Courtesy Flickr Creative Commons user izzymunchted

Sperry Van Ness’ auction team, Sperry Van Ness Accelerated Marketing, has inked a strategic partnership agreement with online commercial property platform AuctionPoint. Through this agreement, AuctionPoint will power all of Sperry Van Ness’ online auctions.

The partnership will allow Sperry Van Ness to offer property-specific online auction websites complete with property details, pictures and due diligence materials.

“Sperry Van Ness is committed to offering our clients the most advanced strategic solutions available,” president and CEO Kevin Maggiacomo said in a statement. “Online auctions are revolutionizing the commercial real estate industry, and we want to help our clients participate in this new and highly effective way of doing business.”

All of Sperry Van Ness’ nearly 900 advisors will be able to offer their clients online auctions.

Becker + Becker, developer of the 700,000-square-foot mixed-use 360 State Street residential project in New Haven, Conn., has just broken new ground with the installation of a 400-kilowatt fuel cell at the $180 million development, marking the world’s first large-scale residential installation of a fuel cell.

The 32-story property at 360 State Street sits on a 1.5-acre downtown site blocks from Yale University. The dynamic fuel cell that has just been installed will supply combustion-free power for the project’s 500 residential apartment units and 23,400 square feet of ground-level retail space, accommodating nearly 100 percent of the building’s electricity demands.

“Large capacity fuel cells have traditionally been utilized at schools, hospitals, and other energy-intensive facilities,” developer Becker+ Becker notes in a press release. “However, multi-family residential buildings such as 360 State represent a perfect, until now unexplored opportunity for fuel cell technology because of their ability to continually utilize the fuel cell’s process heat in the form of space heating and domestic hot water. With its break-through utilization of fuel cell power and range of efficiency measures, 360 State has become a new green building model for the multifamily housing world.”

Its large fuel cell is not the only means by which 360 State is breaking new ground in sustainable development. The multifamily project is a certified LEED Platinum Plan, marking the first project acknowledged under the U.S. Green Building Council’s new LEED for Neighborhood Development program. Additional green elements at 360 State include a half-acre irrigated green roof, electric car charging stations, bike storage, as well as the property’s location just across from a major train station and its easy accessibility from CT Transits’ three main bus stops.

The global recession has not put much of a damper on the greening of commercial real estate. According to a recent report by Pike Research, green certification is becoming increasingly important around the world, as, in addition to the environmental benefits, certified properties frequently command higher values and higher rents. As per the report, the amount of real estate space validated by accepted certification programs will jump from a current global total of 6 billion square feet to 53 billion square feet by 2020. The trend is more commonplace in major markets now, but it is expected to expand to the lower profile markets.

“It is definitely going to happen, but it will happen slowly in places where there isn’t international commerce, particularly overseas where they’re trying to attract U.S. or European companies that have sustainability demands,” Eric Bloom, a research analyst with Pike Research, told CPE. “In the U.S., some corporations have hard and fast policies and about green certification and some have preferences, so if a big corporation with these demands is going to have space in a lower profile market, that is going to drive demand for more such space. And then there’s the ‘keeping up with the Jones’ aspect; no city wants to be perceived as being behind on the green issue, or backward in the eyes of potential tenants. The marketability and market value of certification is driving the movement.”

By acquiring a five-property datacenter portfolio, Digital Realty Trust has added 919,000 square feet to its inventory. Also known as the Rockwood Capital/365 Main Portfolio, the group of properties were purchased for $725 million.

The portfolio’s properties are located in San Francisco, El Segundo, Calif., Oakland, Calif., Chandler, Az., and Chantilly, Va. All were developed in 2000 or later.

Digital Realty CEO Michael Foust said in a statement that the facilities are critical to the company’s mission, adding that the portfolio is leased to a diverse roster of more than 200 tenants in a variety of industries.

Credit Suisse Securities USA and Citi were financial advisors to Digital Realty. The company owns, acquires, redevelops, develops and manages technology-related real estate. Its 86 properties comprised 15.2 million rentable square feet as of May 25, 2010. The properties are located in 27 markets throughout North America and Europe.

Courtesy Flickr Creative Commons user ChrisDag

Digital Realty Trust said on Tuesday that it has purchased two shell buildings in Santa Clara, Calif. Combined, the two buildings total 82,000 square feet and offer six turnkey datacenters with 48,000 square feet of raised floor datacenter space.

The buildings are located on a single 4.2-acre parcel across the street from another Digital Realty campus. Senior vice president of acquisitions Scott Peterson said that this proximity allows the company to attain meaningful economies of scale as they expand their Silicon Valley presence.

The six datacenters will be built out in two phases. Phase one is already underway and includes powered base building upgrades to the core as well as the construction of four datacenters. The first of these datacenters is expected to come online in the first quarter of 2011. Phase two entails more powered base building upgrades along with building the remaining two datacenters.

