Sustainably Urban via Rural Louisiana
— Sustainability & Building Green, Urbanism, Public Spaces, and New Building Methods Matter
In baseball, on deck refers to being next in line to bat. On a naval aircraft carrier, on deck refers to a boarded pilot in his plane on the flight deck in which the pilot then is taxied to the catapult and launched. — ON DECK is where my thoughts are composed in original form.

I grew up surrounded by farmland. I could not see my neighbor. There was very little developed real estate, and most of the structures were stricken with decay. We didn’t have a stop light. Growing up as a cajun kid in rural Louisiana, I was not exposed to the outside world. When talking with my wife, I refer to my youth and childhood as “when I was a po’ boy…” Anyway, most in similar circumstances from such a small town (<1,000) like me never leave; they get a typical job and they have kids of their own, but they reside where they grew up. I was the first in my family to graduate from college. I have always felt that moving to a more urban environment was my way out; finally being exposed to a bustling world.
Attending high school in Florida was a complete life changing experience for someone with my upbringing. Attending university in a college town had some familiarity. Perhaps on the cusp of being too familiar.
Setting my sights for California after my first job out of university essentially opened my mind to creating your own future.
Shortly after, moving from Los Angeles to NYC for a couple years in some way caught me up to speed (in my eyes) and allowed me to face my own potential of who I could become. Not to take away from a rural upbringing in general, but for me at least — I would not have been able to blossom (as my mother says) or attain the intellect I have today without living in such a dense urban environment. Is living in Manhattan sustainable? It depends…on a lot of things.
I thrive off of my surroundings, and as a young lad, my work ethic alone was not enough to spark creativity. I aced grade school. I even had the highest grades at a top US public high school, however I was not seeing my potential until my early twenties. On the outside I looked fine, but on the inside, I always felt behind. I was never actually behind, but I knew I could do more — be more.
My time at NYU was the experience I had been longing for. As I have said in the past, much of what I learned and hold of value came outside the classroom. The most important connection I realized while diving deep into real estate, finance, technology & innovation, the built environment among many other things, is that it is all connected. The world is connected.
Furthermore, NYC and LA — being as dense as they are, are comprised of totally different [built] environments. After my little family made the cross-country trip from the east coast to the west coast (which can only be summed up in in one word /Instagram video— beautiful.), I had a great deal of time/mileage to analyze my curiosities while living in NYC. Curiosity, as I have said before, being my own source of energy and drive. I am now living on the west coast in Los Angeles, and after a couple years of observation I can dive into full reflection.
Below, I leave you with many of my thoughts and curiosity while living in NYC. Cheers.
Sustainability and Green Building, Urbanism, Public Spaces, and New Building Methods Matter in Real Estate Development
Why do urbanism, sustainability, and newer building technologies matter? What good can they do within a neighborhood? A city? Who can it affect? Can a real estate developer actually be one of the good guys in the room at a community board meeting? I ask these questions because they all work together in providing the surrounding environment in which people live and play. Below, I will discuss certain aspects of urbanism, new construction methods and technologies, public spaces, sustainability, and the benefit each has within a city.
While in graduate school at NYU, I lead the Sustainable Built Environment Committee, an executive subcommittee within student association at NYU. As chair of this niche group within the graduate school, our mission was to facilitate an on going dialogue at NYU through student exposure to projects and programs in sustainable real estate development with the goal of creating sustainable and equitable communities. Throughout the academic year, Sustainable Built Environment Committee hosted programs and events where aspects of sustainability, responsible investing, and new construction methods and technologies were covered by exceptional leaders within their respective fields.
To kickoff the year’s programs, I consulted with our in-house expert, Stuart Brodsky, Director of the Center for the Sustainable Built Environment, on leading students down the path of what sustainability is really comprised of. Our program addressed Was Green a Trend? Are intended outcomes being realized, and are they being realized at an appropriate scale and pace? There is now a second generation of certification programs. What does their emergence say about the first generation, and the prospects for the future of green real estate?
Commercially, it appears that green has caught on. Across economic sectors and across the globe, leading corporations have developed in-house expertise and launched programs to address issues of green and sustainability. With the introduction of federal programs, such as ENERGY STAR®, Water Sense®, and Net Zero Energy Buildings — and industry-led green certification programs such as LEED, our industry has the framework, tools, and market incentive to improve the environmental performance of the building stock.
