• Green building 'wood debate’ rages on, this time in Portland. Oregon timber employers, unions, and leaders in the green building movement had a rare confrontation over how far Oregon should go in setting green standards. The Oregon chapter of the American Institute of Architects is lobbying for green building requirements for all sizable state government buildings. A contentious two-hour hearing of the Oregon Senate Environment and Natural Resources Committee focused on how competing green building standards affect the wood products industry. USGBC’s LEED system gives credit only for Forest Stewardship Council wood. The Green Building Initiative’s Green Globes recognizes several standards, including the Sustainable Forestry Initiative.
• San Francisco to get first new hospital in 40 years. The first new hospital in San Francisco in four decades has been given the green light. The $1.2 billion hospital complex, part of the University of California San Francisco Medical Center, will have 183 beds for children, 36 for women, and 70 for cancer patients. Scheduled to open in 2013, the campus will be located just south of UCSF’s biomedical buildings.
• NYC office rents hit all-time high, but new construction may bring them down. Manhattan office rents are surpassing all-time highs, eclipsing previous marks set in 2000, a new report indicates. The average rent hit $53/sf in the first three months of 2007, a brokerage firm, Cushman Wakefield, announced last month, up 23% compared with a year earlier, and an increase of 5.7% since the fourth quarter of 2006. The previous high was $50.92/sf in late 2000. The record is a product of a robust local economy strengthened by the financial sector.
