Back in the Metroplex....

Zang Triangle

Our first site visit in Dallas was to a property called "Zang Triangle". This property is a high-density mid-rise multi-family project. It is going to have 260 units and is located in the North Oak Cliff area of Dallas. The developers of the project were nice enough to meet us on site and speak with us about the project. They told us that the project isn't going for any sort of environmental certifications because of the cost and paperwork involved but they are incorporating sustainable features in to the property. They also emphasized the green nature of high-density multi-family properties because of the fact that they allow for a large amount of people to live in a small amount of space and thus eliminate potential urban sprawl. Overall there was not a lot of sustainable information given out during the property presentation but I was glad that they mentioned the high-density sustainable point since my company builds the same type of properties and this fact seems to be overlooked by the public.

Post Office & Courthouse Building



Our next visit was to the US Post Office and Courthouse building in downtown Dallas. This property was being redeveloped as a 78 unit apartment building by Shawn Todd. Shawn meet us at the property and gave us a tour. The property isn't scheduled to open until October so construction was still taking place but you could see the potential of the building. The lobbies and decorative features of the building showed incredible craftsmanship that cant just be reproduced in today's age. While there weren't going to be any specific sustainable features incorporated this property was another example of an adaptive reuse, which has to be one of the most sustainable real estate types. The property was also going to feature a green roof that would provide some more green space for the residents in the middle of the city and act as a temperature barrier for the building. I wish the project would have incorporated more sustainable features but it would have cost a significant amount more to do this and the property financial just couldn't support it.

During the tour of the property Shawn also spoke to us about the process of obtaining the building and what is was like to work with the government on a real estate deal. He told us that he was initially worried about working with the government, especially the historical people, but that in the end he really enjoyed working with them because they provided him with a wealth of guidance and useful information to use during the redevelopment of the building. I think it was important that he spoke to us about working with the historical groups because most people that want to get involved in adaptive reuse projects are going to have to deal with these groups and it is important to understand how you need to interact with them.

Here are some additional pictures of the Post Office project:

Lecture From Dr. Buckley

The next night we attended a lecture given by Dr. Buckley. He started the lecture off with some general concepts on sustainability and I have listed the statements that I thought were noteworthy below.

- Must get society as a whole moving toward a more sustainable lifestyle.

- Urban sprawl is a serious issue that mus be addressed with more density.

- The frequency and quality of social interactions are a very important driver behind developing more dense neighborhoods.

- Cities need to worry about workforce health and sustainability which means they need to consider giving businesses more benefits to relocate to their city or make sure they don't take their jobs from their city.

- Live/Work/Play = Sustainability

For the rest of the lecture Dr. Buckley showed us examples of adaptive reuse projects which was very informative and showed the class what is possible when it comes to repositioning older properties.

Botanical Research Institute of Texas

The last site visit was at the Botanical Research Institute of Texas which is located in Fort Worth. The BRIT is a museum, research institution and learning center that focuses on botanical products. BRIT’s mission is to conserve our natural heritage by deepening our knowledge of the plant world and achieving public understanding of the value plants bring to life. BRIT’s work impacts our world in many functional areas including environment, by giving people a local sense of stewardship; medicine, through increasing nutritional and medicinal opportunities; society, by training a new generation of thinkers and problem solvers; and in agriculture, by creating more sustainable food.

During our site visit we were given a tour of the property by the director of educational programs. The BRIT building was designed and constructed to be a LEED platinum building. They have filled all of the paperwork for this certification and should get their ruling in the near future. The BRIT property includes green features in all of the LEED categories, including sustainable sites, water efficiency, energy & atmosphere, indoor environmental quality and materials & resources. Some of the green features of the building that stood out to me were the recycled and rapidly renewable materials used, the geothermal HVAC system, the rain harvesting system, the rooftop solar panel system and the vegetative roof. I was also intrigued by the native landscaping that they used. I didn't think it was very visually appealing but I did appreciate the thought that went in to putting back the vegetation that was present in that area throughout history.