Based on his 20 years in leading the development and introduction of green building tools to the industry, Director Brodsky presented his updated perspective on these topics, and explained his caveat: “You know what gluten-free is, but do you remember the Atkins diet?” Furthermore, students were able to recognize in pursuit of sustainability as a very worthy milestone, his work targets optimizing and measuring the benefits of the relationships between human behaviors/practices and the outcomes of deploying select and appropriate technologies.
Following that program, students were fortunate to hear from Philip Payne, CEO of Gingko Residential, and founding Chairman of ULI’s Responsible Property Investing Council. Mr. Payne is also co-chairman of ULI’s Climate, Land Use and Energy Committee. He is at the forefront of sustainability and has an incredible track record of maintaining sustainable practices while driving profits. In this program, students were exposed to many aspects of green building, investing, real property level pro forma data, and ways to increase profits while also increasing the sustainability of a property within a portfolio.
To end the Fall semester, Steve Bluestone, of The Bluestone Organization visited NYU for an exciting evening where he discussed his experiences with passive house, retrofitting building systems, as well as how much green construction really costs. This program was very insightful because Mr. Bluestone has had a wide array of personal and business experiences in all aspects and phases of green construction and development.
Spring began with an exciting discussion with Peter Levenson, an owner and architect, taking students and faculty through sustainable and profitable retrofits, his experience with the Real Estate Board of New York’s Sustainability Committee, and his practical experience with benchmarking through Local Law 87, retro commissioning and ASHRAE (American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air Conditioning Engineers).
Over the past half-century, the Kibel Family has designed and built over 3,600 residential apartments and for many years they have worked with the most accomplished subcontractors in the industry, thus allowing them to be competitive not only in price but also in reduced construction time. The Kibel Family currently owns and manages the majority of their past developments. Their in-house staff includes architects and accountants as well as a complete maintenance division. They employ a staff of carpenters, painters, plumbers, and other trades-people to maintain their residential and commercial portfolio with Mr. Levenson leading the company.
After having several industry leaders in their respective fields visit NYU, I thought it would be great to have someone talk to students from a corporate standpoint, while also being able to relate to them at the same time. This led me to none other than Eric Duchon, one of our own recent graduates. Eric Duchon was Director of Sustainability Strategies at Cushman & Wakefield, and earned a masters degree in sustainable real estate development in 2011.
Director Duchon was responsible for managing the firm’s environmental initiatives globally, including both client-facing services and internal corporate programs. In conjunction with this role, he served as the firm’s liaison to U.S. EPA Energy Star and USGBC. Eric serves as Co-Chair of the Department of Energy’s Better Buildings Alliance Commercial Real Estate Sector Steering Committee and recently named Chair of the BOMA New York Energy & Sustainability Committee. He supports C&W’s Clients with their environmental efficiency and Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives and goals. Students were able to have an intimate discussion with Eric, and many left the table with great insights from Eric’s straightforward talk.
To conclude the spring semester, students were left with an exciting and very new building technology known as Mass Timber Construction and Development. This type of construction is lead through the implementation of cross-laminated timber (CLT), as well as various engineering and design methods of putting together a structure. Mr. Jeff Spiritos of Spiritos Properties lectured to students and faculty about the history and growth of new building paradigm. Currently, Mr. Spiritos is spearheading an exciting ground-up development of 475 West 18th Street located in West Chelsea. This project is a ten-story residential condominium building designed immediately opposite the High Line.
Spiritos Properties along with the design team, led by SHoP Architects, Arup, and Atelier Ten, proposed 475 West 18th Street as a model for the industry, demonstrating an innovative approach to construction by going beyond the typical, limited palette of materials and systems available for high-rise construction. To celebrate the unique nature of the project, the timber structure will be exposed where appropriate, exhibiting its natural beauty and strength. The extensive use of other wood products throughout will help set ambitious sustainability targets in design, construction, and operation. 475 West 18th will target LEED Gold certification and pursue higher levels of sustainability not captured in the LEED system. As a renewable material, mass wood also acts to sequester carbon — approximately one ton of carbon per cubic meter — which offers an exciting new tool for designers. US Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, in partnership with the Softwood Lumber Board and the Binational Softwood Lumber Council, awarded SHoP Architects $1.5 million in funding after winning the US Tall Wood Building Prize Competition for their development in Portland, OR, and New York City, respectively. The building will be the first in New York City to use modern mass wood systems, and will be the tallest building in the city to use structural timber, pending approvals from the New York City Department of Buildings.
