A recent issue of the Progressive Investor offered some insightful statistics about the state of the American green real estate industry. The newsletter reports that forty-one percent of the country’s real estate investment trusts (REITs) are “actively pursuing energy efficiency and green building upgrades,” with another twenty-seven percent planning on doing so. However, the analysis found that most socially responsible property investors are unable to identify an investment option for the specific type of asset that they’re looking for. According to Rona Fried, Progressive Investor CEO, “[t]hat will change over the next few years. . . . Industry leaders are forming a responsible property trade association, creating criteria for certification, integrating green building into the appraisal process and into broker databases.” The factors that the report pointed to for the increased REIT attention to green buildings include high energy and water costs (twenty-eight percent and 30.4 percent of urban and suburban office properties’ operating costs, respectively), a lower green premium (0.8 percent more according to Turner’s 2005 Green Building Market Barometer), client and tenant preference for sustainable buildings, high-profile corporate headquarters that have been or are in the process of going green (Bank of America, Hearst, etc.), and an increase in green building mandates (LEED and otherwise) at the state and local levels.

• Real Estate Industry Quietly Embracing Green Development (Sustainable Business)

Last week, the Durst Organization offered a sneak preview of the Times Square office building that it hopes will achieve New York City’s first commercial LEED Platinum rating. Eighty feet below grade, Helena Durst took reporters on a tour of the Bank of America Tower’s ice farm, which the developer anticipates will reduce energy costs by approximately fifty percent. The system captures rainwater- across forty tanks- which it freezes overnight (during off-peak hours) and then melts during the day in order to cool the building. A typical ice storage air conditioning system will pump refrigerant into an evaporator coil, transforming it from liquid to vapor. Traditional air conditioning units will eject the heat in the vapor through an electrical condenser. However, an ice storage system will return the refrigerant through ice, recondensing the vapor into liquid, and bypassing the necessity for excessive consumption of electricity. As One Bryant Park continues to attract press as New York’s greenest building, it will be interesting to see whether the project team successfully executes architect Cook + Fox’ sustainable vision.

• For Developers of New Buildings, Green is the Way to Go (NY1 News)