Fall 2011 News about how we re protecting the environment. Ground Breaking Planned For 340 Hillside, Green Apartments With Sweeping L.A. Views SARES REGIS Group announced plans to develop a hillside 340-unit luxury apartment community in the Woodland Hills section of Los Angeles see page 2 Seven Premier Green Spec Buildings Set At Long Beach Airport; 3% Vacancy SARES REGIS Group plans to begin construction this year on Pacific Pointe, a collection of seven super-premium industrial buildings see page 3 Corporate Savings: SRG Reduces Electricity Use By Installing Energy-Efficient Lighting SRG sliced nearly 11% off its electricity bills since establishing its SRG Green program see page 4 SRG s Green Leadership And More Recognized In Urban Land Magazine SARES REGIS Group was featured prominently as a leader in sustainable apartment development in Urban Land magazine see page 5 Paperless Accounting Meets Expectations And More; Lost Voucher Search Is Over Going green in SRG s accounting departments has produced numerous benefits. Some of the pluses see page 6 Westgate Pasadena Earns LEED Silver For 480-Unit Phase; Near Historic Homes Block One of Westgate Pasadena, the 480-unit first phase of an 820-apartment community developed by SRG, received a LEED Silver see page 7
Bill Montgomery, President, Multifamily Acquisitions & Investments Division Elevation (left) and site plan for SRG s newest sustainable apartment development planned in Woodland Hills. Ground Breaking Planned For 340 Hillside, Green Apartments With Sweeping L.A. Views SARES REGIS Group announced plans to develop a hillside 340-unit luxury apartment community in the Woodland Hills district of Los Angeles that will offer panoramic views of the San Fernando Valley. The project will be built to LEED specifications. Ground breaking is planned for January. First occupancies are slated for October 2013. This is a prime location with sweeping vistas across the San Fernando Valley. It s on Ventura Boulevard two blocks from the Desoto Avenue off-ramp of the 101 freeway and with a nature When complete, SRG will have completed development of 1,472 sustainable apartments in Southern California preserve behind the site, said Bill Montgomery, President of SRG s Multifamily Acquisitions & Investments Division. The new development will be SRG s first sustainable apartment community to utilize a wrap design in which the apartment buildings surround and conceal the parking structures to enhance the exterior s appearance and maximize resident views. When complete, SRG will have completed development of 1,472 sustainable apartments in Southern California, the most of any privately held development firm. The recession virtually stopped new development over the past two years. There are few new apartments in the pipeline and a lar ge group of Gen Y potential residents entering the rental pool and fueling demand for apartments. Occupancies are up and some markets are seeing rental growth. We are confident this development will become a high-demand community in this market environment, Montgomery said. The site originally was known as Chalk Hill. It was developed in 1963 as the Valley Music Theater by Bob Hope, Art Linkletter and local impresario Cy Warner. Over the years, the domed theater-in-the-round hosted entertainers ranging from Sammy Davis Jr. and Johnny Carson to Peter, Paul & Mary and The Doors until it fell on hard times late in the decade. It was a Jehovah s Witness assembly hall from 1980 to 2004, when the site was sold for development of 340 condominiums. The theater was demolished in 2007. Montgomery said the site was acquired in an of f-market agreement from a seller who had purchased the property at auction. Earlier development plans for the property as a for-sale condominium community were not completed as a result of the economic downturn, he said. Fall 2011 2
Larry Lukanish, Senior Vice President, Commercial Investment Division Land plan (left) shows Pacific Pointe s relationship to Long Beach Airport. Building plan (above) for Pacific Pointe North. Seven Premier Green Spec Buildings Set At Long Beach Airport; 3% Vacancy SARES REGIS Group plans to begin construction this year on Pacific Pointe, a collection of seven super-premium industrial buildings totaling 677,142 square feet for sale or lease at Douglas Park. Douglas Park is a master - planned development in Long Beach next to the Long Beach Airport. The buildings, ranging from 33,455 square feet to 170,673 square feet, will be built to LEED standards. We re introducing functionally superior, mid-sized industrial buildings into the most