SEPTEMBER | OCTOBER 2015

A RISING TIDE
Office Income, Expenses Trending Upward

Magazine

2015 INTERNATIONAL TOBY WINNERS

Honoring Excellence in CRE
A DRIVING FORCE FOR SUSTAINABILITY
Green Parking Facilities Gain Traction

EXPECTING the
UNEXPECTED
IS YOUR PROPERTY
PREPARED for an
EMERGENCY?
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GREEN SCENE
BY JESSICA BATES

DRIVING FORCE:
GREEN PARKING
PRACTICES ARE
GAINING TRACTION
When I tell people I work with green
parking facilities, they look at me like
Im crazy, says Paul Wessel, executive
director of the Green Parking Council.
It may seem like an oxymoron that anything having to do
with cars can be green. But Wessel and others in the commercial real estate industry are seeing a sea change in how
owners and managers are transforming parking assets into
sustainable, multifaceted resourcesand saving money in
the process.
Though the vehicles we drive today may have come a long
way since the Model T, the basic principles behind parking
lots and garages havent changed much over the yearsuntil

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recently, that is. Industry experts have begun to think critically about the user experience and incorporate changing
trends and technology into new or retrofitted facilities to
reduce costs and meet the skyrocketing tenant demand for
more green features. As a society, were starting to realize,
for example, that cities dont need to be dominated by endless
blocks of parking garages, explains Wessel. As a result, were
becoming more thoughtful about how were using space and
transforming parking facilities into multimodal transportation
hubs that are a modern resource to a community.

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A MODERN APPROACH
More and more parking facilities are offering bicycle storage,
car-sharing programs, electric vehicle charging stations and
improved access to nearby public transportation systems.
While many of these changes are designed to accommodate
tenants who dont want to rely on a car for their commute,
tenants who regularly drive to work can reap the benefits of
green design and operation, too. For example, some garages
now feature automated systems that guide drivers towards
empty spaces by displaying a green or red light depending
on availability. Other garages now use license plate
recognition technology to read the license plates on tenant
vehicles, allowing them access to the garage automatically
without parking permit verification or the use of car decals
and dashboard tickets. These systems improve the parking
experience for drivers by reducing the amount of time
they spend idling as they look for parking or enter and
exit the facility, which, as a result, also reduces the exhaust
and emissions generated within a garage. Choosing an
automated system also eliminates the need to heat or cool a
parking attendants booth, which lowers operating costs and
environmental impact.
Many parking facilities are built to meet maximum capacity, which means spaces go unused for long stretches. If
we optimize our current lots and garages, we not only add
value to them, we avoid using additional land for parking,
which reduces environmental waste, explains Wessel. A
growing trend towards more shared parking allows those
with parking garages to make their extra spaces available to
drivers outside of the building, either through agreements
with nearby buildings or through smartphone apps that help
drivers find and pay for parking remotely. Existing space can
be maximized by rethinking the facility layout to increase
capacity.
Wessel emphasizes that there is more than one way for
a parking facility to become more sustainable. In fact, to
encourage commercial owners and managers to embrace
sustainable practices in their parking facilities, the Green
Parking Council recently unveiled a sustainability rating
system called the Green Garage Certification. We worked
hard to incorporate as many options as we could within the
program, shares Wessel. Not every choice or approach is
going to make sense in every situation, but every facility can
make improvements.
LET THERE BE (MORE EFFICIENT) LIGHT
Parking facilities may not be a building owner or
property managers first priority when it comes to energy
management. However, property professionals can see
significant reductions in their propertys energy use by
upgrading the lighting systems in their parking facilities,
and these upgrades are less likely to inconvenience tenants
while the work is being done. And, unlike many building
improvements that can go unnoticed by tenants, switching
out parking lot or garage lighting can have a significant
wow factor.
The Lighting Energy Efficiency in Parking (LEEP)

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GREEN SCENE
More and more
parking facilities
also are offering
bicycle storage,
car-sharing
programs, electric
vehicle charging
stations and
improved access
to nearby public
transportation
systems.

