”“being on the cutting edge. It’s fun to go to the tenants and say, ‘Look at this cool program that our company created.’”
The partnership between tenants and property managers further solidified the success of the program.
“It’s not like we just created this program, stuck it in
an envelope and mailed it to our tenants,” Beuttell said.
“We called them up, we held their hand, we walked them
through it and we showed them the benefits.”
To make the process less intimidating, property manag-
ers tried meeting one-on-one with tenants to demystify
the program and simplify the process. The one-on-one
meetings also helped property managers get to know their
tenants at a deeper level.
“This program has helped us build a stronger rapport
with the tenant contacts,” Cress said. “Anytime you get
the opportunity to work with tenants on something, it
strengthens the relationship.”
When Ososkie was marketing the program to her ten-
ants at La Jolla Commons’ Earth Day event in April, she
got some face-time with the tenant employees, rather
than just meeting with her usual tenant contacts.
“We thought that if we could get the employees excited
about the program, that would get the [tenant] management
excited about the program, and it actually worked,” Ososkie
said. “Within a week, we had four tenants come on board.”
Building these relationships is fundamental to a property manager’s overall success.
“Personally as a property manager, the program has allowed
me to meet with my tenants and re-emphasize the partnership,” Ososkie said. “We value this kind of relationship.
Tenants can be a partner in sustainability. We’re showing
them that sustainability doesn’t stop with what we’re doing;
they can have the same impact that we have.” n
thE grEEn officE tEnant prograM shoWED
us soME things WE couLD Do bEttEr. WE took
thosE iDEas anD startED iMpLEMEnting thEM.
—truDY bo YD, sitE ManagEr, shELL oiL
embraced this important movement and that they are
working toward a more sustainable environment,” Boyd
said. “The employees want to work toward that too, so
they feel like more of a team.”
Similarly, Hines plans to continue to grow and improve
the program. Currently, 20 percent of Hines’ portfolio is
certified. The company’s current goal is to have 50 percent
of its total portfolio certified by Earth Day on April 22,
2011, with a long-term goal to have 100 percent of Hines
tenants certified.
“In order to get there we need to continue to find ways
to communicate the program and make sure it is attractive and relevant to the tenants,” Beuttell said. “When we
challenge the property managers [to promote this program with tenants], they are up for the challenge, and we
get pretty good results.”
PartNErS iN SuStaiNability
Getting tenants on board with the Green Office Tenant
program has relied heavily on Hines property managers.
“The Hines property managers deserve the majority
of the credit for the success of this program,” said Alan
Cranfill, manager of corporate services for Hines. “They
are the ones in the field. They know their markets, and
they know their tenants.”
The managers promoted the program to their tenants
and acted as experts while guiding tenants through the
certification process. They distributed a tenant guide that
mapped out the program, encouraging tenants to identify
and implement no- and low-cost alternatives to operate
standard indoor office environments.
“We were excited about it,” said Meredith Cress, a Hines
property manager in Houston. “We pride ourselves on
Diana Mirel is a contributing writer for JPM. if you have questions regarding this article or you are an irEM Member
interested in writing for JPM, please e-mail tulie o’connor at toconnor@irem.org.