high-demand industrial market in the United States. They re new, extremely functional and green. We expect a strong reception from users to these buildings, which are the same as the high-design industrial buildings that we built and sold recently in Anaheim, said Larry Lukanish, Senior Vice President in SARES REGIS Group s Commercial Investment Division. Douglas Park is a first-class 260-acre business park between Los Angeles and Orange County and close to two of the world s largest seaports. It s right in the middle of everything, Lukanish said, adding that the first buildings will be complete next summer. Long Beach Airport, part of the greater South Bay industrial market, has the lowest vacancy of any major market in the United States, Lukanish said. According to data from CB Richard Ellis, which is marketing the project, the vacancy rate in the South Bay market is 3 percent. Brian DeRevere, a CBRE senior vice president, said, Very little of the market s total inventory is Class A product and there s even less that users can purchase. SRG s buildings represent the only industrial product planned so far at Douglas Park. We have big expectations for these buildings. Four buildings totaling 264,200 square feet are planned for Pacific Pointe North, the 12.6-acre first phase of the project. The building sizes are: 33,455 square feet; 41,136 square feet; 86,624 square feet and 102,993 square feet. Construction of three larger buildings on the 21-acre second phase, Pacific Pointe South, will begin in the first quarter 2012. The building sizes are: 108,658 square feet; 133,821 square feet and 170,673 square feet. Each building includes two-story executive office space, 3 percent skylights and 30-foot interior clear heights. The project will have secure concrete truck courts, true dock-high and grade-level loading. In addition, the buildings will have heat- and light-reflecting cool roofs and interior T-5 energy-efficient fluorescent lighting fixtures on sensors, dramatically reducing electricity demand. The three Anaheim buildings in SARES REGIS Group s Canyon Point industrial project, which earned the United States Green Building Council s LEED Gold certification, were sold within eight months of their October 2010 completion. Fall 2011 3
Upgrading from metal halide (above) exterior lighting at SRG Corporate to T5 fluorescent fixtures dramatically increased safety and cut utility costs. Amy Yovan, Property Manager, Commercial Property Services Division. Corporate Savings: SRG Reduces Electricity Use By Installing Energy-Efficient Lighting SRG sliced nearly 11% off its electricity bills since establishing its SRG Green program at its 26,000-square-foot Irvine, Calif., corporate headquarters. The cut in electricity use is due largely to energy-efficient lighting retrofits at SRG s 18802 Bardeen Avenue building. Improved lighting was among People are more aware and willing to change their behavior. the recommendations of the SRG Green Committee that was formed in 2008 by representatives from the company s seven divisions. It s remarkable how much energy can be saved with new technology, said Amy Yovan, Property Manager in SRG s Commercial Property Services Division. Everyone who works here appreciates the dif ference. People are more aware and willing to change their behavior. Among the first measures adopted was the installation of interior fluorescent lighting on motion-sensor switches, Yovan said. The committee also recommended daylighting for employees with office windows. In the second year of the program, outdoor lighting was changed from metal halide to T5 fluorescent fixtures. This also produced a brighter and safer outdoors, notably in the parking lot. Since the SRG Green program was created, electricity use has fallen 10.9% from a monthly average 39,380 kwh for 2008-09 to 35,085 kwh in 2010-1 1. The reduction in electricity converts to 35.5 metric tons of CO2, the equivalent reduction of carbon emissions from burning 3,984 gallons of gasoline per year, according to the federal EPA carbon equivalency calculator. Monthly kwh savings with T5 fluorescent lighting Usage in kwh 50,000 40,000 30,000 20,000 10,000 0 JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JULY 2008 JUNE 2009 JULY 2010 JUNE 2011 Fall 2011 4
