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GREEN BEGETS GREEN

Simon Property Group, which says it has saved $17 million in energy expenses annually since it launched a program to reduce carbon emissions in 2003, is hiring a firm to help it make further energy-usage cuts. ConEdison Solutions, a subsidiary of energy provider ConEdison Co., will examine lighting systems, heating, ventilation and air conditioning in Simon’s 380 U.S. malls. “We’re basically doing an energy audit,” said Jim Dixon, vice president of energy services for ConEdison Solutions. Simon began participating three years ago in the Carbon Disclosure Project, a non-profit organization that allows investors to obtain information on energy efficiency and other environmental data at participating companies. Through the program Simon found that electricity consumption accounted for 95 percent of its carbon footprint, says George Caraghiaur, the company’s vice president of energy services. “If we’re going to be really serious about greenhouse gas levels and the environment, we have to be really serious about managing our energy,” Caraghiaur said. Simon has already spent $20 million to cut its energy consumption through such measures as the installation of more-efficient lighting, chillers and boilers, as well as the use of sensors to turn fans and lights off when not they’re not needed.

DEVELOPERS UPBEAT DESPITE FLA. SETBACKS

Florida’s slumping housing market and rising building costs have not dampened retail developers’ outlook, executives said at ICSC’s Florida Conference in August. “We have escalating gas prices, rising credit card debt, a housing meltdown, construction costs are up, and we have labor shortages, but people are still willing to spend money in Florida — it’s amazing,” said Seth Layton, executive vice president of Kimco Realty and chairman of the ICSC Florida State Government Relations Committee. “The economy here is resilient.” Florida’s residential market, one of the hottest of the 2000-2005 boom, has slowed significantly, and few will venture a guess as to when it will improve. Florida home sales sank 41.3 percent between the second quarter of 2006 and the second quarter of 2007, says the National Association of Realtors. The state has fewer mortgage applications and a rising housing inventory owing in part to a wave of mixed-use development that incorporates high-end homes and condominiums. Nevertheless, “the retail market is strong and stable right now,” said H. Bradley Peterson, senior vice president of Staubach Capital Markets. “We have a 94 percent occupancy rate in the state, and rent growth has increased 3 percent. Spending per capita is still strong, and we are seeing continued population growth. And we’re still on top of most retailers’ lists of places to locate.” Legislation that would give communities more input into local development could become a headache, observers say. A constitutional amendment set to go on the ballot next year called Florida Hometown Democracy will require any land-use proposal to be put to the voters. According to a statement from ICSC’s Government Affairs Committee, Florida, the amendment would have resulted in about 10,600 local polls on projects yearly over the past four years.