Earlier this month Digital Realty bought a 40,300-square-foot building in Santa Clara. The company plans to build out and complete three turnkey datacenters by the end of this year.

Scott Yahraus

Seeing is believing. That’s why Scott Yahraus created ConstructionPhotoDocs, an online system that documents each step of the building process.

“The bane of the industry is change orders,” he told CPE. “We help with that.”

ConstructionPhotoDocs serves as a documentation clearinghouse for projects, including photos of every floor, wall and ceiling as well as all site and floor plans. Yahrus says this affords those involved in the process a real-time virtual view that can save money down the line. That’s because the photos substantiate claims by each contractor along with displaying any potential flaws in the building process.

“You have the photos that tell the story,” Yahraus said. “It conveys transparency for the new owner. It’s like a truthfulness.”

When clients access the program, they can view floorplans and photos from just about every angle, along with any requests for information, change orders, bulletins and miscellaneous related documents. While such documentation is already common within the industry, Yahraus says that it is extremely helpful to have it all in the same place.

“Developers take pictures already. We know that,” he said. “The problem is, who has what photo and where do you store it?”

The company typically takes onsite pictures three to four times per month in order to document progressions and milestones. The purpose of consistent photographing is to catch errors in process and avoid change orders. “When it’s covered up,” Yahraus said, “it’s covered up.”

Since ConstructionPhotoDocs is online, Yahraus says, team members on the go can check on a project anywhere at any time in the process.

“For a road warrior, this makes a lot of sense,” he said. “They can just log on even if they’re at the airport or wherever.”

Yahraus says that the company currently has five projects under contract and is on a strong growth curve. “This business has a high pent-up demand,” he said.

PropertyShark marked the latest company purchase by Yardi Systems Inc., expanding the investment management and property management software provider (and CPE’s parent company) into the real estate data realm.

The acquisition provides benefits to both companies, according to Yardi executive vice president & COO Gordon Morrell, who sees an opportunity to expand a promising company with a regional database, with a view toward national coverage. Yardi’s extensive commercial and residential property client base alone can provide exposure that can benefit the online business, he noted.

Meanwhile, “the benefit in general for Yardi is a company that has a great product, great people, a good corporate culture and we feel can help them grow,” he observed. PropertyShark, founded by Matthew Haines in December 2002, owns PropertyShark.com, which provides New York-area data, tools and educational classes to real estate professionals, investors and home buyers, ranging from maps to listings to comparables and other data.

“We took a look at what they do, liked what we saw and got involved in negotiations, but it was not something that we were out there looking for,” Morrell said.

Known for Yardi Voyager, Yardi offers product areas including Yardi Multifamily Suite, Yardi Commercial Suite and Yardi Investment Suite, serving clients worldwide.

Courtesy Flickr Creative Commons user Gonzalo Baeza Hernandez

Commercial brokerage firm Sperry Van Ness has begun using a mobile marketing platform known as Qonnect.mobi for its commercial property listings. The Irvine, Calif.-based company’s downtown Chicago office is the first commercial real estate brokerage to implement this technology, using it to market 13,000 square feet of restaurant and retail space at Alta At K Station, a luxury high-rise development built by The Fitfield Companies.

The Qonnect website describes the platform as “a bridge that links your content with your audience and where data is collected.” It is a mobile marketing platform that uses two-dimensional barcodes along with highly optimized mobile web pages for instant information delivery. In the case of Sperry Van Ness, this will provide consumers immediate access to property information including URL links to mobile pages, digital flyers, images, video, and contact information – all by scanning a bar code with any smart phone.

“Technology has always been a key component to the success of this company,” Sperry Van Ness president and CEO Kevin Maggiacomo said when announcing the news, “and this new mobile marketing platform is a result of our efforts to improve our efficiencies in marketing our listings.”

Founded in 1987, Sperry Van Ness has nearly 1000 advisors in more than 150 locations. Its international operations provide brokerage, consultation, asset management, property management, leasing, accelerated marketing, and auction services.

Courtesy Flickr Creative Commons user thejourney1972

The data center real estate sector in areas across Latin America will grow by an average 61 percent by 2014, according to a recently released report by London-based international consulting firm BroadGroup. However, the report, entitled Data Centres Latin America–Competition, Demand Drivers and Growth, concludes that the massive expansion of available properties still will not be enough to accommodate the anticipated increase in demand four years from now.

BroadGroup’s report covers Latin America’s seven leading markets, which are Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Panama and Peru. Together, these markets encompass over 200 data centers, with Brazil having the largest amount of space. Many countries across the globe, like the U.S., are still reeling from the worldwide economic crisis, but Latin America is moving into an economic position that will help spur demand in many industries, including the data center sector of commercial real estate. São Paulo and Santiago de Chile will have the greatest need for additional data center space, as their economies are more predictable.

