Articles About Commercial Real Estate
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Posted by: Garrett K.
I was inspired after reading this article in the SF Chronicle. So many times I saw an old office get gutted with all materials getting hauled off to the dump. Now many of those materials, including the carpet, can be recycled or donated. This article suggests some great resources.
Ellen Raynor doesn't have a problem getting 100,000 pounds of used carpet in the door of her warehouse each week.
It's getting it out the door that's the challenge.
Raynor is owner of San Francisco Carpet Recycling, an 8-month-old company that collects, sorts and finds buyers
for used carpeting. With carpet recycling still in its infancy, Raynor's is one of about 50 such businesses
throughout the country and the only one in the Bay Area.
And like her peers, Raynor has found her biggest hurdle isn't procuring used carpet but finding companies that
are interested in buying it, breaking it down and turning it into new products.
"Finding buyers is really the competitive part of this industry - proprietary information," Raynor said.
Old carpet is just a sliver of the overall waste stream, 1.6 percent of all trash collected in San Francisco by
Norcal Waste Systems. But that still adds up to more than 16 million pounds each year in San Francisco and 5 billion
pounds nationally. And historically, nearly all of that used carpet has gone into landfills.
"It's a big deal because of its weight, and because it doesn't break down," said Ken Stewart, operations manager for
San Francisco Recycling & Disposal, Norcal's recycling division.
In 2002, after negotiations with federal officials and environmental groups, carpet manufacturers set a goal of recycling
40 percent of America's discarded carpeting by 2012. They formed a trade group to promote recycling.
Since then, the number of local carpet collectors has risen from five to more than 50 - including Raynor's operation.
Raynor herself was an unlikely candidate to become the Bay Area's carpet recycling diva. A software industry veteran,
she left a product management job at Pitney Bowes to enter the carpet business, first by buying a Truckee carpet store
with friends and then by starting San Francisco Carpet Recycling.
"I wanted to be more of a part of the community," said Raynor, 37, who has about a half dozen employees in her Bayview
warehouse. "Today my trucking company is a block away. My pallet company is a block away. The hardware store knows me.
That's very different from flying all over (to software clients), where only the airport shuttle driver knows you."
Raynor collects used carpet from Bay Area carpet retailers, hotels and other businesses, and Norcal's transfer station.
Her staff uses handheld spectrometers - the size of portable vacuums - to identify whether the fibers are made from nylon,
polypropylene, PET plastic or wool. The backing is often a different material from the fibers.
"Carpet is made from different things, so a separation process has to happen to turn it into raw material for other
products," Raynor said.
The carpet is sorted, baled and stacked. Then comes the hard part: finding takers.
Shaw Industries, a division of Berkshire Hathaway that is the world's largest carpet manufacturer, operates a recycling
plant in Georgia that can reformulate one particular fiber called Type 6 Nylon into new carpeting. Raynor and other
recyclers send some inventory to Shaw, but it can handle only part of their supply.
So Raynor spends a lot of time exploring other potential uses such as plastics manufacturing. Some synthetic carpet ends
up being made into carpet pads. Other carpet is melted into pellets and turned into plastic paving stones or automobile
parts.
"The carpet industry has an appetite for about 5 percent of what is discarded right now," Raynor said. "So I'm focusing
on the plastics industry. My focus is market development and finding end uses for material. But it's a lot more
complicated than 'Do you want some aluminum?' "
For now, the economics of carpet recycling remain challenging. Raynor looks for the best price for her bales of used
carpet, but that doesn't necessarily cover her costs.
One out-of-town buyer offered her 6 cents per pound, while her shipping costs were 7 cents per pound. In some cases,
she's even had to pay manufacturers to use her carpet - but she gets it all recycled.
So Raynor also charges a fee to carpet dealers, waste haulers and others who want her to recycle their carpet. She has
about a dozen buyers.
