The Real Estate Roundtable Commends Senate Passage Of 'Tenant Star' Amendment To Keystone Pipeline Bill

The Real Estate Roundtable commends the Senate's bipartisan vote (94-5) today to authorize the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to create a voluntary "Tenant Star" program. "Tenant Star" would provide national branding recognition to encourage landlord and tenant teams to design, construct and operate within leased spaces in commercial buildings that achieve high levels of energy performance. Real Estate Roundtable President and CEO Jeffrey DeBoer. The Senate's overwhelming approval on "Tenant Star" is unfinished business from the previous Congress, as the U.S. House of Representatives in March 2014 passed companion legislation by a 375-36 margin. Anthony E. Malkin, Chairman, President and CEO of Empire State Realty Trust, Inc.

and Chairman of The Real Estate Roundtable's Sustainability Policy Advisory Committee (SPAC), said: "'Tenant Star' is a voluntary program, with no federal mandate or cost, which will encourage commercial tenants and landlords to design and construct leased spaces in office buildings to achieve high levels of energy performance. The legislation aligns office tenants – who can account for more than 50 percent of the energy consumed in an office building – to incorporate into the construction of their leased premises common sense, cost-effective measures that yield excellent returns on investment over short pay-back periods. Tenants will favor landlords whose buildings can support such installations. Broad adoption will save businesses billions of dollars on energy costs in the coming years. The reduced consumption will afford savings in future capital outlays for energy generation and related infrastructure." Jeffrey D. DeBoer, President and CEO of The Real Estate Roundtable, said: "'Tenant Star' is a 'triple win' that will spur the economy by creating jobs, enhancing energy security, and preserving our environment by cutting greenhouse gases. It will boost innovation in the real estate sector and go a long way to help ensure that our country's commercial and multifamily stock – and the separate spaces leased within them – are at the vanguard of advances in technology and energy conservation. The 'Tenant Star' program will allow building owners to attract financiers, investors, and tenants in the increasingly competitive national and global markets for real estate." Senators Rob Portman (R-OH) and Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) were the lead sponsors of the "Tenant Star" amendment that passed the Senate today. It builds upon language originally introduced last Congress by Senators Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) and Michael Bennet (D-CO), and mirrors the bill that passed the House last year sponsored by Representatives David McKinley (R-WV) and Peter Welch (D-VT). The Real Estate Roundtable supports legislation that encourages energy efficiency and production as components of "all of the above" national energy policy. The Senate's "Tenant Star" provisions were offered and passed as an amendment to legislation to approve construction of the Keystone XL pipeline. "We look forward to our continued work with Congress and the Obama Administration to ultimately sign 'Tenant Star' into law, along with other measures that have the support of the American people and businesses to balance economic growth with complementary polices that foster environmental stewardship," DeBoer said.