INDUSTRY NEWS & NOTES
GREENEST OF GREEN
Nevada tops the U.S. Green Building Council’s list of
top 10 states for LEED-certified commercial and institutional green buildings per capita, based on 2010 U.S.
census information.
Nevada touts 10.92 square feet of LEED-certified
space per person. While not a state, the USGBC also
highlighted Washington D.C., in its results. The District
of Columbia leads the nation with 25 square feet (sf) of
LEED-certified space per person.
The top LEED states per capita, including the District
of Columbia, according to USGBC results:
District of Columbia: 25. 15 sf
New Mexico: 6. 35 sf
Nevada: 10.92 sf
New Hampshire: 4. 49 sf
Oregon: 4.07 sf
Illinois: 3.09 sf
South Carolina: 3. 19 sf
Washington: 3. 16 sf
Arkansas: 2. 9 sf
Minnesota: 2.77 sf
Colorado: 2.85 sf
Urban Planning
Construction has begun on the CityCenterDC project, a
2. 5 million square foot mixed-use development in downtown Washington, D.C., that will be built in three phases.
The project is one of the largest urban developments
currently under construction in the United States. The
project will sit on 10 acres of land—or 4. 5 blocks—
bounded by 9th, H and 11th Streets and New York
Avenue, NW. The site formerly housed the District’s old
convention center.
Ultimately, CityCenterDC is expected to have two
11-story apartment buildings with 458 units; two condominium buildings with 216 units; a hotel with 400
rooms; 1,014,700 square feet of office space; and approximately 335,000 square feet of retail space.
The $700 million phase-one of the project will involve
developing the office and apartment buildings, condominiums and a portion of the retail space. It will also
include a new park, a central plaza, retail-oriented alleyways and streetscapes, and a 1,555-car parking facility.
HEALTH CARE SECTOR
IS RX FOR REITS
The health care sector continues to explode, and
U.S. real estate investment trusts (REITs) are taking
advantage of the wealth of opportunities and expanding
their market share, according to information from SNL
Financial, a financial information service for public and
private companies. Medical office building transaction
activity grew 118 percent year-over-year in 2010 to $4.2
billion, according to data from Real Capital Analytics.
REITs accounted for 43 percent of the activity in
2010, up from 21 percent in 2009. In April, REITs had
accounted for 25 percent of the total transaction activity
for medical office buildings in 2010.
