|  | | | | | July 7, 2010 | | | | | NEED OPERATING ROOMS STAT |
| | Two big Bisnow events: In DC, our first annual Senior Housing Summit—one of the hottest areas in commercial real estate. All-star cast (including Walker & Dunlop's Doug Bath, more below). July 15. Then in Dallas, "What's up in the Capital Markets?" Westin City Center, July 29. See all our events. |
| | | | In May, Memorial Hermann The Woodlands Hospital kicked off an expansion (240k SF) and renovation (47k SF), so we chatted with Manhattan Construction project manager Mitch Davis for the scoop. | | |  | | Mitch says Manhattan is building a seven-story tower, expanding surgery and pre-operative services, expanding/relocating the central sterile supply, and constructing four floors of shell space for future expansion. The project is expected to increase the hospital's bed count to 288, for an estimated cost of $40M. He tells us the No. 1 reason for the expansion is to increase the hospital’s operating room capacity. From 10 rooms now, Manhattan is demolishing two, revamping eight, and building eight, bringing the total to 16 ORs. Manhattan has been tasked with keeping 10 rooms operational at all times, so new construction comes before the current facilities. | |  | | The groundbreakers (Mitch is in the center). The project may sound routine, but it’s a 26-month process (due in July 2012) made difficult because current operations can't be disrupted. (That's particularly hard when relocating the hospital’s main mechanical, plumbing, and medical gas piping feeds and replacing cooling towers.) WHR Architects handled design, as it does for most Memorial Hermann facilities. Smith Seckman Reid, Walter Moore, and Kudela Weinheimer round out the design team. Mitch tells us Memorial Hermann plans to add a garage and acquire more land at some point. Manhattan is doing some other work for Memorial Hermann— hurricane renovations are underway for the Med Center facility and it just finished a new MRI suite in The Woodlands hospital. | |
| | GREENEST SCHOOL IN TEXAS | | |  | | The Monarch School’s newly opened Chrysalis building is the first LEED Gold and “Designed to Earn the Energy Star” (LEED-DEES) special ed school in the US, and the highest-rated LEED certified K-12 school in Texas. Monarch, which specializes in kids with autism and ADHD, has been recognized by the EPA as one of the nation’s top 14% most energy efficient school buildings. It’s pursuing the Energy Star label and LEED for Existing Buildings Operations & Maintenance cert. Only two other K-12 schools in Texas are registered for LEED-EB. Above, students celebrate the recognition. | | |  | | Jackson & Ryan’s Shelly Pottorf was lead architect, Mission Contractors’ David Hill project architect, and Momentum Bay’s Mark Robinson (above, surrounded by green) provided sustainability consulting. Chrysalis is projected to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 33% (compared with a conventionally designed K-12 school), and use 33% less energy, saving more than $170k on utility bills over 25 years. CenterPoint Energy rewarded the school’s energy efficiency efforts with a cash rebate, making The Monarch School the first private school to be recognized in the CenterPoint Energy SCORE (Schools Conserving Resources) program. Monarch has run on 100% Green-e certified electricity since 2007. Nationwide, 38 K-12 schools are members of the EPA Green Power Partnership, and 14% of those are purchasing 100% green power. | |
| | ASTROS AND ENGINEERS | | |  | | Nothing says “thank you” like free hot dogs. The Hotel Engineering Association (HEA) and Association of Chief Operating Engineers (ACOE) sponsored its third annual Engineer Appreciation Day at an Astros game. We snapped event chair Eric Kennedy manning his company’s booth and reflecting upon the importance of engineers to the CRE industry. Kennedy, who has chaired the event all three years, tells us 31 exhibits is about usual, but attendance was off the charts—650, up from 612 last year. He says HEA began the event, opting to do a fun appreciation day rather than a trade show. | |  | | We also chatted with Voss Lighting’s Ken Taylor, Brady Cowan, and Jeremy Lynn (a couple of “bright” gentlemen). They tell us they have the lowest mercury lamps on the market and are featuring LED products now. Using the lamps in a building provides a point towards LEED cert. Jeremy says more companies are requesting sustainable lighting, and are more often saying they want to be green rather than want to save money. | | |  | | The event coincided with the launch of the Lone Star Series; the Astros lost the game (9-3) and the Silver Boot to the Rangers. And since we know you like occupancy, we got the stats for you—at 34k attendees that night, Minute Maid was 83% full. (Even our baseball games have lower vacancy than other cities’ CRE markets!) | | |
| | MEET OUR SPONSOR: WALKER & DUNLOP | | |  | | Walker & Dunlop senior housing guru Doug Bath has spent the last 16 years learning the ins and outs of the senior living business. On July 15, he'll share his expertise as a panelist at our first annual Senior Housing Summit in DC. Not wanting to reveal everything before the event, he did give us a couple tidbits to tide us over. With interest rates continually sinking (every week seems like a new low) refinancings are picking up. “It’s not huge, but it is happening,” Doug tells us. Secondly, cap rates are heading back down as buyers are seeking yield for their cash war chests. “There’s some strong indicators that trickle may become a tidal wave in the imminent future,” he says. “I would not bet against a very robust second half.” | | | | Please send story ideas to Catie Brubaker, catie@bisnow.com. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | This newsletter is a journalistic news source which accepts no payment for featured interviews. It is supported by conventional advertisers clearly identified in the right hand column. You have been selected to receive it either through prior contact or professional association. If you have received it in error, please accept our apologies and unsubscribe at bottom of the newsletter. © 2010, Bisnow on Business, Inc., 1323 Connecticut Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20036. All rights reserved. | | |