Jeff Lerner, operations manager of Floorcraft in San Francisco, said Raynor's service costs about as much as using his
trash hauler. Tom Straus, owner of Straus Carpet Co. in Oakland, said Raynor's pickups are somewhat more expensive,
but still worth it.
"I'm not out to make a buck on this," Straus said. "I just don't want it going to the landfill."
On a national scale, carpet recycling has a long way to go. Only about 6 percent of the country's discarded carpet was
recycled in 2007 - far short of the industry's 40 percent goal.
But Raynor, after eight months in business, is already beating the national average. On a busy week, she takes in more
than 100,000 pounds of carpet, which would add up to 5 million pounds a year.
That's the equivalent of almost a third of all carpet collected in the city by Norcal.
"Ellen may be new, but she's a fantastic entrepreneur," said Jeremy Stroop of the Carpet Recovery America Effort, the
national trade group. "She's developed a very, very good system for collecting post-consumer carpet and turning it into
other products. She's a fantastic businesswoman and we expect a lot from her."
Why recycle carpet?
It saves raw materials and space in landfills. The Carpet America Recovery Effort, an industry group, estimates that
recycling a ton of carpet saves 198 gallons of oil and prevents the emission of about 2 metric tons of greenhouse gases.
Recycling a ton of carpet prevents more greenhouse gas emissions than recycling a ton of lumber, paper or cardboard,
according to one federal study cited by the group.
How can I recycle carpet?
If it's in good shape, it may be reusable by a nonprofit. Carpet samples and tiles can also be used by schools for
art projects. Sites such as www.earth911.org and www.stopwaste.org provide directories of recycling organizations.
In the Bay Area, individuals and small businesses can drop off carpet at S.F. Carpet Recycling for a fee of $7 per
cubic yard, or about 15 cents per square yard. Larger businesses can arrange for a pickup. See www.sfcarpetrecycling.com
or call (415) 671-2921. San Francisco residents can also recycle carpet free through the twice-a-year bulky pickups
offered by Norcal Waste Systems, the parent company of Sunset Scavenger and Golden Gate Disposal. Norcal transfers
most of the carpet it collects to San Francisco Carpet Recycling. See links.sfgate.com/ZEJE to schedule a bulky pickup.
What else can I do?
Consider buying carpet made from recycled materials. Also ask whether the carpet is itself recyclable. Some carpets such
as those made from Type 6 Nylon are more easily recycled than others. Wool is one of the few natural fibers in today's
carpets that, ironically, cannot be recycled.
For more information
Carpet America Recovery Effort has a directory of carpet recyclers. See www.carpetrecovery.org.
What is carpet made out of? - 70% - nylon
10% - wool
10% - polypropylene
10% - PET plastic
Last updated: 09.09.2008 01:48 PM
Posted by: Malou C.
Oftentimes, the first item I coordinate when a client hires me to help them move into their new space is their Internet connectivity. Lead times varies from 4-6 weeks depending on whether you're signing up for DSL or T1 line. To be sure, there are multiple vendors to choose from but I always advise them to sign-up with someone who's recommended by their peers. When I call a vendor I can more or less tell if they're going to provide good customer service by how fast they respond either via email or a phone call. We're all "connected" in so many ways & forms that a quick email or phone call should be a no-brainer.
Last updated: 09.09.2008 10:12 AM
Posted by: Garrett K.
You hear a lot about new high rises and their green construction practices but it was refreshing to read this article in the SF Business Times that details existing buidings that are making an effort to be LEED certified.
Existing buildings the next item on green agenda
San Francisco Business Times - by J.K. Dineen
Spencer Brown
As developers market their glassy new towers to attract tenants with greener-than-thou credentials, owners of downtown's
aging office highrises are looking at how to jump on the sustainable-is-sexy bandwagon.
This week the first of those buildings, 100 Pine St., was blessed with "existing building" certification from the U.S.
Green Building Council's Leader in Energy and Environmental Design. It marked the first multi-tenant existing building
in California to receive the LEED certification.
