New study ranks top US opportunities for green building
New York - San Francisco leads the 25 largest US office markets for green opportunities, according to a study just released by real estate company Cushman & Wakefield, in collaboration with the Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance's (NEEA) BetterBricks initiative.
The Green Building Opportunity Index is the first office market assessment tool to provide weighted comparisons of top U.S. office markets on the basis of both real estate fundamentals and green development considerations.
The Index focuses on the primary factors that influence successful development, retro-fitting, leasing and sales of investment grade "green" office buildings in the 25 largest U.S. Central Business Districts (CBDs). It compares a market's relative position to its peers in six categories: Office Market Conditions, Investment Outlook, Green Adoption & Implementation, Local Mandates & Incentives, State Energy Initiatives and Green Culture.
The Green Building Opportunity Index comes on the heels of the EPA's just-released list of Top 25 U.S. cities for energy efficient buildings, with many of the same cities on both lists. The EPA ranking, however, lists only the number of Energy Star-labeled buildings in each city. Cushman & Wakefield and NEEA's Green Building Opportunity Index ranks each market on dozens of different factors, in addition to the number of Energy Star labeled and LEED certified buildings.
The Green Building Opportunity Index's top 12 markets overall:
1) San Francisco 7) Downtown New York
2) Oakland 8) Washington, D.C.
3) Midtown New York 9) San Diego
4) Los Angeles 10) Boston
5) Chicago 11) Seattle
6) Orange County 12) Portland, Ore.
"These results highlight the importance of both public and private entities considering market economic opportunities hand-in-hand with the incentives, policies and cultural considerations that are critical for green building," said Theddi Wright Chappell, managing director and national practice leader of Cushman & Wakefield's national green building and sustainability practice. "If it's not financially sustainable, it's not sustainable."
