LOST?
August 2010

Over the past 2 years I’ve found Past President Scott Kirkpatrick’s Newsline report on the annual BOMA International Conference entertaining and sometimes even informative! Prior to that Marilyn Banks did a great job also. In keeping with my predecessors and so that I would not let you down I hired the writing staff of one of my favorite television shows, Lost, to help out with this years Conference update. Well, here goes…

My Sunday morning started with an early wake up. I was contemplative, almost moody. I wondered
what the conference had in store for me this year. It was sunny and nice as it often is this time of
year in the East Bay. My flight was out of Oakland. I managed to connect with a whole group of
Bay Area BOMAnians (is that a word?) at the gate. Our flight departed without issue or delay. Our
arrival at Long Beach Airport wasn’t exactly a crash landing but have you seen it lately? It’s always
been really small but it is currently undergoing major renovation. We waited in the plane for what
the Pilot described as a “Parking Space”. After walking the 200 yards across the tarmac with my
luggage I realized what he had meant. I passed through the most crowded portable trailer terminal full of unhappy travelers (is this purgatory?) I had ever seen on my way to the one-taxi taxi stand. I was fortunate enough to hitch a ride with another Member going my way.

The Convention began for me that afternoon with the Board of Governors. For those not “in the know”, this is a gathering of all of the Countries’ 93 local chapter Presidents (me), Business
Association Executives (BAE’s = Robert), BOMA International Officers and Staff. In other words,
quite a large gathering. One of the first orders of business was to vote on the addition of a new local chapter. Alabama wished to add their Greater Huntsville chapter to the ranks of BOMA International. I began to wonder once again where I had landed. I know they have commercial real estate down in Alabama but “Greater” Huntsville? It just sounded rather strange to me. The Board also approved the signing of an affiliation agreement between BOMA Int’l and COBOMA (Chinese Office BOMA). Updates were provided on: 2010 Year To Date financial performance; the BOMA 360 program; and education. Advocacy as always played a major role in the board meeting. They introduced new issues that we oppose on Stormwater (the EPA is attempting to increase its regulatory authority without following the required process); Lead Paint (the EPA is issuing regulations against the use of lead paint in commercial settings (such as metal doors and equipment) without completing health studies to determine if there is a known or imminent public health emergency); and support such as the Building Star Energy Efficiency Act (which provides rebates to owners for purchases that enhance energy efficiency, but unfortunately has a tack on requiring “prevailing-wage” labor to the rebate which is OK on government contracts or even financing but it is a new precedent to add to rebates for private retrofit projects); Updates also included: Codes & Standards; Membership (all together BOMA International membership is down only 2%); and the Industry Defense Fund (balance is at $580K and they are gearing up to fight the California Zero Net Energy battle). The meeting ended with the election of new Officers and a new Executive Committee. I walked out of the meeting impressed by our amazing Association, as always.

Somewhere along the way “June Gloom” (summer coastal fog) set in. Thinking that I had come
to “Sunny Southern California” I did not expect this. What struck me as disappointing is that for
the rest of my brief stay it never lifted. The next event on the schedule was the host party. BOMA
Greater Los Angeles put on a great outdoor party at a local Long Beach high-rise office building.
The festivities were complemented by a great band. I ran into many of my former colleagues as
well as met a diverse group of people from all over the country. I followed the host party with
dinner. All of the BOMA California local chapters were invited to dinner at a nice local Italian
restaurant. Many BOMA O/EB Members were amongst us. We broke bread (literally) and ate
together. What’s significant about this? As with many Lost situations, nothing for the moment…

I awoke Monday to a dark, overcast run on the beach, if you could call it that in Long Beach. I later told someone that it had to be “the most horrible stretch of beach on the entire California coast”. Not to knock our Southern California beaches but this one in particular environmentally speaking was very sad. Monday’s convention day started with the General Session. Our key note speaker this year was Ben Stein. Talk about FUNNY!!! He got up and told 15 minutes of jokes to get us started. If you haven’t had an opportunity to review his resume you should. He has many amazing accomplishments and he is very smart too. He addressed us on the state of the economy and told us to: “Trust in yourselves, you’re BOMA – you’re the best in the business”. That felt good! After the General Session I went to one of the many education sessions offered. I chose: Do Green Buildings Perform? Presented by Brenna Walraven (with USAA Real Estate Company, Irvine), Craig Sheehy (Envision Realty Services, Sacramento), and Al Skodowski (Transwestern, Milwaukee). The answer to the course question was “Yes!”. They stressed the importance of operations. Stating that high tech does not always equate to high performance. Half of the worst performing buildings in the U.S. have VFD’s, EMS systems, and Economizers that are not being operated properly. Craig stated that his property in Sacramento saves $1.50 psf on utilities. He said that the average cost to go green is paid back within 1.45 years. This was a particularly informative experience for me as I am currently working through the process of certifying two of the buildings I manage. Next I attended the Convention Tradeshow which is known as “The Every Building Show”. Talk about a lot of Chotchkies. Besides all of the fun little items handed out, Vendors and Contractors from all over the country hand out useful information and solutions to problems Property Manager’s face every day. A lot of good contacts can be made at such a large event. It offers something for everyone or every property, thus the name. Then I attended another education session. This time I chose: Retrofitting the Empire State Building - Lessons Learned
for Multi-Tenant Commercial Buildings. It was presented by Dana Schneider (with Jones Lang
LaSalle, NYC) and Paul Rode (Johnson Controls, NYC). The Empire State Building consumes $11M worth of utilities each year. Although their retrofit was financially driven, they were successful
increasing Tenant comfort and reducing their carbon foot print as well. Very nice.

By late afternoon I was beginning to tire. I had a brief chance to recover while I ran down to the
waterfront to procure some souvenirs to take home for the kids. I again reentered the land of “Lost”. I walked into an all Pirate store. Everything in the shop was pirate themed. Everything. I didn’t know a shop like this existed. Being named Rogers and an old Jolly Roger at heart (its only natural that I’m a die hard Raider fan) I found just what I needed and was on my way. What’s significant about this? Nothing for the moment… Later that night the Parties started. Since we don’t just travel to these things to party and for purely business reasons BOMA Int’l was responsive to the economy and wisely shortened this year’s conference by a day to reduce costs. The only problem with this brilliant business move was that it left too many parties competing for the same evening. I felt like I had been successful when I returned to my hotel room and had managed to attend 3 parties (one I even attended twice).

Tuesday’s General Session was titled: Real Estate’s New Normal. It was moderated by Kurt Padavano (Advance Realty Group, NJ) and the panelists were Sandra Boyle (Glenborough, San Mateo), Mike Kent (Colliers, LA), James Arce (Cushman & Wakefield, SF) and David Sears (JP Morgan, LA). Their comments that property management personnel are critical to the success of real estate assets in today’s market were reassuring. Immediately following the General Session I had to pack, check out, and depart for the airport. Was this truly a “Lost” experience for me? Had I visited purgatory? Was I temporarily “Lost” between death and the afterlife? Did I ruin it for those of you who still haven’t watched the final episode of Lost? Here’s the story. No hidden meaning or mystery. The convention may have been shortened by a full day to minimize expenses for the attendees but it was chalk full of plenty to offer. As the economy changes, real estate changes, and so does our Association. BOMA is NOT Lost. We’re here and going strong!

Don Rogers, President