In greening the 400,000-square-foot 1972 concrete and glass building, owners Unico Properties and Alaska Permanent Fund
overhauled the building's heating and ventilation systems, adding digital controls to improve efficiency. Low-flow
toilets cut water usage by 50 percent. Motion sensors were installed in rarely-used emergency staircases so they will
only be lit when used. Environmentally preferred cleaning products, the planting of drought-tolerant native plants and
a new system for sustainable tenant improvements rounded out the effort.
Wes Powell of Jones Lang LaSalle, the leasing agent for 100 Pine, said that while retrofitting an existing building is
more sustainable than building green from the ground up, the challenge of earning LEED-EB designation should not be
underestimated.
"The team's accomplishment with 100 Pine was the equivalent of converting a gas-guzzling SUV into a hybrid while driving
55 mph along the highway," Powell said.
The designation comes as San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom prepares to sign a new green building ordinance that will
require new office buildings to meet third-party green standards set by two nonprofits, the U.S. Green Building Council
and Build It Green.
The new law will require all commercial buildings to be green by 2009 and will require a gold standard by 2010. It will
apply to new construction and major renovations of both commercial and residential buildings, as well as require that
interior build-outs of more than 25,000 square feet meet the highest green standards.
While the law does not yet target existing buildings, that is clearly an idea the city is moving toward, according to
Webcor Vice President Phil Williams, who chaired the task force that came up with the new regulations.
"We have to take a look at the legacy, how can we improve the standards of the existing stock," said Williams.
"Buildings get retrofitted all the time anyway. It's establishing a plan for where you are to where you want to be."
Even before the city forces existing buildings to become more efficient, it's likely that owners will feel pressure
from tenants to adopt more sustainable, healthier systems, Williams said. Tenants that have signed leases at the one
speculative highrise currently under construction, Tishman Speyer and Morgan Stanley's 555 Mission St., have all cited
the building's green attributes as an important factor in the leases.
"If the tenants are asking, 'Do you have a plan to get LEED existing building?', that will be a major incentive,"
said Williams. "The marketplace will drive it. The minute you lose a tenant, it will become important to you. Whether
you want to or not, you're going to have to do it to be competitive."
Besides 100 Pine St., the only other buildings in San Francisco to carry LEED-EB status are Pacific Gas & Electric's
headquarters at 245 Market St. and construction contractor Swinerton Inc.'s headquarters at 260 Townsend St., both of
which are single-tenant buildings.
San Francisco's largest landlord, Morgan Stanley, said the company is designing a LEED strategy for all of its office
holdings nationally. "I think it's fair to say that given the size and breadth of our real estate holdings, we're
focused on this as an important initiative, and will roll it out in the near future," said Kevin Saavedra, executive
director with Morgan Stanley.
Last updated: 08.04.2008 01:40 PM
Posted by: Bldngexprt .
Every company, whether they are a startup or an established company, has a budget when it comes to looking for new office space and keeping within that budget is not easy. A common mistake that companies make when looking for new office space is that they either don't get enough space for their future growth or they get too much space and break the bank. One important thing that every startup and established company should think about when looking for new office space is:
How many employees do I currently have and how many do I plan to add over the next couple of years?
A common measurement that many companies use to determine their new office space size is to calculate for 300 square feet per employee. So if your company has 10 current employees you should be looking at office space around 3,000 square feet in size. The overall size can differ depending on how many employees are going to be in private offices or cubicles, but using 300 square feet per employee gives you enough cushion either way. If your company is planning to grow within the next couple of years, make sure you account for those future employees in your calculations.
Last updated: 08.01.2008 12:42 PM
Posted by: Paul P.
This newsletter can be found under the "Articles" tab at this URL - http://sfcommercial.com/paul-l.-picciani.html. Call me at 415-834-3542 if you'd like to further discuss the current office leasing market for San Francisco tenants, which landlords are/are not flexible on rent & terms, and key items & timelines a prospective SF office tenant should keep in mind prior to starting a search process.
Last updated: 07.24.2008 09:04 PM
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