta@nielsen.com )

Earth Day is now Earth Week.

News about climate change and the green movement—and what everyone is doing to advocate against one and promote the other—is everywhere this week.

Last weekend, for example, The Tower Cos. held a “Recycling Day Festival@The Blairs,”—a 1,400-unit community in Silver Spring, Md.—collecting donations of clothing, electronics and furniture with participating sponsors. And Archstone is hosting a “Green Leasing Expo,” a four-day event in the West Region designed to encourage residents and prospects to conserve natural resources—and at the same time is offering a “Go Green and Get Green” savings of up to $500 in rent with the signing of a new lease.

On a larger scale, the Environmental Protection Agency took its first step toward regulating pollution last week when it declared CO2 and other heat-trapping gases as pollutants that threaten the public heath and welfare of individuals.

To some of you in the industry, all of this may not seem so—excuse the pun—earth-shattering. I keep talking to industry experts who insist green building is no longer just a trend or a movement; it is here to stay. (And with the recently approved National Green Building Standard, green building has become even more expected, to some extent.)

So what is the new norm? As an industry, have our expectations surpassed those of the average consumer?

The National Association of Home Builders recently announced that over 2,700 industry professionals have achieved its Certified Green Professional designation. And the Green Building Certification Institute  (GBCI), the organization that administers LEED AP certification, just last week announced that over 101,000 professionals have earned their LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) AP credential.

As we keep one eye on the environment and the other on the economy, this number is only expected to rise. According to GBCI, the number of LEED APs doubled in the last year, outpacing the organization’s projections, as the economy took a turn for the worse and industry professionals recognized the competitive edge this certification would provide for them.

Perhaps, then, the government should look to the built environment for examples of best practices for cutting energy costs. As an industry, we have seen some truly innovative—as well as seemingly ordinary—measures to reduce greenhouse gases and improve residents’ quality of life—not to mention that many, if not all, of these initiatives end up positively affecting the bottom line in the long run.

A New York Times magazine article this weekend discusses how some evidence seems to suggest that, at least for now, homeowners are making more environmentally sound decisions. Though the author notes this may be a sign of the economic times, certainly we are all becoming more aware of the health and financial benefits of greening our homes.

And its not just homeowners. According to a recent Apartments.com study, renters are becoming more conscious of the environmentally friendly measures they can take in their apartments. The survey found that 65 percent of renters emphasize the need for an environmentally friendly lifestyle and that 60 percent of renters claim to search for apartments based on their sustainable offerings (Click here to read MHN’s coverage of the study).

It’s not as if we are just now waking up and realizing that we all must take part in reducing greenhouse gas emissions to help the environment and preserve whatever future our children may have. Our industry, which is certainly one that has a tremendous impact on carbon emissions—buildings are responsible for 70 percent of electricity use and 40 percent of carbon emissions, after all—has quite clearly taken a stance on the importance of sustainability.

Share your thoughts, as well as what you doing to celebrate Earth Day, or rather, Week. Email me at Erika.Schnitzer@nielsen.com.

(Erika Schnitzer is the associate editor at Multi-Housing News)

As concerned taxpayers around the nation take to the streets in “tea parties” to protest the federal government’s spending on financial rescue efforts, an eventual economic recovery still seems far away. But there are a few glimmers of hope on the horizon.

Those aggrieved tea partiers can at least take some solace in the fact that the money they do have left after doling out to Uncle Sam will go a bit further these days. The Consumer Price Index fell in March by 0.1 percent and—more notably—registered its first annual decline since 1955, dropping 0.4 percent from March of 2008.

Of course, that is not exactly cause for dancing in the streets, as most of the decline was due to the rapid fall of gas prices from their record highs of last summer. As the weather warms again, prices at the pump should begin to inch back up again, though probably not to the astronomical, speculation-driven levels of summer ’08. Still though, as consumers continue to feel the pinch in their pocketbooks, rising gas prices could further curb spending in other areas.

On the other hand, though, comes news that world demand for oil is continuing to shrink–and rapidly so. OPEC’s latest monthly oil market report predicted that demand would sink by 1.37 million barrels per day in 2009, to an average of 84.2 million barrels per day. A big chunk of the slowdown is being pegged to developing countries such as China and India, whose formerly-booming appetite for oil has been curbed by the global economic slowdown.

The demand drop should put downward pressure on prices, but OPEC said it will slash production by 4.2 million barrels per day in order to bolster price levels. What the net outcome will be to the American consumer—and by extension, the American economy—remains to be seen.

One illustration of how the spending of John Q. Public ripples throughout the economy; as consumers pull back at the cash register, U.S. states are seeing sales tax coffers dry up. State revenue fell 4 percent in last year’s fourth quarter, the biggest such drop in 50 years, according to a report by the Rockefeller Institute of Government. Thirty-five states saw total tax revenue drop during the quarter, with six-seeing double-digit declines.

And the situation is not likely to improve any time soon. So far this year, initial data indicates that 41 states have reported tax collections in January and February were down 12.8 percent compared to the first two months of 2008.

As the economy continues to weaken, state and local governments are likely to continue to see tax revenue shrink, limiting options for fiscal stimulus at those levels. Whether you agree with this week’s tea partiers or not, one thing seems certain; any further government effort to kick start the economy will probably have to come from Washington.  

(Adam Perrotta is a news writer at Commercial Property News, MHN's sister publication . He can be contacted at Adam.Perrotta@nielsen.com)