Regions  Midwest
BOMA Chicago Initiates Country's First Office Building Smart Grid Program
Aug 07, 2009

The Building Owners and Managers Association of Chicago has launched an effort to develop the country's first commercial office building smart grid program, delivering a utility-scale, clean, virtual generator through implementation of smart grid technology in more than 260 commercial buildings in downtown Chicago. With the potential to provide as much as 200 megawatts of demand response capability, the program would lower costs and avoid the need to construct expensive new generation plants. It requires upgrading the buildings' electric metering infrastructure, with significant building-level upgrades.  To help address the estimated $185.4 million program cost, the city's BOMA chapter filed an application for $92.7 million in matching funds from the U.S. Department of Energy's Smart Grid Investment Grant Program, which was formed under the recently passed American Reinvestment and Recovery Act.


 
Recent Midwest Headlines
In Struggling Hospitality Market, Arizona Resort Moving Forward with $600M Renovation Plan
The currently anemic state of the hospitality sector has been well documented for some time now. Doubly stung by a sharp slowdown in both business travel and tourism—as well as the financing problems that have plagued the commercial property sector as a whole—it seems clear that the sector is in the midst of one of its toughest periods ever. The struggling state of the market, though, is apparently not discouraging the owners of the Arizona Biltmore Resort & Spa from moving ahead with a planned $600 million renovation project. Also undeterred is the Phoenix City Council, which okayed the plan late last week.
Transwestern Wins Nearly 500,000-SF Property Management Assignment
Transwestern has been awarded management of One Central Park East, a 485,720-square- foot office project Mesirow Financial Real Estate is constructing at 50 East Van Buren in Downtown Phoenix. Under construction and scheduled to open in the third quarter of 2009, the 26-story Class A property will also include 9,000 square feet of retail space and an executive fitness center. A recipient of the AIA Western Mountain Region Design Citation Award, it includes an advanced insulated window wall glass system featuring exterior horizontal and vertical shade fins to combat the harsh Phoenix sun.
Phoenix-Area Medical Office Park Sold
Arrowhead Professional Park, a 40,000-square-foot medical office complex in Glendale, Ariz., has been sold to Jomike Realty Co.
McShane Completes 186,000-SF Office Complex in Phoenix
On behalf of the owner, SCF Arizona, McShane Development Co. completed the six-story, 186,000-square-foot Class A office complex, located at 44th and Washington Streets in Phoenix, Ariz.