FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT:
Chris Potter, 202-525-2883, x311; chris@imt.org
IMT and the U.S. Departmemt of Energy recognize landlords and tenants who take commercial building energy performance to new levels with green leasing.
WASHINGTON, DC (June 27, 2016) — Today, the Institute for Market Transformation (IMT) and the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Better Buildings Alliance announced the 2016 Green Lease Leaders at this year’s BOMA International Conference & Expo in Washington, D.C., a conference which brings together thousands of commercial real estate professionals to discuss and share the major trends that are impacting the industry.
Green Lease Leaders, now in its third year, was established by IMT and the Better Buildings Alliance to shine a spotlight on property owners, tenants, and brokers who modernize lease language to account for energy efficiency and encourage tenant-landlord collaboration around sustainability goals for commercial buildings. This year, Green Lease Leaders portfolios totaled 350 million square feet (sq. ft.), bringing the cumulative floor area of all Green Lease Leaders to over 1 billion sq. ft.
“Through the tenant and landlord relationship, Green Lease Leaders are creating a real opportunity to improve building energy performance, and using the lease as a powerful tool to help both parties achieve energy savings,” said Dr. Kathleen Hogan, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency, U.S. Department of Energy. “We are excited to recognize the leadership of these companies for spurring collaborative partnerships and helping make green leasing a standard practice in the marketplace.”
The 2016 Green Lease Leaders are:
Landlord/Tenant Recognition
- Brandywine Realty Trust
- Cuyahoga County
- General Services Administration
- Ivanhoé Cambridge
- The JBG Companies
- PGIM Real Estate
- USAA Real Estate Company
Team Transaction Recognition
- The Institute for Real Estate Management, with GNP Realty Partners, and the National Association of Realtors
- Kilroy Realty Corporation, with Allen Matkins, LA Realty Partners, and YuMe
- Kilroy Realty Corporation, with Allen Matkins, CBRE, and Dropbox
A green lease, also known as an energy-aligned lease, is a proven tool that breaks the boundaries set by traditional leases, helping owners and tenants lower their operating costs and opening the door to deeper saving on utilities. IMT estimates that green leases can help reduce utility bills by up to $0.51 per square foot (11-22 percent) in office buildings, and if all leased office buildings executed green leases, the U.S. office market could save over $3 billion in annual cost savings.
“Green Lease Leaders are at the forefront of a corporate movement to align incentives and empower landlords and tenants to improve the sustainability of their buildings, while delivering energy cost savings to the bottom line,” said IMT’s executive director Cliff Majersik. “We are pleased to see that Green Lease Leaders now own and occupy more than one billion square feet of space and congratulate this new class of awardees.”
“BOMA International is pleased to host this year’s Green Lease Leaders awards ceremony at our annual conference,” commented 2015–2016 BOMA International Chair Kent C. Gibson, BOMA Fellow, president of Capstone Property Management, LLC. “BOMA has long been a vocal and active advocate of green leasing and other sustainability initiatives in the commercial real estate industry. Our support of the Green Lease Leaders program has enabled more owners and tenants to reap the benefits that green leases have to offer.”
Brand new to this year’s Green Lease Leaders is the Team Transaction award, given to groups of stakeholders who collaborate on an individual transaction to incorporate sustainability elements into the operations of a leased space. The Green Lease Leaders industry advisory group created the Team Transaction category as a way to recognize deals where all parties come together to push the boundaries of energy efficiency in commercial space. “We hope to see even more applications next year that show how bold steps forward in an individual green lease can point the way towards whole portfolio transformation,” said Adam Sledd, Director of Market Engagement at IMT.
Looking at the commercial real estate market in 2016, it’s clear that tenants increasingly value sustainability when seeking to lease new space—whether it’s to lower capital expenses, attract and retain employees and customers, or to achieve Corporate Social Responsibility goals. Unfortunately, in many cases real estate owners and tenants do not integrate sustainability into the lease process due lack of awareness about what’s possible. To help move the dial for the industry, Green Lease Leaders are providing replicable solutions that can be employed by others to transform their leases. IMT and the Better Buildings Alliance are excited to collaborate further with these industry leaders who are taking charge with innovative leasing practices.
“The continued success of Green Lease Leaders demonstrates the importance of fostering a strong relationship between tenants and landlords on energy efficiency and sustainability. Award winners are using the lease as a contractual mechanism to help reduce total occupancy costs, drive tenant retention, and win business. We applaud the successful strategies being employed by this year’s applicants,” said Jason Hartke, Program Manager of Commercial Buildings Integration at DOE.
For more information on the Green Lease Leaders program and this year’s recipients, visit greenleaseleaders.com, and to learn more about the benefits of green leases, visit the Green Lease Library at greenleaselibrary.com.
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ABOUT IMT: The Institute for Market Transformation (IMT) is a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit organization promoting energy efficiency, green building, and environmental protection in the United States and abroad. IMT seeks to ignite greater investment in building energy efficiency through activities including technical and market research, policy and program development and deployment, and promotion of best practices and knowledge exchange. IMT’s efforts lead to important new policy outcomes, widespread changes in practice, and ultimately, lasting market shifts toward greater energy efficiency, with substantial benefits for the economy and the environment. For more information, visit imt.org and follow us on Twitter at @IMT_speaks.
ABOUT THE BETTER BUILDINGS ALLIANCE: The Better Buildings Alliance is a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) effort to promote energy efficiency in U.S. commercial buildings through collaboration with building owners, operators, and managers. Members of the Better Buildings Alliance commit to addressing energy efficiency needs in their buildings by setting energy savings goals, developing innovative energy efficiency resources, and adopting advanced cost-effective technologies and market practices.