The BRIT screams sustainability from every angle. The employees are focused on the environment in their daily work activities so it is only natural that they would want their workplace to be as environmentally friendly and sustainable as possible. I thought the office building was very well done as well. It serves as a great example for the visitors and is being properly used as a teaching tool for the children that visit.

We have reached the end of the Sustainable Texas Study Tour. It has been a very fun and informative class and I am happy that I decided to take a part in it. I gained a much deeper appreciation for sustainability and feel encouraged that the citizens of Texas are taking steps towards a more green and sustainable lifestyle.



Houston - The Green Energy Capital???

Green Bank & Momentum Bay

Our first site visit in Houston took place at one of the Green Bank offices. Green Bank is a Texas bank that focuses on investors and business committed to a cleaner, healthier and more sustainable environment. This concept is very new and is taking place with the uprise of the green movement but we were all quite surprised to hear that the bank had to transform this environmentally friendly focus since they originally named the bank "Green Bank" because green is the color of money. That being said, we were informed that the owners were very committed to sustainability and are operating in line with their environmental championing mission statement.

The bank building that we visited was also a LEED gold property that was constructed in 2008. It was constructed very well and contrary to what I would have guessed they were able to complete all of the LEED features and still save over $1 million on the project costs. This is the first LEED project I have ever heard of where the sustainable features didn't end up driving the project costs up.

The reason we were at Green Bank was to meet with Mark Alan Robinson, who owns a company called Momentum Bay. This company provides strategy, research, procurement, training & messaging related to green energy, green building & green business. The stated goal of Momentum Bay is to "help organizations & ultimately households create sustainable, long-term growth resulting in less harm, no harm & even good by going green profitably & practically." and the website shows that the firms genuine passion is "equipping chief-level executives rapidly to plan green strategies & execute specific best-in-class sustainability projects - from strategy & training to procurement to messaging". Along with helping corporations, Momentum Bay has recently focused a large amount of attention towards helping school districts achieve more sustainable buildings and operations. I think this is important to note because schools make up a large amount of real estate and sustainable school buildings are a great tool to teach kids about becoming sustainable.

I enjoyed our visit with Mark very much. He was incredibly knowledgeable on multiple fronts of sustainability and the green movement and brought up quite a few concepts and ideas about these topics that I have never considered. I have listed out some of the key points Mark made that stood out to me.

- "Green" is the # 1 patented word in 2007 and this is not a good thing because it has become mainstream and will be overused as a marketing tool by people and corporations that aren't really trying to operate in a sustainable fashion.

- There is currently very bad data or a serious lack of data on green buildings. This is bad because researches are not getting the feedback they need to adjust sustainable building features and techniques.

- In order to get corporations to buy in to sustainability you have to make issues and goals personal and mention the positive benefits. You get in to peoples heads then their hearts and finally their hands.

- Corporations like fast rewards so it is easier to implement sustainable plan if you use baby steps and quick returns.

Overall I was very impressed with our visit with Mark and feel like I left with a broader understanding of sustainability and how it is being implemented in our countries businesses.

Houston Green Building Center

Our next site visit was to the City of Houston - Green Building Resource Center. The center is located at the city permit office and any person going to pick up a building permit must pass directly by it. The center itself is registered as LEED for Commercial interiors and features information and exhibits highlighting green or sustainable building materials and techniques. It serves as an example for builders and the community of what green features they can incorporate in to their projects.

While at the GBRC we met with the director of the center, Steve Seltzer. He gave us a mini tour of the center and explained quite a few of the exhibits. He also talked to us about the other services that the GBRC provides, including plan review and green building strategy plans. I think this type of center is very important for sustainable real estate because it provides a friendly and informative resource to people interested in construction green properties. It also draws people in that might not know anything about green building and gives them a wealth of knowledge about what is possible in today's times.

2727 Kirby & West Ave

Our last site visits in Houston were to 2727 Kirby and the West Ave mixed-use development. These properties claimed to have some sustainable features but during our visits we figured out there was very little sustainable about them and that using this language was a marketing ploy. I would venture to say that there are a large percentage of properties that use this same tactic, which I am not a bid fan of.

