The Situation
Although the building was already operating very efficiently with high quality equipment and had already received a lighting retrofit throughout the building, we became concerned about the possibility of “out of control, increased expenses” because Southern California Edison had just announced major rate increases that were going to result in significantly increased energy costs for the same level of usage.

Our Solution
Although we had our Building Engineering team re-look at the settings and efficiency of the building’s mechanical equipment to further enhance its cost-effectiveness, we also implemented a non-capital investment program centering on: (i) ensuring that all suite lighting was turned off each Friday night (thus avoiding lighted suites until the janitorial crew showed up on Sunday afternoon); (ii) installing a dimming capability (with motion-detectors) so that hallways would have lessened usage during late hours; (iii) a pro-active tenant contact program including monthly reminders to turn off lighting in empty rooms as well as periodic building staff space tours to check on unnecessary lighting or equipment operation; (iv) installing motion-sensitive dimming light switches in all suites; (v) etc.

The Result
Even though SCE’s rates increased between 10%-50% depending on the rate component, the building’s energy costs actually decreased over prior year levels despite no change in the building’s occupancy levels. The monetary savings for this simple yet effective program was over 25% from the anticipated new rate levels.

The Situation
Each year the value of the building was formally appraised in order to appropriately report the activities of the properties in the Fund and the returns being generated by the Fund. The Fund's independent appraiser had determined a value of $45 million, the same level as the Fund had purchased the property for 2 years prior. We, as the Property Management team, however, knew that both successful leasing and operational achievements had enhanced its value.

Our Solution
As a result of our intimate knowledge of the building and its features, the market and lease deals done both in the building and elsewhere, and the specifics of each tenant’s lease, as well as how the Pro-Ject valuation program/system worked, we were able to identify inputted data that the appraisers and the building’s ownership team thought to be correct, but were actually wrong. Square footages for vacant and roll-over spaces were corrected from “lease” amounts to “actual” (i.e., the correctly measured) amounts, building expenses were better clarified and supported, local market rates and leasing velocities were revised, etc.

The Result
Although the appraisers had determined a $45 million value for the property, our simple but knowledgeable changes increased its value to $47 million, an immediate increase of $2 million (4.4%).

The Situation
Various potential tenants kept coming back to their targeted vacant spaces in our building to see if it fit their needs, each time with a new “Space Plan” reflecting slightly adjusted walls, hand-drawn furniture, etc., simply trying to visualize better if their company would fit into the space. Each of these repeat visits, however, took up 20-30 minutes of their time (not to mention their drive time to get to the building) and of one of the Property Management team’s time (to let them in the space and to address their questions), as well as another 30 minutes of the architect’s time to again revise and transmit the Space Plan. And because of the continual visits, the leasing process for each tenant was delayed until the final visit to the space was made – the one in which they were convinced that the layout would work.

Our Solution
By implementing the 3D Space Plan application on the EventsClique.com website that could model the building’s vacant available spaces, MKC enabled potential tenants, the broker team, and the architect to easily and quickly layout and re-layout the space, move interior walls to fit each tenant’s space needs, and click, drag, and drop office furniture into the layout of the office to indicate where and how it could fit. The parties were able to view the layouts over the Internet from their own offices, and to click into the 3D view to “walk around the space” and “see it before it was actually built-out and before their move-in”.

The Result
The number of visits to the potential leased spaces dropped from 8-15 to just 2 (the initial visit and a final confirmation visit), the time span to complete lease deals was shortened by weeks, and everyone involved in the leasing process on both sides spent less time on the deals. The tenants were able to minimize their decision time and move into their new spaces earlier, the Property Management team was able to work on other management issues, the leasing teams were able to close the deals quicker and get their commissions earlier, and the property owner was able to accelerate its receipt of cash flow for the vacant space.