Campaigna U.S. Department of Energy

(DOE) Better Buildings Alliance initiative
organized by BOMA International, the Green
Parking Council, the International Facility
Management Association and the International Parking Institutewas established to
provide technical support and resources to
encourage energy-efficient lighting in parking lots and structures, as well as to recognize
high-achieving facilities with its annual LEEP
Campaign Awards. This year, USAA Real
Estate Company won two LEEP Awards
Highest Percentage Savings in a Retrofit at
a Single Parking Structure and Exemplary
Office/Industrial Parking Facilityfor its
parking structure at Potomac Yard, a building in Crystal
City, Virginia. According to Brenna Walraven, RPA, CPM,
BOMA Fellow, who helped guide USAAs efforts when she
served as head of Property Operations, upgrading to LED
lighting in the parking facility led to instant and tangible
benefits. Appearance and perception have a huge impact
on how people feel. While the facility was perfectly safe and
serviceable before, it now looks more inviting, secure and
comfortable, she explains. Choosing LED lighting wasnt
just a financially prudent move for USAA; it also noticeably
improved the facility for the occupants, adds Walraven, who

now serves as CEO of Corporate Sustainability Strategies.

Thanks to dropping costs and dramatic improvements in
LED lighting technology over the years, many owners and
managers are finding that now is a good time to make the
switch. We knew we wanted to upgrade our parking facility
lighting for quite a few years, but it never seemed like the
right time, says Jason Ferranti, building engineer for Granite Properties Orange City Square in Orange, California.
When we decided to make the change, we really looked at
our options and found that LED lighting was both affordable
and extremely efficient. Granite Properties, working with
CBRE | Orange, received a LEEP Award for the ultra-low
lighting power density used in its Orange City Square parking facility retrofit design as a result of the LED upgrades.
The U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) team
also turned to LED lighting when faced with the unique
challenge of upgrading the lighting in a partially aboveground parking facility in Fairbanks, Alaska. Our goal with
the project was to reduce energy consumption and improve
the lighting for our tenants, while also taking into consideration the tremendous swing in daylight hours and temperature in the winter and summer months in the region,
explains Mehrdad Novini, GSAs Northwest/Arctic Region
energy program manager. LED with wireless control
technology gave us the flexibility we needed and dramatically reduced our energy costs. Since the new LED fixtures

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BOMA MAGAZINE SEPTEMBER | OCTOBER 2015

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are individually controlled (using photocell sensors), we

can take advantage of extended daylight hours in summer
months at the perimeter of the garage. The facility, which
also won a LEEP Award for its retrofits, is projected to save
thousands of dollars in energy costs every year as a result
of the changes. But energy reduction isnt the only source
of cost savings from LED lightingthe fixtures longevity and durability also mean less maintenance and fewer
replacements.
Michael Myer, a lighting engineer with Pacific Northwest
National Laboratory, a DOE research lab, suggests that those
considering upgrading their facilitys lighting system also
should considering repainting the space. Anyone who has
repainted their living room knows that paint color can have
a big effect on light, explains Myer. White concrete is much
more reflective than unpainted concrete, which means the
space will instantly look brighter, enhancing the lighting in
the facility.

DRIVING UP TENANT DEMAND

The rise of programs like the LEEP Campaign and
the Green Garage Certification means more and more
property professionals have access to a huge wealth of
knowledge on sustainable topics, as well as online tools and
checklists for beginning the greening process. Vendors
who have experience working with energy-efficient or

green practices also are a good source of expertise. Casey

Jones, vice president of Institutional Services at SP Plus
Corporation and past chair of the International Parking
Institute, recommends that anyone who already has
upgraded a garages lighting system should next look into
newer, more-efficient ventilation systems that rely on carbon
monoxide and nitrogen dioxide detection sensors to only
run exhaust fans when necessary, which translates into
major operational and energy savings. Beyond that, there
is a long and growing list of ways that parking facilities can
become more green: solar and wind power installations,
non-toxic surface coatings, storm water management and
recycling stations, just to name a few. These measures can
go a long way towards attracting tenants, who are placing a
higher premium on sustainability. Weve turned a corner
and younger workers are beginning to expect these features,
says Jones. We used to consider it a green premium, but
were fast approaching a place where theres a brown
discount, meaning buildings without these features are going
to be less and less desirable.
Despite these trends, some owners and managers may
remain wary of investing in green equipment and practices.
Jones has some advice for the skeptics: If your only goal
right now is to reduce operating costs, thats okaymany
green practices are still going to make sense for you. Weve
reached a point where sustainability also means cost savings, and thats something we can all embrace. B

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