Houston was fun but it is time to head back to Dallas now. We still have quite a few site visits to do in the DFW area so I am excited to see what is in store.



Viva San Antonio!

SAN ANTONIO: PEARL BREWERY & RIVERWALK REDVELOPMENT

I made it to San Antonio and the first site visit I attended with the class was to the Pearl Brewery and Riverwalk Redevelopment. The brewery, which is located at the northermost navigable point of the San Antonio river, brewed beer for over a century at the time of its shut down in 2001. The entire brewery campus has been redeveloped or is in the process of redeveopment. The nwe uses really capture the theme of work-live-play with the presence of residential, office, retail and eductation facilites all on site. 

Throughout the entire redevelopment there is a serious focus on sustainability. The most obvious and probably most important aspect of sustainability being used is the reuse of all of the old brewery buildings. This saves a massive amount of effort and material that would be required to tear down these buildings and construct new buildings in their place. It also gives a second life to properties that would most likely go unused and simply deteriorate with time. The development also featured many other sustainable / green features including the states largest solar panel installation, drought resistant xeriscaping, high-performance building materials, rainwater collection systems, some buildings using windtricity electrical supply and recycling centers. The project developers really believed in creating a green and sustainable development and it shows through the widespread inclusion of these features.

The Pearl brewery project is a good example of how an adaptive reuse project can be done with incorporation of sustainable and green components. It also serves as a great example of sustainable and green development being acheived on a large campus size project. I believe this type of project is very important because it shows the development world that old industrial / office complexes, which our country has an abundance of, can be repurposed in both a cool and environmentally friendly way. Hopefully other developers will take notice and start not only looking at older campuses for redevelopment but also looking at them for sustainable and green redevelopment.

Along with touring the Pearl brewery project we also took a walk down the newly developed section of the San Antonio Riverwalk which starts at the Pearl site and works it way in to the downtown area. The walking path was constructed very well and includes quite a few neat nature preservation sections and artwork features. The trail has also sparked some development with one apartment building underway and more planned for the future.  

This riverwalk redevelopment is important from a sustainability perspective for a couple reasons. The first reason is that it took a previously rundown and unused section of one of San Antonio's natural treasures and turned it in to a very enjoyable destination without impacting the natural area in a negative way. The other reason is that it created a pedestrian connection between the Pearl site and downtown San Antonio, where many of the city's residents work. I don't know that it is currently being heavily utilized as a form of transportation to work but with the rise of the Pearl site and the development of more residences along the new section of the river there is no doubt that the use will rise.

Here are some more pictures of the Pearl site and riverwalk:

SAN ANTONIO AIA

While at the Pearl brewery we also stopped in at the San Antonio AIA office, which is located on site and was one of the first offices to take occupancy in the redevelopment. We were only able to speak with an adminstrator during our visit so we did not get a large amount of info but we did learn that the office space was fitted out in a very energy efficient manner and that San Antonio architects are very focues on green building. This is good to hear because, as I stated in a previous post, I beleive that architects provide some of the major push behind the green building movement and without their green design we will not be producing green buildings.

Sustainable Perspectives Group

Our next site visit was at the office of Sustainable Perspectives Group. This company provides LEED and green building consulting servies for owners, architects and contractors in the San Antonio area. I am fairly familiar with this type of work since I am a LEED Green Associate and use companies similiar to this one at my job so I didn't take very much away from the visit. However, I was encouraged to hear that SPG has been very busy lately and is seeing an increase in the number of green projects.

Texas Toyota Plant



Our next stop was at the Toyota manufacturing plant. This plant has only been open for a short period of time and Toyota uses it to manufacture a couple of their truck lines there. We were supposed to go on a tour of the manufacturing facility but because of numbers we were unable to participate in the tour. We did however learn about some of the sutainable or environmentally friendly practices that Toyota uses at this plant. One of the major sustainable features is that a majority of the truck parts manufacturers are located on the same campus. This is the only plant Toyota has set up like this in the world and it eliminates the need for parts to be shipped by vehicle to the manufacturing site which in turn cuts down the vehicle pollution. The site is also a "zero landfill" site which means that everything is either recycled or reused. This is obviously very environmentally friendly and quite impressive for a site of this size. It is good to see that large global corporations are actually practicing sustainability and not just using it as a marketing tool.