In the article, Going Green — The Renter’s View, there was an interesting dialogue where many big picture questions came to light. These questions regarded the decision to effectively choose to rent or buy within a green building or why a developer would want to build green. The article asked, “New York City renters look for many things; should a green building be one of them?” In addition to stating, “As one developer put it to me, does a tenant really care about green, or would they rather have granite countertops?”
Many subtle points were made regarding the adoption of sustainable features and the benefits seen through increased building design and efficiency. As we know, a large part of the housing supply was built prior to technological and sustainable advancement; therefore, the cost of occupancy, disregarding rent, will be higher within an older building with an outdated design and operating efficiency. Yes, having an apartment with amenities and updated fixtures and appliances is a priority for many renters, however, the overall cost of renting is very important.
The USGBC’s LEED program sets forth the most commonly accepted standards regarding the effects of building and environmental design and their certifications have been used as a branding and marketing tool for real estate developers in the past. However, not all owners and operators within the business have gotten in line. Developers of older buildings continue to do minor capital improvements, but do not seek the LEED certification. These capital improvement costs are then capitalized into tenant’s rents and the landlord will not have their profits eaten away.
However, New York City, which is already a relatively sustainably built environment and energy efficient, under the Bloomberg administration has moved to improve the energy efficiency within buildings. This has been seen through several new enacted laws that require buildings to be partially updated and must meet outlined energy standards.
For instance local law 84, local law 87, and local law 88 have been recently spearheaded by the city in order to create a more sustainable and efficient city.
Local Law 84 requires owners of large buildings to annually measure their energy and water consumption in a process called benchmarking. LL84 standardizes this process by requiring building owners to enter their annual energy and water use in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) online tool, ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager® and use the tool to submit data to the City. LL84 gives building owners information about a building’s energy and water consumption compared to similar buildings, and tracks progress year over year to help in energy efficiency planning.
Local law 87 mandates that buildings over 50,000 gross square feet undergo periodic energy audit and retro-commissioning measures, as part of the Greener, Greater Buildings Plan (GGBP). The intent of this law is to inform building owners of their energy consumption through energy audits, which are surveys and analyses of energy use, and retro-commissioning, the process of ensuring correct equipment installation and performance. In addition to benchmarking annual energy and water consumption, energy audits and retro-commissioning will give building owners a much more robust understanding of their buildings’ performance, eventually shifting the market towards increasingly efficient, high-performing buildings.
Local law 88 requires large non-residential buildings to upgrade lighting to meet current New York City Energy Conservation Code standards, and to install electrical sub-meters for each large non-residential tenant space and provide monthly energy statements. Lighting in non-residential buildings accounts for almost 18 percent of energy use in New York City buildings and roughly 18 percent of the city’s carbon emissions from buildings. Dramatic improvements in lighting technology over the past two decades have made it feasible to significantly reduce energy consumption by installing more efficient lighting systems. Many such investments will typically be paid for through operational savings. Additionally, many buildings depend on a single meter to monitor electricity consumption, and as such, bill non-residential tenants a standard rate regardless of the tenant’s actual consumption. Individual tenants would likely reduce their energy consumption if energy use information were made available to them regularly.
Furthermore, tenants can now find energy efficient buildings through city reports and maps that are published for the public.
In The Road to Going Green is Paved with Incentives, it advocates that the time is now to move forward with going green from the owner’s perspective, especially in regard to energy consumption. However, this is not met without any hurdles in regards to design, financing, and asset management of a particular asset or opportunity under consideration. The owner’s perspective was taken into account and why they would perceive going green is a good business decision. Without making money, there is no deal. This discussion explored the perspective of how to make money or sustain profits while incorporating sustainability and building efficiency as a building owner. Whether going green is a marketing strategy, environment conscious strategy, or simply abiding by recently enacted regulations, designing or retrofitting a building with sustainable features can and will be profitable given the correct due diligence and assumptions were taken.
However, going green has its many benefits in that it saves money, enhances marketability of space, provides a cleaner and healthier environment, increases tenant retention, and builds property value. With all of these benefits, many times the extensive retrofits to go green often entail the expenditure of very large amounts of capital that break operating budgets. In order to make these retrofits feasible and to create building value, building owners may need to explore several public and private incentives in addition to private sector financing.
Within New York City, buildings account for more than 75 percent of the city’s carbon emissions. Buildings consume almost 48 percent of all energy produced in the United States and 75 percent of all electricity. Tax rebates, support, and resources are available for sustainable retrofits as the local, state, and federal levels for building owners. In addition to government help, there are also resources offered by the private sector such as financing from solar companies, LEED installation, and others within the space.