SRG s The Crossing in Anaheim is co ver photo for the ULI magazine s feature story on multifamily development. John Hagestad, Managing Director SRG s Green Leadership And More Recognized In Urban Land Magazine SARES REGIS Group was featured prominently as a leader in sustainable apartment development in Urban Land magazine, published by the Urban Land Institute. In a separate and related article, SRG was listed among four firms the magazine called significant players in the Southern California multifamily market. Industry powerhouses SRG and KB Home, said the article highlighting sustainable development, not only preach green but also require their institutions to live green. The story in the magazine s September-October 2011 edition appeared under the headline, Multifamily in Two Shades of Green. John Hagestad, SRG Managing Director, was quoted explaining how internally the company achieved a 30% reduction in water use and a 70% waste recycling rate as well as the company s longtime commitment to sustainable development before it became a corporate buzz word. That includes the company s sequestration of more than 1 million tons of carbon dioxide gas since 2002, chiefly through eco-management of its vast portfolio of commercial properties. Hagestad also pointed out how SRG has been at the vanguard of green multifamily development, becoming one of the leading developers of green apartments in the western United States. One example of several SRG green apartment communities highlighted in the article was: 312-unit The Crossing in Anaheim, which is Orange County, Calif. s, first multifamily development by a privately held firm to earn LEED Gold certification. Fall 2011 5
CANCELED Mike Heiken, Chief Accounting Officer Paperless Accounting Meets Expectations And More; Lost Voucher Search Is Over Going green in SRG s accounting departments has produced numerous benefits. Some of the pluses of paperless accounting were expected and others, well, let s just say they re a pleasant surprise. We easily find what we re looking for and we don t misplace things. In the old days it was the classic, Where s the missing voucher? Where s the missing file? Happily, those days are gone, said Mike Heiken, SRG s Chief Accounting Officer. Everything is quicker. Access to support documents is easy and ef ficient. All major agreements, as well as accounts payable, journal entries, cash receipts and supporting documentation are on Microsoft SharePoint, the information sharing and document management program, he said. All reports are sent out electronically. We started this transition in 2008. It took a few years to go paperless and it has resulted in everything that was hoped for and more, Heiken said. SRG Vice President and Controller Anna Mentas, who heads a staff of 25 bookkeepers for SRG s third-party multifamily management operations, agrees. Gone from the hallways are 16 file cabinets that were emptied and re-filled each year with tons of paper, she said. How does SRG s timing compare to the rest of the real estate industry? We weren t first to go paperless. But we were early. We re definitely among the first third of companies to do so. Heiken says for 25 years he s been a member of the National Association of Real Estate Companies, an association for chief financial of ficers and controllers. Through NAREC, he s been able to meet periodically with colleagues to discuss key financial reporting matters. Paperless accounting long has been one of those Where s the missing file? issues. Happily, those days are gone It s a new world. Everything is done on your computer. It s a little scary, Heiken said. You have to remember to get up from your desk every once and awhile just to move around. Fall 2011 6
Westgate Apartments in Pasadena. Westgate Pasadena Earns LEED Silver For 480-Unit Phase; Near Historic Homes Block One of Westgate Pasadena, the 480-unit first phase of an 820-apartment community developed by SRG, received a LEED Silver rating from the United States Green Building Council. Westgate is within a few minutes walk from the famed historic homes of Old Pasadena and the route of the annual Rose Parade. It s two blocks from the Del Mar Station of the Metro Gold Line. Because of SRG s prior experience, they really pushed the envelope. It is the second SRG-developed multifamily project to earn a LEED rating. The Crossing in Anaheim, a transit-oriented community of 312 apartments, earned LEED Gold. Both developments are smoke-free communities. SRG is the leading privately held developer of green apartments in Southern California. Chandra Kraut, who consulted on behalf of SRG before being named to head environmental programs for the city of Irvine, said, When a builder first starts out, it s advisable to shoot for a basic certified rating. Because of SRG s prior experience and the location of the project, they really pushed the envelope. That s unusual for a multifamily builder. Fall 2011 7