Here are a couple more pictures from the visit:

While my time in San Antonio was short, I can tell that this city is focused on becoming more green and sustainable. The people seem to care about their environment and are taking action to make their city a more green for the future. It time to head to Houston and I am excited to see how sustainable the energy capital of the country can be!

Days 1-3: Blogging from a distance.....

Welcome to my Sustainable Texas Study Tour blog partners! This is my account and insight on the sites that we visited during the UT-Arlington Summer 2011 SUST 5305 class. This class included site visits to Austin, San Antonio, Houston and the DFW area with a combined focus on sustainable real estate, urban planning and business practices.

I was unable to attend the first 3 days of the class so there were quite a few site visits that I missed out on. For these site visits I will be providing a summary of the visits and a statement on why I think these places are important from a sustainability perspective.

- Pedernales Lofts: A mixed-use condo building located on the east side of Austin. This project was one of the first multi-family projects to earn the Austin Energy green building rating, which makes it fairly significant from a sustainable perspective, but the property is not being marketed as green and there are quite a few properties in the area with similar features so it has definitely lost some of its green value.

- Berry Chen Studios: An architecture firm that designs buildings to be both sustainable and cost effective. They believe that the formal green building rating systems are a secondary concern to the ultimate goal of creating sustainable structures which is good to hear because it seems like too many people get caught up on meeting LEED or other rating system standards and stop thinking outside the box to come up with sustainable ideas for their developments.

- Riverside Grove: A townhome project in east Austin that focused on energy efficiency. The features of the project lead it to have very low energy costs which can be used as a powerful marketing tool. It proclaims to be an "affordable" green residential project which makes it quite unique.

- Austin Green Energy: A representative from Austin Energy spoke to the class about the company's Green building program, which was one of the first energy efficiency programs in the country and is now one of the most complete and extensive programs around. It is very significant because it has been driving energy efficient building for over 20 years and is now leading the way with building energy modeling requirements and other innovative municipal sustainability programs.

- Eco-Wise: This is a store in Austin that sales green building products. These products include newly produced environmentally friendly materials along with recycled or salvaged building materials. This type of store is important because it compiles green and sustainable materials under one roof and it also diverts a large amount of building products for the dump and puts them back in to use. This cradle-to-cradle practice is extremely sustainable because it gives products a second lift and prevents us from having to put raw material and energy in to creating a new product.

- Austin Sustainable Food Center: The mission of this center is to get the citizens of Austin eating more local and healthy foods. They coordinate farmers markets and other programs such as farm direct, which involves produce going directly from local farmers to city dwellers, and farm to school, which involves farmers delivering fresh produce to the Austin area schools for use in their cafeterias. They serve an important role of establishing community support for local farmers which are a real backbone for our country's food supply. I am a huge fan of this because I hate the thought of our produce being shipped long distances, which is very unsustainable, and I feel that local farmers very rarely get the recognition and support that they deserve.

- Austin Mueller Site: This is a large mixed-use development on the site of the old Austin airport, which shut down in 1999. The project includes retail, multi-family, single family homes, the Dell Children's Hospital and a Ronald McDonald House. The developer of the project really believes in sustainable green development and set the tone for the project by building themselves a LEED-gold marketing office on site. The rest of the project also includes many green and sustainable features, including a very efficient on-site power plant, efficient building designs that incorporate sustainable and non-toxic materials, extensive green spaces and a live-play setup that keeps residents from having to get in their car to head out for entertainment purposes. The project is also situated to be connected to the rest of the city with rail service which will reduce the car usage even more. The Ronald McDonald house on site is also very significant because it was the first platinum rated building in Austin and the first platinum rated house in the world. I believe this is important because non-profits, like the Ronald McDonald House, can use all of the economic savings they can and energy efficient properties can save the owner a significant amount in operations costs which in turn lessen the burden on the non-profit.  The Mueller project is significant from a sustainable perspective for countless reasons. Overall I believe that this development serves as an example for future projects. They have successfully created a large mixed-use development that incorporates green and sustainable features in all parts of the development. This is something that I hope catches on with other developers across the nation because it really impacts our society in a positive way.