“There is no threat of over-supply of facilities,” BroadGroup asserts. “Research for this report has been conducted at an interesting juncture in data centre market evolution in Latin America, where although participation by carrier neutral data centres is still very limited, business models are changing and the prospect of new market entrants is increasing.” The call for new properties will come not only from new companies, but also from existing tenants. “Demand from enterprises and multinationals present on the continent is placing new pressure on data centres–dominated by telecoms operators, systems integrators and ISPs–to upgrade their facilities.”

While data center space is already on target to increase a whopping 61 percent, If Latin America is going to accommodate the anticipated spurt in demand, it will have to overcome a few obstacles. As per the report, “significant infrastructure challenges lie ahead, particularly those resulting from a lack of investment by the utility firms in power transmission, but also a lack of diversity in supply.” Additionally, “power generation networks and grid connections remain an immense challenge.”

Courtesy Flickr Creative Commons user Georgio

The founders of AuctionPoint, an online auction tool for commercial real estate brokers, believe their program’s performance in Orange County, Calif., portends well for the local market.

Since its inception in fall 2009, AuctionPoint has been involved in the closure of ten Orange County commercial condo deals. Founded by Los Angeles-based development firm M2 properties in fall 2009, AuctionPoint takes into account the complexities of commercial real estate transactions through factors such as detailed property information and extensive due diligence materials.

“We are very encouraged by the activity we’re seeing in Orange County,” AuctionPoint co-founder and CEO Joe Tang told CPE. “We are seeing bright spots in the Orange County market for commercial buildings – specificially in the industrial and office sectors.”

The company points to the sale of ten out of thirteen available properties at the Von Karman Center in Irvine and the Valencia Business Center in Fullerton as a measure of this success. On the market for an average of 27 months, the condos’ sale was expedited when the brokers representing M2 – CB Richard Ellis, Cushman and Wakefield, and Voit Commercial Brokerage – chose to auction the properties through AuctionPoint. Four of the ten properties sold prior to bidding to buyers who made preemptive offers, while the remaining six were marketed through the site for an average of five weeks before selling.

“AuctionPoint helped expedite these sales by allowing the commercial brokers to bring sellers and buyers together,” Tang said. “The auction model helps bridge the gap between sellers and buyers by starting with a low price and letting the buyers bid the price up to market value.”

Moreover, he said, the auction model gets buyers off the sidelines by setting deadlines to create a sense of urgency: “Sellers are able to realize market values and buyers are able to buy at historically low values with the certainty that they aren’t over-paying.”

AuctionPoint auctions are managed and marketed by local brokers.

Despite the strong performance of the ten condo deals, co-founder and president Keith Yang said that he forecasts continued difficulties in the Orange County with regard to pricing corrections.

“There is still a significant volume of outstanding distressed commercial real estate debt that needs to be worked out, and pricing uncertainty is making it hard for those underlying assets to be sold,” he told CPE, adding that he believes more brokers will use auctions in order to help clients sell properties and create market liquidity.

He also contends that the long-term outlook for Orange County is extremely positive, citing its past position as one of the top five commercial real estate markets nationwide as well as strong fundamentals including a dense, highly-educated and wealthy demographic drawn to the area by top schools, a good transportation network and a coastal location. He also sees the recent past repeating itself.

“This will create demand for commercial real estate from business owners wanting to locate near their homes and other businesses choosing to locate within the Orange County employee base,” he said. “It’s likely that another bubble will form in the distant future. As the market recovers and early investors begin to realize profits from leveraged real estate investments, others will be drawn back into the market, financial instruments that encourage greater risk-taking will be developed, and the cycle will continue.”

Courtesy Flickr Creative Commons user mkosut

Property managers and tenants alike now have a new online tool in their arsenal.

Real estate technology provider Real Data Management has announced a partnership with interactive space-planning provider Icovia. The joint effort adds Icovia’s Space Planner tool to RDM’s Real Access Multi-Family software suite.

Using interactive floorplan technology and a drag-and-drop interface, potential tenants can make a virtual space their own by adjusting furniture and other room elements to fit their needs. Space plans can also be printed or emailed, maing it easy to share potential room designs amongst household members or real estate representatives.

Users can choose amongst a variety of room types: living room, bedroom, youth bedroom, dining room, home office or other.

CPE decided to use the Space Planner to rework a less-than-spacious home office. Inputting a length of ten by ten, we found ourselves able to choose from products and furniture in order to customize the space. To outfit the office, we chose a regular workstation, home office chair, desktop printer, and the ubiquitous laptop, as well as a business phone, paper shredder, mail bin, and file folders. Of course, no office would be complete without a water cooler and Swingline stapler, so these were also included.

From there we were able to adjust simply by dragging and dropping elements. Rough measurements were also included for more precise design. From there, the design can be printed, emailed, and even shared on Facebook. Office clutter, however, is not included.

Based in New York, RDM has been in business for a quarter of a century and has tracked and managed more than 500 million square feet of real estate in hundreds of buildings worldwide. New Hampshire-based Icovia has a database of more than two million plans and converts traffic from licensee sites into more than 50,000 registered and profiled prospects each month.