Outside of the actual building or structure one may inhabit, as well as on a different note, many patrons on a regular basis can overlook urban spaces and their importance. The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces is truly a gem. It is a remarkable study and the observations made half a century ago continue to ring true today. Professionals involved with urbanism or the citizens that live an urban life can look to the work of William H. Whyte for great insight regarding the attributes of a successful urban space or how to bring value to a development within a neighborhood.
Public spaces are one of my favorite aspects of a dense urban environment. However, an urban space is only one necessary element that can add to the creation of a highly successful, walkable city. I am an advocate of regularly walking the city one lives in, and experiencing the local culture and environment in an authentic way. The creation of a great public space brings out the authenticity of the inhabitants of that local neighborhood. The sociology and aspects of these successful small urban spaces, when looked at through a lens in Whyte’s book, tells an authentic story of human interaction and how their design can add value to cities.
When I travel to new cities, I observe the planning and development that is currently in place. Each city has its own history, and ultimately why it was designed and created in a particular fashion. There will always be spaces within an urban environment that are not being inhabited with a highest and best use principle or simply is underachieving what that space could be even with its current design.
Urbanism is the foundation of sustainability, and successful urban spaces create sustainable built environments. Sustainability can take many different forms when looked at individually; such as the design of buildings, cities, s well as planning and operations. Urban spaces, if they are successful, create sustainability within a neighborhood. As Whyte said, “The street is the river of life of the city. They come to these places not to escape it but to partake of it.” Depending on the design of the space and how it interacts with its inhabitants, the key element of success or failure is established. Many elements have a unique role in this creation and result of a successful urban space; therefore it must be planned accordingly.
The idea of being able to create is one of the largest ambitions that I and many others have. Now, I am not an architect, an engineer, artist, or city planner, but by wearing many hats and bringing parties together will lead to having a hand in creating value within an already existing space of an urban environment, or a business.
Observation and reflection are two of the attributes I believe are crucial to being able to create value within an existing space. Yes, someone can be trained in a technical skill or trade, but without actually understanding the connection between develop and space, then failure is certain. Market analysis, demand, supply, and the economy have a large role in that connection. I understand the implication they have and the roles that they play in depth. However, as stated by William Singer, “develop — it’s magic.” By looking at the origin and definition of the word “develop” the connection cannot be any clearer.
With that in mind, all of these thoughts, ideas, and ambitions come back to the foundation of where my interests lie. For folks interested in real estate — striving to create what will truly benefit a specific lot located within a specific block which is further located within a specific community of a single neighborhood within a city as a whole is where long term profits, reputations, value, and a sustainable career lies. That coupled with having a role within an urban environment that contains designated urban spaces, with the characteristics outlined by William H. Whyte’s work, is where my own interests would lie. In hindsight, not every development or space will contain these spaces. However, every development can contain aspects that successful small urban spaces create. These spaces create authenticity, a community, and sustainable living for a neighborhood’s residents and inhabitants.
As I have stated multiple times while living in NYC — even though many of the city’s buildings are older, less efficient buildings populating the landscape, each of these buildings are transit-oriented and walkable to its inhabitants. That alone is sustainable, and speaks to the foundations of sustainable urbanism outlined by Douglas Farr, architect and planner based in Chicago. Bryant Park and transit-oriented spaces alike have enormous upside in their valuation potential, as well as catering to those who work or reside in the area.
Developers and place makers that have the feasibility in similar urban spaces who are able to properly design and plan, thus establishing the appropriate connection of develop and space, while the local community will have an addition of true value that will be sustainable for the long term. The development and creation of such successful urban space will bring value to a neighborhood community within a city. Furthermore, dense cities, such as Manhattan, have such high raw land valuations that if one is to develop a certain space successfully the first time — expectations will be exceeded on and off the spreadsheet.
In order to wrap this all together, I want to briefly introduce the principle of sustainable urbanism. Sustainable Urbanism, coined by Douglas Farr, an architect and urban planner in Chicago, is very intriguing. By identifying its foundations and principles, it looks at the long game rather than the short. It identifies the large picture in which each component has a purpose in maximizing efficiency throughout an urban environment. As stated, even though Midtown Manhattan is predominantly comprised of older, less efficient buildings populating its spaces within the landscape, each of those buildings are transit-oriented and positioned within a walkable environment to its inhabitants and the local community. That alone speaks to the sustainable nature of that built environment and its urban planning. For example, if you take a company occupying a building within Midtown Manhattan and relocate that company 10 miles outside of the urban environment without transit-orientation for the reason being its current “unsustainable” or “older” building design and construction, then that decision is actually less efficient in regards to the overall sustainability of that company’s surroundings. This rings true even if the company’s new space is a shiny LEED Platinum building. Each employee will now have to travel to that exceptionally designed building by alternative means, as well as being located in a less dense area where daily activities are not within walking distance thus can be less efficient.
