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September 2008 |
In This Issue...Green Initiatives in Office BuildingsA recent survey undertaken by Altus InSite reveals tenants’ attitudes towards the environment. Property Assessment IssuesVance Leschuk from Altus Realty Tax provides a few property tax facts. All Things LinearIt has been reported by Cannacord Adams that Canada needs to spend $123 billion to address its infrastructure deficit and may require another $115 billion to meet growth requirements. In the USA, this figure exceeds a reported 1 trillion dollars. In this article, Brian Goodman describes what linear infrastructure is, and outlines some of the services being provided by the newly created Altus Group Infrastructure (AGI) division. |
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GREEN INITIATIVES IN OFFICE BUILDINGS |
| The dynamic relationship between office building landlords and tenants’ is shifting. Employee attraction, retention and productivity are increasingly impacted by the employee’s perception of their employer. Specifically, “Is my employer ‘environmentally responsible’?” Energy costs are an early performance metric for credible benchmarking and focused capital improvements. However, many landlords may not factor in how potential energy saving measures may impact the ‘employment environment’. While employers can initiate many environmentally positive initiatives, the employees’ perception of the office building is a key factor. More so than ever before, employers want to ‘partner’ with their landlords to improve their ‘environmental performance’ and in turn boost employee attraction, retention and productivity. Smart companies focus on employee retention and attraction and know that their ability to attract and retain their employees depends heavily on a positive and healthy employment environment. |
| A recent survey of tenants’ undertaken by Altus InSite revealed that a large percentage of respondents would be interested in working in a building that undertook green initiatives. These include installing automatic lighting sensors, lowering or raising the building temperature or reducing common area lighting. The survey also revealed that employees had a strong interest in working for a company that was environmental responsible through promoting and encouraging energy conservation from the top down. In addition to this, the impact on employee satisfaction was significant, with almost 70% of the survey respondents indicating that their satisfaction with working for a company would increase if that company was environmentally conscious. Not surprisingly, this satisfaction provides additional benefits with almost 40% of respondents indicating that their personal productivity would increase and almost half indicating that their desire to stay with that company for the next 5-10 years would increase. |
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| The initial study, conducted in September 2007, was updated in June 2008 and reveals that environmental responsiveness varies by market with Montreal the most responsive, Vancouver and Toronto tied for second, Ottawa and Edmonton in third place, and Calgary office workers trailing on responsiveness to environmental initiatives. These results are dynamic and the pace of change is accelerating and reshaping the Landlord – Tenant relationship. |
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For more information please contact:
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PROPERTY ASSESSMENT ISSUES |
1) Receiving your 2009 assessment earlyThe 2009 assessments are not available to the public until the 1st week in January 2009. We will be able to obtain most of our clients’ values earlier, likely by late October/early November. Not only does this greatly assist our clients for budgeting purposes, but often we can negotiate with the assessor on a pre-roll basis and deliver a lowered value before other taxpayers receive their assessment notices. Working directly with BC Assessment prior to the public issuance of the roll is an informal non-adversarial approach that often produces excellent results, since BC Assessment is not forced to vigorously defend their position before a 3rd party (review panel or appeal board). 2) Recent court casesRecently, there have been a number of assessment appeals that have been argued before the Appeal Board or Supreme Court. The decisions often have implications for other property owners faced with similar issues on their assessments. Some of these recent decisions involved the following issues: 1) Contiguous ownership having an impact on assessed value. 2) Whether a restriction of use outlined in lease from the crown or other exempt entity affects the highest & best use. 3) Property being occupied by a non-profit organization being classed at class 6 or class 8 (significantly lower tax class). 4) Sawmills or other heavy industrial use properties and whether an improvement is considered “an industrial improvement” or “part of an industrial” improvement”, which affect the depreciation rate. 5) Charitable Organization offering subsidized housing & if they should be exempt from taxation or taxed at the typical class 1 (residential) rate. 3) Where is it cheaper to do business – property tax perspectiveWe are often asked by our clients how certain taxing jurisdictions compare with respect to their property tax rates. The following is a chart that displays a 2 year comparison between various municipalities and their class 6 (business/other) and class 1 (residential) tax rates. 
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For more information (including other recent court cases concerning assessment appeals)
please contact:
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ALL THINGS LINEAR |
1) What is linear infrastructure?Linear infrastructure is the facilities that distribute product or services to our homes and industry. As an example, steel tower transmission lines provide us with power from the source whether the energy is derived from nuclear, thermal, gas, hydro, or other renewable energy sources. Other examples include water supply pipelines, wastewater collection and disposal pipelines, oil and gas pipelines, and communication systems such as fibre optic networks and wireless tower sites. 2) What services does the Altus Group Infrastructure (AGI) division provide?AGI provides a full suite of services which results in a ‘turnkey approach’ to the linear infrastructure industry through our multiple departments that operate within the Altus Group of companies. Essentially the AGI team draws from three key divisions that exist within the Altus Group of companies; 1) Altus Land management, provides research, valuation, and advisory services for the acquisition or expropriation of land, legal support, expert witness, excess land dispositions, and property purchase agreements. This division provides right of way and site acquisition through negotiation of fee simple, easements, leases, licenses and access agreements as well as government planning and permit approvals and regulatory compliance. (i.e. Wireless Tower site leases with municipal consultation and approvals). 2) Altus IPS provides Development Planning, Geospatial Information Technology, Data Solutions and Project Management resource, to our linear infrastructure project assignments. 3) Altus Cost provides a project cost analysis, budget, and schedule, and can also assist with negotiating and securing various construction contracts. |
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For more information please contact: |
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For valuation related questions contact David Eger
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Altus Group Limited |
The
Grosvenor Building - Suite #630