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The Rise of the Condo Hotel

High Rise Facilities
They’ve been called condo hotels, hotel-condos, and condotels. But however you refer to them, cities like Chicago, Aspen, and New York have seen a swell of these high-rise towers enter urban areas in the last decade. Virtually every condo hotel property that has come on the market during this time has sold out in pre-construction. Although they’re condominiums by definition, these high-rises are operated like hotels. There are typically two types of condo hotels. The first type consists [...]
6 min read

Green Operations are Essential to Today’s Office Building Values

High Rise Facilities
As a founding member of the World Green Building Council in 2002, Colliers’ investment in and focus on green office buildings began several years ago. Today, the company has 34 LEED buildings in the United States: 2 Platinum, 14 Gold, 16 Silver, and two certified. It also employs 59 U.S. staff members with LEED credentials (internationally, Colliers has more than 200 LEED-credentialed professionals on board). “Today, investors see a building that isn’t sustainable and view it as a [...]
Sustainable High-Rise9 min read

Inside a LEED Platinum Office Tower

High Rise Facilities
Of the 100+ Class-A office towers that skim Orange County’s skyline, there are a handful that stand out for their quality construction and tenant amenities. These buildings attract high-end tenants like IBM, Subaru of America, and law firms from the Am Law 100 list (in fact, 70 percent of the law firms listed are tenants in one of four Orange County towers). Not only do these existing buildings have to go up against new construction in the area, such as the 21-story 520 Newport Center, but they also have to compete against each other to stand out.
Sustainable High-Rise8 min read

Elevatoring: The Art and Science of High-Rise Residential Lifts

Robert S. Caporale
The majority of high-rise buildings being built throughout the world today have been designed either entirely for residential or a combination of residential and commercial occupancies. This is due to the high demand for additional living space in most major cities caused by a number of factors. These include a significant move of the current generation of business professionals into city centers as well as the aging senior citizen population that appears to want to [...]
Vertical Transportation8 min read
Salesforce Tower

A Holistic Approach to Skyscraper Design

High Rise Facilities
The term “green building” may soon become an antiquated term, based upon the direction the industry is headed. In high-rise construction, green building is giving way to more holistic approaches – not only to the facility itself, but to its location, its orientation and design, and its ability to enhance the surrounding neighborhood. When these factors are combined with energy-efficiency and water-saving strategies, it all adds up to a healthier building – not just a greener building. At Salesforce Tower (formerly known as Transbay Tower), a 61-story structure in San Francisco that’s scheduled for [...]
Sustainable High-Rise9 min read

Mixed Use: An Office High-Rise Transformed

High Rise Facilities
Until 2013, AMA Plaza existed as a 52-story multi-tenant office building. It was LEED certified, had completed BOMA’s 7-Point Challenge, and earned the ENERGY STAR label. After experiencing significant vacancy rates, however, the building’s owner – 330 North Wabash Avenue LLC, a joint venture between Riverview Realty Partners (formerly Prime Group Realty LP) and Five Mile Capital partners – sold 12 floors of the 52-story building to Langham Hotels International. What once was an office tower now dedicates floors 2 through 13 to hotel rooms.
11 min read

Rise to the Challenge: Three High-Rise Owners Turn Obstacles into Opportunities

Leah Grout Garris
Facilities management – especially when it comes to high-rise buildings – is often a game of discovery and problem-solving. But the answers aren’t always clear-cut. Lights being left on, extreme weather, or increased plug load may be to blame for a sudden spike in energy use. HVAC problems could be caused by solar heat gain, tenants overriding central controls, or lack of maintenance. High water bills could be due to leaky toilets, high water pressure, or irrigation […]
Cleaning & Waste ManagementEnergy & Power ManagementFurniture & InteriorsIntelligence10 min read

Chicago High-Rise Owner Turns Under-Used Top Floor Into ‘Wow’ Suite

High Rise Facilities
A classic Mies van der Rohe-style building, 401 North Michigan was designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill in the 1960s. Formerly known as the Equitable Building, the 35-story tower sits on the second largest plaza in Chicago. “Pioneer Court is second in size only to the Daley Plaza,” says Eric Taylor, assistant vice president at Zeller Realty Group. “The building purposely has a large plaza area so it could be set back from the road.” [...]
Furniture & Interiors10 min read

Changing Skylines: Tall Building Construction is on the Rise

High Rise Facilities
With everything the U.S. economy has endured in the last decade, who would have thought that the development and construction of high-rise towers in major cities would be on the rise? Despite the recession, the events of 9/11, Hurricane Katrina, and the real estate market collapse, a recent report from the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) – Year in Review: Tall Trends of 2013 – says that high-rise construction is increasing again across the country. [...]
Intelligence14 min read
Magnolia Hotel

Height of Hospitality: The Unique Challenges of High-Rise Hotels

High Rise Facilities
High-rise hotels offer up some unique challenges. Regardless of the economy, guest satisfaction scores correlate with guest retention, length of stay, and overall hotel success – which ultimately contribute to a healthier bottom line. And facilities management plays an important role in making sure guests are satisfied with hotel facilities and amenities. So how do you overcome common high-rise hotel design and operations challenges to stand out as one of the [...]
Building Envelope & FacadeFurniture & InteriorsIntelligenceIT & Communications11 min read

The High Life: Luxury Residential Towers Challenge Designers and Managers

High Rise Facilities
“Cities are becoming the place to be,” says Gary Pomerantz, executive vice president at WSP Group. “If you’re going to bring local wealth back into the cities from the suburbs, you have to offer something as luxurious as what can be found in a single-family home with acres of land and beautiful views.” Residential high-rises used to be reserved for affordable housing...
Furniture & InteriorsIntelligence11 min read

9 Green Ideas for Your Tall Building

High Rise Facilities
Due to their size, their density, and the number of tenants and occupants using energy and water every day, high-rises often present the greatest opportunity for sustainability improvements. There are certain green initiatives that are showing up more and more often in office, mixed-use, healthcare, and multifamily towers. Check out these water, environment, and energy conservation measures being deployed by high-rises across the country. Are you keeping up with your peers? As part of a 30-story renovation project, the E. M. Dirksen Federal Courthouse in Chicago replaced 7,800 lighting fixtures...
Sustainable High-Rise11 min read

USGBC Ranks Top 10 States in the Nation for LEED Green Building

High Rise Facilities
The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) has released its ranking of the Top 10 States for LEED, the world’s most widely used and recognized green building rating system. The list highlights the regions around the country that are at the forefront of sustainable building design and transformation. Utilizing less energy, LEED-certified spaces save money for families, businesses and taxpayers; reduce carbon emissions; and contribute to a healthier...
IntelligenceSustainable High-Rise7 min read