2023 Winter Issue - 35

2022 ULI FALL MEETING
" It's kind of what we like to call the wild,
wild west right now, " Bradshaw said.
" ULI and its members can play a more
active role in shaping these standards for
measuring greenhouse gas emissions, climate
risk, and broader ESG topics, " said
panel moderator Billy Grayson, executive vice
president of centers and initiatives at ULI.
" These regulations can be more efficient and
effective when they are informed by the real
estate industry. "
Boosting Confidence
But while learning how to comply with the
law could be challenging, the wealth of data
that will be gathered will help boost investors'
confidence in real estate companies, panelists
said.
Both the climate disclosure rule and
Sarbanes-Oxley " are focused on the integrity
of the capital markets and the needs of investors, "
Wieman said. " Sarbanes-Oxley gave
more reliability to financial statements by
looking at the underlying controls and other
provisions. Obviously, when you look at the
SEC climate proposal, it comes from investor
demands-from investors who want the information.
They're making broad-based assumptions
about companies, and they think that
more accurate information should come from
the companies themselves. "
Mary Ludgin, senior managing director
and head of global investment for real estate
investment management firm Heitman, portrayed
the SEC climate disclosure rule as
in sync with a gradual shift in the nationwide
real estate market, in which tenants
increasingly will be interested in the climate
impact of buildings. There is already movement
in that direction, though it is uneven,
she said.
" In some cities, the tenants still don't
appear to be the slightest bit interested in
knowing about energy efficiency, " she said.
But other markets are the reverse, with tenants
showing a strong interest. " I have
a feeling that it will start to change and
become a regular feature of questions that
people ask. "
Stranded Assets
Ludgin also noted that greater availability of
information about the climate impact of buildings
may lead to more stranded properties
that lose value because of a shift in societal
attitudes and preferences. But that, in turn,
could lead to adaptive use of buildings, so
that they become " unstranded. "
Europe, which has been ahead of the
United States on climate-related financial
disclosure requirements, may provide some
clues about the SEC climate disclosure rule's
eventual impacts on the real estate industry,
said Juliette Morgan, director of environmental,
social, and governance issues for global
architecture, design, planning, and consulting
firm Gensler.
What Europe's disclosure requirements
have done " is make people have to engage
with their real estate portfolio and the climate
risk. They have to scenario plan and mentally
get their heads around the idea that there will
be stranded assets, " she said.
" It's also triggered the need for a different
skill set within businesses. So where
there wasn't a need before for people to
use geospatial modeling for climate change,
nowadays it's either within a business or
consulting. I think it's actually led to a culture
of people thinking about and reporting on
climate scenarios and culturally being slightly
more embedded than what I've seen here. "
Morgan urged people in the industry to
focus on " collective forgiveness " for past inattention
to climate concerns and avoid suspicions
that others are " greenwashing " -trying
to create a deceiving appearance of being
environmentally friendly.
" We're all on this collective journey, "
Morgan said.
PATRICK J . KIGER is a Washington, D.C.-based business
journalist and author.
John Means, David Arena
JPMorgan Chase Plans to Raise the Bar at New
Manhattan Headquarters
K AREN JORDAN
If the nearly $3 billion headquarters
under construction in Midtown Manhattan
is any indication, JPMorgan Chase is bullish
on the return to offices and cities. The
project has long been in the works, David
Arena, head of global real estate at JPMorgan
Chase, explained to John Means, McKinsey
& Company's head of major projects, at ULI's
Fall Meeting in Dallas during a session titled
" Fireside Chat on JPMorgan Chase's New
Headquarters: Creating the Future of Work. "
" The firm made these decisions a long
time ago and has never wavered, " Arena said.
The lobby alone at 270 Park Avenue will
measure 80 feet (24 m) high. The new headquarters
is being erected on the same site as
JPMorgan Chase's old headquarters and is
designed by Foster + Partners. The 60-story
tower will be New York City's biggest allelectric
building when it is completed.
The building is carbon neutral, generating
zero carbon from operations, Arena said. The
project is also significantly benefiting from
rezoning that took place under the Midtown
East Zoning District, as one audience member
pointed out at the event, held at the
Kay Bailey Hutchinson Convention Center.
WINTER 2023
URBAN LAND
33
2023 Winter Issue

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