Sustainable urbanism advocates making cities not just more walkable, but encourages an efficient connection between design, planning, and the operation of built environments. Its foundations lie on essentially increasing the quality of life by bringing more resources within a short distance and also increasing the quality of products that are offered. Personally, I have come to experience this first hand since moving to New York City from Los Angeles and experiencing my youth in the South. Sustainable building materials, construction, and design are very important to my interests and role as a developer within a city, and they should be to all professionals within real estate.
Furthermore, there are numerous areas of a new ground-up structure one can incorporate sustainability into its building practices or even in currently built structures where the asset is being managed within a portfolio of investments. As outlined in Sustainable Construction: Green Building Design and Delivery, site selection, glazing and insolation, seasonal requirements, climate controls, water conservation, energy use, materials and technologies, and many more are the foundation of a sustainably designed and developed structure within a built environment. However, without efficient operations and management by the structure’s inhabitants or owner, then the actual sustainability of the building’s design and use is not good. A classic example would be One Bryant Park, also known as the recently completed and innovatively designed LEED Platinum Bank of America Tower. The design is certainly remarkable to the eye as well as its components and materials it is comprised of, however, there have been questions as to how efficient the building actually is and if its fancy LEED Platinum plaque really holds its weight. Overall, this topic of building design and its operational management seems to be a hot topic at several conferences I have attended.
Moreover, there should be an abundance of efficiency discovered when examining a sustainably constructed building and its implemented use. High performance buildings are designed and constructed to maximize operational energy savings and minimize environmental impacts of the construction and operation of the buildings. Building construction and operation generates a great deal of ‘externalized costs’ such as material waste, energy inefficiencies, and pollution. High performance buildings aim to minimize these and make the process much more efficient and less harmful. By incorporating environmentally sound materials and systems, improving indoor air quality and using natural or high efficiency lighting, it minimizes a building impact on its natural surroundings; additionally, those who work or live in these buildings directly benefit from these differences. As reported, some building owners have even stated increased worker productivity as a result of the improved conditions. However, because these other benefits are more difficult to quantify than direct energy savings, the real value of high performance buildings can easily be underestimated by traditional accounting methods that do not recognize ‘external’ municipal and regional costs and benefits. The cost evaluations of high performance buildings should account for the economic, social, and environmental benefits that accompany green buildings. Thus, the design, construction, and operation activities can result in value-added public buildings while direct, indirect, and ‘external’ benefits can also be identified.
All of this matters. As built environments develop into a built world — innovation within technologies currently on the fringe will allow for even an even more efficient and sustainable way of life. We currently live in an extremely exciting and valuable time.
“Develop — it’s magic.”
Carl Passmore
2017
Los Angeles
Sources
Farr, Douglas. Sustainable Urbanism: Urban Design with Nature. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley, 2008. Print.
“GBEE — Greener, Greater Buildings Plan — LL84: Benchmarking.” GBEE — Greener, Greater Buildings Plan — LL84: Benchmarking. Web. 20 Apr. 2016.
“GBEE — Greener, Greater Buildings Plan — LL87: Energy Audits & Retro-commissioning.” GBEE — Greener, Greater Buildings Plan — LL87: Energy Audits & Retro-commissioning. Web. 20 Apr. 2016.
“GBEE — Greener, Greater Buildings Plan — LL88: Lighting Upgrades & Sub-metering.” GBEE — Greener, Greater Buildings Plan — LL88: Lighting Upgrades & Sub-metering. Web. 20 Apr. 2016.
Hersh, Barry. “Going Green — The Renter’s View.” July 2013. Web. Mar. 2016.
Schleider, Steven. “Road to Going Green Is Paved with Incentives.” Real Estate Weekly. Oct. 2015. Web. Mar. 2016.
Sustainable Construction: Green Building Design and Delivery. S.l.: John Wiley & Sons, 2010. Print.
Whyte, William Hollingsworth. The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces. Washington, D.C.: Conservation Foundation, 1980. Print.

