HBA Newswatch
March 6, 2008
CONFERENCE EXPLORES MANY ASPECTS OF 'GREEN'
Environmentally friendly business practices were the topics of the day Wednesday at the Green Building Alliance's annual Green$ense conference at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center.
Nearly 400 people from the Mid-Atlantic region attended the event, up from 270 in 2007.
Richard Fedrizzi, president and CEO of the U.S. Green Building Council, delivered the keynote address, explaining the rapid growth of the green building industry and its increasing global importance.
"Buildings account for the most carbon dioxide emissions, not transportation," Fedrizzi said. "So we can be the largest contributor to a solution."
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COUNTY COMMERCIAL SALES BOOM
THREE LOCAL COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE SALES REPORTEDLY TOP $30 MILLION
By BRIAN McCULLOUGH, Staff Writer
The area’s commercial real estate market does not appear to be suffering through the same malaise as its residential counterpart.
Brokers recently announced three deals — in Charlestown, Chadds Ford and Avondale — with a total value believed to be more than $30 million.
In Chadds Ford, the Flynn Co. represented 202 Concord Partners in the sale of the Gateway Corporate Center.
The 86,000-square-foot, two-building complex is on Route 202 just south of Route 1. The sale price was not disclosed, but GlobeSt.com, a real estate news Web site, reported the deal was in excess of $13 million.
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INDUSTRY GROUP SAYS HOME FORECLOSURES AT RECORD HIGH LAST QUARTER
By Jeannine Aversa, Of The Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) --- Home foreclosures soared to an all-time high in the final quarter of last year, underscoring the suffering of distressed homeowners and the growing danger the housing meltdown poses for the economy.
The Mortgage Bankers Association, in a quarterly snapshot of the mortgage market released Thursday, said the proportion of all mortgages nationwide that fell into foreclosure shot up to a record high of 0.83 percent in the October-to-December quarter. That surpassed the previous high of 0.78 percent set in the prior quarter.
"Clearly it's the worst it's been," chief association economist Doug Duncan said in an interview with The Associated Press.
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GARRETT HILL TACKLING VISION, PRIORITIES
Hillians hesitating on relocating R-100 station, making part of Garrett Avenue one-way
By Sam Strike
In February, two consultants came to the stakeholders of Garrett Hill armed with options.
The residents and business owners of the small community in Radnor Township were charged with responding to the ideas presented to them as part of a township-led “master planning” process.
A group of Garrett Hill locals has been working closely with consultants Marian Hull and Jim Campbell to craft the future of the historic and tight-knit neighborhood. To be sure, most people want to keep many things the same there.
But to keep things as they are while ensuring that they will improve, changes need to be made to the codes and ordinances that govern the area, according to Hull, of URS Corp.
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WHAT WE'VE GOT
By Sam Strike
These days in construction, it’s often LEED this and LEED that.
The Leadership in Engineering and Environmental Design rating system from the U.S. Green Building Council is indeed a way that builders are getting public props for utilizing sustainable and eco-friendly systems and building details.
Using daylight, low-VOC paint, recycled this-or-that: such new realities in building are welcome, should be applauded and will probably eventually be mandated (as they already are in some cities).
But there has been a type of “green” building that has in some ways gone unnoticed. It’s the back to basics, why-didn’t-I-think-of-that concept: not throwing away what is already there.
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