From the Editor
If there is one facility-related silver lining to this biting recession, it’s that it has created a new golden age for property managers. The national average vacancy rate for commercial business districts has fallen to 12.5 percent in the first quarter of 2009 (down 1.3 percent from the fourth quarter of 2008), and rents have plummeted an average of 2.2 percent. So, now more than ever landlords are relying on their PMs to run a building energy efficiently and cost-effectively.

Tenants happy with their property managers and their building tend to re-lease, and lease renewals are more critical now than even a year ago. It costs a lot of money to revamp a space for a new tenant once an old tenant moves out. Besides, the real value of a building is the value of the leases signed for that building — so the higher the occupancy rate and the longer the term of leases a building holds, essentially the more valuable a building may be.

In addition to energy, tenants are increasingly asking for other green measures – like better recycling programs and green cleaning — because they see green as a recruitment and retention tool for their own employees. So tenants value PMs that can help achieve these things.

Property managers are also being asked to do more and more these days. One example: act as a quasi-consultant on the viability of certain tenants (in the banking or auto industry, perhaps) to stay in business long-term.

I’m interested to hear your take — if you’re a property manager, do you feel as though you’re doing more these days? Do you feel more appreciated?

Cheers,

PS. Look for a story about property management in the recession in the July issue of Building Operating Management magazine.

Green Strategies
The Business Case For Green Buildings
Old or new, buildings can go green on a budget.

In the News
Real Estate Values Expected to Decline
In what may be the least-surprising news story of the week, a survey of national real estate CFOs shows that they expect real estate value to decline by 23 percent.

Green Toolkit
BOMA says BEEP, BEEP
The Building Owners and Managers Association’s Energy Efficiency Program (BEEP) offers training, case studies tools and tips on how to improve the efficiency of buildings.

Green Pulse

Has property management taken on a role of increasing prominence in this recession?
— Yes, it truly is the golden age of the property manager.
— Not sure – seems about the same.
— No.

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GreenTech Conference & Exposition

Enhancing Sustainability and Savings with Daylight Cleaning

This presentation from GreenTech 2009 illustrates the benefits of a trend in the property management world — daylight cleaning.