CREJ - Journal

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March 4-March 17, 2015 — COLORADO REAL ESTATE JOURNAL — Page 37
I t is an event worth
celebrating when the
largest commercial real
estate group, a Top 5 CPA
firm and a top law firm agree
on the future of commercial
real estate.
So what is this all
about, some 70% reusable/
reconfigurable buildings?
Our environmentalist
friends and millennials perk
up when they realize all new
construction, tenant finish
and major rehab can now be
50%, 70%, even 90% diverted
from the landfill and reusable.
As everyone knows, saving
the environment is one of
their top priorities and, as of
this year, millennials are the
dominant population in the
U.S. commercial real estate, in
whole areas of cities, is being
developed for their desires and
concerns. They are the future
workforce and leaders of this
country. So keeping buildings
out of the landfill and reusing
them is just part of the future.
Reusing buildings definitely
takes a new thought process.
I started discussing this
new technology in different
committees last June. Have
you seen that look in people
eyes, like what spaceship did
you get off of? And now we
have our first of many future
configurable buildings in
Colorado.
Investors and developers
are getting their head around
the idea
that the
IRS would
allow some
$3-$10 per
square foot
in Fed Tax
Benefit,
according to
McGladrey,
just for
changing
the drywall
joint tape to
demountable. This allows
everything in a nonload-
bearing interior wall (drywall,
interior doors and windows,
utilities, etc.) to be removable,
reusable and relocatable.
David Burton, Tax Partner
of Akin Gump, stated in his
review of the IRS ruling, “Few
real estate investors would
think that they needed to
consult a tax adviser about
the drywall installed in their
investment properties, but
this ruling demonstrates that
they do.”
This technology opens
a exciting marketing
opportunity to attract
millennials to new multifamily
and office buildings. This
technology has won the EPA/
AIA Best Building Component
Award. According to a LEED
Case Study, that means 50%-
70%-90% diverting from the
landfill and reusable.
What is this modern miracle
that Brian Dunbar, Institute
of Built Environment, CSU,
says, “It encourages me to see
new technology and practices
that promote both building
deconstruction and landfill
construction waste diversion.”
An award-winning former
Gensler architect and Mid-
Career Fellow who taught
as assistant Professor of
Construction Technology at
Texas A&M has developed
a demountable drywall joint
tape (refer to 4-minute video
at
green-zip.html) that can be
removed after the wall is
finished. In the final phases
of building a wall, the drywall
tape is what seals the wall
and only allows demolition to
remove the wall. When you
can “zip up” the drywall tape
and remove the screws, the
whole wall becomes reusable
and reconfigurable. This is
the future of commercial
buildings.
Most people have thought
it cost less to just use a saw
and sledge hammer to cut out
everything and put in new.
How could you possibly reuse
drywall, doors, etc.? Wouldn’t
it take so much time to
disassemble everything?
Reusing buildings takes
the same mindset that
recycling took 20 years ago.
But fortunately, we are only
introducing this technology
to Colorado. In Texas, many
Fortune 500 companies are
building reusable buildings.
Hospitals, hotels, banks and
even government buildings
are already in the forefront of
using this new technology. All
these areas of concern have
been tested and found to be
just that, concerns.
To soothe some mindsets,
a Turner Construction Case
Study shows that there are
two areas of demolition that
we just don’t think about
taking major time because
it has been the accepted
practice. First, with reuse,
there is much less time
wasted waiting for elevators
to either carry the old out or
the new in.
Since there is practically no
dust and noise of demolition,
the work can be done twice
as fast, including during
the daytime when regular
demolition is prohibited
because of the dust getting
into the ventilation system
and carried to all levels of the
building.
Including the demolition
time-savings and with reusing
the material (drywall, studs,
headrails, interior windows
and doors, utilities), the case
study reflected $110.16 per
lineal foot savings in 2013
material prices vs. demolition.
Who would have guessed that
reuse was even financially
advisable?
In addition to the obvious,
the McGladrey case study
show a $300-$500 per lineal
foot savings on just the
amount of time executives
have to be disturbed during
remodeling. If a partial
remodel is on the same floor,
executives can be a few feet
from the work because all
they hear is reversing drills
of material reuse rather than
experiencing the dust and
noise of demolition.
Hines EVP Jerry Lea
expressed it this way, “As a
developer, one of our core
roles is to maximize the value
of every invested dollar, and
to capture the highest NVP
available. When a ‘game-
changing’ innovation creates
opportunity our clients,
tenants and investors are
informed.”
Les Simpson
Deferred Tax
Benefits Inc.
With reuse,
there is much
less time wasted
waiting for
elevators to
either carry the
old out or the
new in.