The biggest green news in the commercial real estate industry over the past few days was CB Richard Ellis's commitment to bring 100 of the U.S. office buildings it manages up to LEED certification. The U.S. Green Building Council's Portfolio Program supports building owners working to earn LEED certification by providing a cost-effective, streamlined certification process.
CBRE's management portfolio comprises 1,000 office buildings and over 600 million square feet of space. Its commitment to greening 100 of those buildings, approximately 10 percent of the company's holdings, accounts for 20 million square feet of commercial office space.
What CBRE's move suggests is there is an active audience of building owners who are reading the tea leaves and finding that their portfolios' value is eroding by not meeting the new standards. This erosion is due to the fact that these buildings, not energy or resource efficient, are not attractive to the new sensibilities of the tenant. And of course, that will make it more difficult to finance a property that is not moving towards LEED certification at some level.
The good news is that CBRE is saying to a share of its clients that, in order to compete, it's time to change. The better news is that they're starting to listen.
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