Real Estate Forum

The BOMA leaders have mounted a major initiative to alert legislators as to why the industry finds it difficult to take advantage of the program, as well as to increase the incentives and to decrease the payback period. As a corollary to that, the association is also wary of recent moves to make energy efficiency a state-by-state mandate.

“We’re not big fans of mandates,” says Markling, managing director of strategic
accounts for CBRE in Camarillo, CA. “We’re fans of cooperation and understanding. If
there is a focus on this at the state or federal level, then it has to be done in cooperation
with the people who are most affected. We’re businesspeople, and if we can deliver our
product with the service levels the tenants want and be competitive for 10 cents a foot
cheaper than the next guy, we win huge. We’re already incentivized by the capitalistic
nature of what we do.”
As with the Better Buildings Initiative, one of the problems with mandates is that they
cut with too wide a blade. A recent New York City requirement that owners benchmark
their buildings by energy usage illustrates both the point at hand and how the associa-
tion fights for its members. While most multi-tenant buildings are fairly straightforward,
how do you provide benchmarks for mixed-use properties where managers might not
have access to individual meters? Zoccola says that during his term the association lob-
bied tirelessly and successfully for “aggregate, whole-building information so they can
properly benchmark their buildings.”
BOMA’s initiatives, of course, range far beyond energy and sustainability, and the
group is standing shoulder-to-shoulder with other industry associations, including the
Real Estate Roundtable and NAREIT, in the ongoing carried interest battle. “BOMA
directly represents about a million jobs, plus we house 21 million office workers,” says
Chamberlain. “At a time when the government is so focused on job creation, this
would be terribly disruptive to the real estate marketplace. We banded together with a
host of industry groups and went public with a heavy lobbying and ad campaign to
make that statement.”
Obviously the issue is still in play, and the groups continue their fight. Zoccola, for
one, can speak personally to carried interest’s potential impact. “It’s an important tool for
my development business and how we structure ownership entities. Equity participation
is on the rise as lenders become more conservative. So carried interest is an important
tool to smaller companies that are not institutional owners.”
With stocks or bonds, “There are no jobs that stay when those gains are made,” adds
Markling. But real estate is an ongoing enterprise. “There’s a product left over. The jobs

“It’s a great time to
help our members
figure out where the
industry is going.”

Henry H. Chamberlain President & COO

The Shape of Things to Come

A highlight of this year’s Every Building Conference & Expo, presented by BOMA International in Seattle June 24-26, will be a session on the coming shape of the office environment. Moderated by BETTER BUILDINGS content director John Salustri, the session is entitled Real Estate 2020, the Shape of Things to Come. It will bring together leaders in real estate, architecture and technology to explore how the changes in the economy, emerging technology, sustainability and quality-of-life factors will impact the shape of our office environments in the years ahead. The panelists will discuss the evolution of workplaces; how the needs of corporate end-users are changing; how ongoing technological advancements impact—for better or worse—the interaction of people and places; what will define high-performance space; and in a post-terrorist world, what is the outlook for protection of our people and our places. The panelists are: Ronald W. Cook, AVP, Support and International Real Estate, for AT&T in Dallas; Gordon Feller, director, Urban Innovations Internet Business Solutions Group for Cisco in San Jose, CA; Andrew R. Friedman, managing director, Capital Transactions for Shorenstein in San Francisco; and Karen H. Thomas, managing director for Gensler in Seattle. BOMA president and COO Henry H. Chamberlain will follow up with the State of the Industry address. For a complete roster of events, please click: http://www.boma.org/events