- Sol - A Sustianble Community: This east Austin residential development has 23 homes in it currently with plans for 40 homes. The design of the subdivision and homes attempts to use the smallest amount of energy possible and around 40% of the homes are priced below marked value. The homes are located on smaller lots, with shared greenspace, and all of the homes include multiple energy efficiency features. This development is significant from a sustainability stand point because it is an example of a single-family neighborhood that was built in a sustainable fashion but managed to maintain some affordability, which is important because green living is not something that should be reserved for the rich only.

- Austin Eco-School: A 5 year old private elementary school that strives to provide a healthy environment for their students. They focus on teaching the students that everyone plays an important role in protecting the environment and building a positive future. They also get the students involved in community service, gardening and recycling. I think a facility like this school is very important because it sets a foundation in sustainability and environmental stewardship at a young age, which is when most people are most easily influenced. If kids can gain an appreciation for the environment early on then they have their whole life to act on this appreciation and make the world healthier and more sustainable.

- Alamo Architects: This architecture firm does a large amount of green projects and was one of the first USGBC members in San Antonio. Their office is a great example of a energy efficent adaptive re-use project. The building was the second LEED certified building in San Antonio and used a large amount of the material from the former manufacturing facility in the new office. I think architecture firms are the on the leading edge of green building so it is important that they practice what they preach. Alamo Architects has shown what is possible with their office and it can in turn be used as a marketing tool, which is very important for sustaining the company's business.

- Solar San Antonio: A non-profit organization that screens and coordinates solar customers and contractors. They can educate and pre-qualify potential customers and also make sure that qualified contractors are connected with these qualified customers. This program is part of the city of San Antonios push towards using solar energy and around 150 homes per year have been hooked up to solar power through this program. I believe that solar energy is a very important energy source that we should all be taking advantage of so I was very happy to see that San Antonio had a program like this. The current power plant setup in our country is not sustainable so the more power we can get from natural sources the better off we are from a sustainability, economic and health perspective.



UTSA - Sustainable Business Program: This program was launched in 2010 and provides business support and education in the areas of sustianable business practices. They advise businesses on many items including energy compliance, environmentally friendly operations, green marketing, business sustainability practices and disaster resiliency. This type of sustainability program is very unique and important for a couple reasons. It provides business with the support they need to catch up with the green movement that has swept the country. It also gives graduate students an opportunity to think about business sustainability and work through real world sustainable issues in a mentored school setting so they will be better prepared to tackle these issues when they enter the business world.

- Poteet Architects: This architecture firm has focused on adaptive reuse and revitilization projects, including their home office space. Their work is all over San Antonio and is catchy enough to be featured in architectural publications quite often. The type of work that Poteet does is very important to sustainability because it preserves and re-uses the structures that already occupy our space. It is signifigantly more environmentally friendly to re-use an existing building and Poteet has done a great job of making these old buildings attractive and desirable again which is very important because if no one will use a building after renovation then it was pointless to undertake the project and only wasted more manpower and material.

Summary of Site Visits Missed

I regret not being able to attend these first three days of class but I feel that looking through the information on all of these site visits and writing this blog entry has given me a good insight in to what the stundents in atendence were exposed to. Ausin and San Antonio are rich in sustainable focused business and developments and this is evidenced by the amount and broad range of site visits during the first 3 days. I tend to think of sustainability from a real estate perspective only quite often, since that is the line of work that I am in, but these site visits show that sustainability can be looked at from many different perspectives and that all of these perspectives are important in the grand scheme of sustainability. If we can get everyone in to a sustainable mindset and pattern during their daily lifes then they will demand sustainble real estate and in turn we make the world a much better and more environmentally friendly place.

It is time to stop bloggin from a distance now and head down to San Antonio to join the group. I am looking forward to the site visits we have planned for San Antonio and Houston and cant wait to broaden my knowledge and understanding of sustainable business and real estate.