Page 24 —
COLORADO REAL ESTATE JOURNAL
— December 17, 2014-January 6, 2015
Property Management
I
t has been a monumental
year for commercial build-
ing efficiency in Denver. In
addition to the growth of Denver
2030 District, the city implement-
ed numerous initiatives, working
groups and policies – including
the City Energy Project, Colorado
Property Assessed Clean Ener-
gy financing and an upcoming
switch to the IECC 2015 building
code – all geared toward decreas-
ing the environmental impacts
of the built environment while
simultaneously increasing the
city’s economic development.
Serving as the conduit to these
programs and incentives is Den-
ver 2030 District, which is closing
out a year of growth and support.
As of December, the district is
comprised of 18.3 million square
feet of downtown commercial
real estate, or 44 buildings repre-
sented by 21 property manage-
ment companies. These manag-
ers are supported by eight pro-
fessional stakeholders and eight
community stakeholders, each
offering either a unique, exclu-
sive benefit to building manag-
ers or working with the district
to increase the collective knowl-
edge of efficiency strategies in
commercial buildings. The 2030
goals for existing buildings are
a 50 percent reduction in energy
use, water use
and transpor-
tation-related
emissions by
2030. For new
construction,
the goal is an
immediate 60
percent reduc-
tion in energy
use and an
i mme d i a t e
50
percent
reduction in
water use and
transportation-
related emis-
sions, moving
to net zero by
2030, all in
aggregate.
The Denver 2030 District mem-
bers and stakeholders now have
a primary source of contact in
the organization’s new executive
director, Chad Riley. Riley, pre-
viously of Living City Block, is
a pioneer in district-scale build-
ing efficiency. Moreover, with an
in-depth knowledge of energy-
efficiency finance, strategies and
property management, the board
is confident in his abilities to bring
the organization to the next level.
The nationwide 2030 Districts
Network also will support Riley.
The coalition of the seven charted
districts – Seattle, San Francisco,
Los Angeles, Cleveland, Pitts-
burgh, Stamford, Connecticut, and
Denver – is constantly working
to leverage the nearly 150 million
sf committed to the 2030 goals in
order to forge partnerships with
national suppliers of sustainability
technologies and services. Among
these benefits are discounted
electric vehicle charging stations,
building analytics platforms for
real-time energy monitoring, and
efficiency financing vehicles to
ensure that higher-impact/higher-
cost projects can be implemented.
Despite these developments,
many may still ask why this
matters to Denver. Simply put,
because building efficiency equals
economic development. By driv-
ing down operating expenses
(energy and water consumption)
and reducing emissions, Denver
2030 District is decreasing the cost
of doing business in Denver while
improving the high quality of life
that draws national and regional
companies to relocate or stay in
the Mile High City.
As we head into 2015, Denver
2030 District would like to thank
all of our members for their sup-
port. We are excited to continue to
work to keep Denver on the short
list of the most sustainable, desir-
able cities in the country.
s
Adam Knoff,
LEED AP O+M
Chairman, Denver
2030 board of
directors. Knoff also
is senior sustainability
manager of Unico
Properties.
to cases of rent overpayment.
Regardless, under Colorado law,
the payer can defeat application
of the voluntary payment rule by
showing payment under protest
or duress or a mistake as to all
relevant facts. Thus, if Colorado
courts were to apply the volun-
tary payment rule to a tenant’s
claim to recover overpayments of
rent, that tenant still may have a
viable defense in the event there
are factual disputes regarding the
rent calculations or methodology.
In sum, tenants should be dili-
gent in keeping apprised of their
rent payment amounts to their
landlord, and landlords should
verify that they are charging the
correct rent amounts to their ten-
ants. Rent calculations, increases
and percentage amounts should
be carefully analyzed against the
lease provisions and properly
applied and confirmed by both
parties to avoid future disputes
regarding the accuracy of rental
payments.
s
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