Law Commons^™

Foiled By The Banks? How A Lender's Decision May Support Or Undermine A Jurisdiction's Environmental Policies That Promote Green Buildings, Darren Prum

Darren A. Prum

In a report from the United Nations Environmental Program that addressed climate change, the authors point out that the built environment in both emerging and developed countries accounts for more than forty percent of the global energy usage while also emitting at least one third of the world’s greenhouse gasses. They further assert that the built environment offers an unsurpassed opportunity to supply cost effective, lasting, and meaningful reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. In response to such a call to action, many state and local governments turned to a variety of policies to ensure that the real estate developments within …

Amenities, Amenities, Amenities? How Policymakers Can Swot Their Way To Better Entrepreneurial Facility Options, Darren Prum

Darren A. Prum

Across the country, policymakers from both the public and private sector regardless of their level of responsibility turn to entrepreneurial ventures as an opportunity to drive economic activity within their sphere of influence. They develop and implement strategies that encourage new business ventures but fail to consider a fundamental aspect of the organizing process of a business, which is finding a suitable facility. As such, this article seeks to consider and evaluate the forms and types of facilities available to entrepreneurs in order to provide policymakers with an insight on the best methods to assist in facilitating their success while …

Green Building Geography Across The United States: Does Governmental Incentives Or Economic Growth Stimulate Construction?, Darren Prum, Tetsuo Kobayashi

Darren A. Prum

As green building activity continues to rise across the country, some state governments decided to create incentives that would motivate developers to voluntarily pursue third party certification for their real estate projects in order to assist in meeting sustainability and environmental goals. Despite the growing number of studies in green buildings, the geography of green buildings and sustainable construction only includes a few studies, which emphasize the lack of green building research from the spatial perspective and their relevance to public policies the lack of green building research from the spatial perspective and their relevance to public policies. This study …

Greenbacks For Building Green: Does A Lender For Sustainable Construction Projects Need To Make Adjustments To Its Current Practices?, Darren Prum

Darren A. Prum

In the development of real property, the availability of money to secure construction resources becomes an important factor for success. The construction loan plays a central role in providing funds to erect a building on real property, but a lender faces numerous exposures that might result in a loss. In evaluating a project to determine its viability and to uncover any exposure it might present, a lender will conduct an extensive underwriting review process and will use mitigation techniques through the construction loan agreement and disbursement requirements to reduce the perceived risks to an acceptable business level, for those developments …

Our Own Private Sustainable Community: Are Green Covenants, Conditions, And Restrictions A Viable Alternative To A More Environmentally Sustainable Future For Homeowners?, Darren Prum, Robert Aalberts

Darren A. Prum

Residential and commercial property owners have sought for centuries to develop and enrich their physical environment through private land use planning. In more recent decades, residential owners residing in community interest communities have been particularly active in crafting an evolving array of deed restrictions contained in Covenants, Conditions and Restrictions( CC&R’s). CC&R’s, which are generally created by the CIC developer , are mutually binding and enforceable against all those who live or conduct business in self-selected residential subdivisions or commercial developments . Importantly, CC&R’s are monitored sometimes quite forcefully, under the watchful eye of an empowered planned development association.

Although …

The Next Green Issue: Considering Property Insurance For The Green Building, Darren A. Prum

Darren A. Prum

As government policies across the country try to encourage more environmentally friendly buildings, the next green issue facing the owners of the completed structure is obtaining the proper insurance coverage to protect their investment. A typical property insurance policy covers the costs to reconstruct or replace property damaged as the result of a casualty, so the Insurance Service Organization and other carriers offer specific green building endorsements in an effort to augment the underlying property policy. However, these buildings maintain unique characteristics, which becomes relevant to the owner and policy underwriter as well as other stakeholders like the holder of …

The Bonds That Tie: Will A Performance Bond Require That A Surety Deliver A Certified Green Building?, Darren Prum, Lorilee Medders

Darren A. Prum

In 2006, the city of Washington, D. C. passed landmark legislation that introduced green building requirements for various types of structures into the jurisdiction over a five-year period. A noteworthy aspect of the legislation directed construction projects within the district to purchase green performance bonds up to $3 million to guard against a privately owned project’s failure to meet its green building aspirations. In essence, this law placed the burden of guaranteeing compliance with the government’s policy upon the contractors and sureties of a green building project.

Following the passage of this act, confusion amongst the construction industry and sureties …

In Third Parties We Trust? The Growing Antitrust Impact Of Third-Party Green Building Certification Systems For State And Local Governments, Darren Prum, Robert Aalberts, Stephen Del Percio

Darren A. Prum

According to the American Institute of Architects, there has been a 50 percent increase in the number of municipalities with a green building program in place since 2007. And 24 of the country's 25 largest metropolitan areas are built around a city with green building legislation on its books. Reducing buildings' environmental impact is a noble - and critical - goal. But governments' reliance on private, third-party standard-setting organizations - and the rating systems that they promulgate - as the basis for that legislation may be legally problematic.

This Article reviews one of those potentially problematic bases: antitrust. In order …