The Commercial Real Estate Informational Portal

Entry by JoeDerhake When you buy a car, the fuel efficiency is on the window.  Well, in California starting January 1, 2010 the same will be required of buildings. California commercial buildings will be benchmarked by the Energy Star Standards as required by California Law, Assembly Bill 1103.    After January 1, 2010 building owners will…

Entry by JoeDerhake For environmental consultants, new loan due diligence has given way to pre-foreclosure due diligence.  As professionals, it’s our responsibility to examine the services and recommendations we provide to our clients and adjust these to our customer’s needs.  To understand the fundamental differences between the new loan Phase I ESA and a pre-foreclosure…

Entry by JoeDerhake Vapor barriers are great for buildings above contamination, but what if the contamination happens on top of the barrier?  I recently did a Phase I on a strip shopping center that has had a vapor barrier and passive venting system in place for 12 years.  The vapor barrier was originally installed to…

Entry by JoeDerhake For the past 2 months I have been administering a survey on behalf of the Environmental Bankers Association.  I have surveyed 20 Environmental Consultants, 19 Environmental Bankers, and 4 Environmental attorneys on what is and is not a REC.   I presented 7 case studies and asked 30 questions on risk tolerance and…

Entry by JoeDerhake The debate has raged through our profession for years.  Finally, the USGS has settled the issue:  groundwater is one word.    It has been a longstanding practice within the USGS to spell ground water as two words and to hyphenate when ground water is used as a modifier (e.g., ground-water hydrology). Ground…