HOW CORONAVIRUS IS ACCELERATING CRE SUSTAINABILITY TRENDS ACROSS LOS ANGELES

The people, communities and cities that make up Los Angeles are preparing for life without shelter in place and the coronavirus and hoping to keep them in the rearview for the foreseeable future.

With offices and retail open once again and restaurants sorting out how to offer outdoor dining, questions linger from Venice to Eagle Rock. For the CRE industry’s sustainability and urbanism experts, the last few months have been difficult while the months and years ahead present an even greater challenge.

In the short term, the pandemic has been challenging for those trying to maintain sustainability goals and hit internal metrics — energy spikes, increased HVAC requests and intense chemicals have all become a part of the new norm. In the big picture, trends that were slowly showing up have now arrived including a push towards healthy buildings, low energy, increased interest in LEED certification and carbon neutrality.

Hudson Pacific’s Natalie Teear and the USGBC Los Angeles’ Ben Stapleton will examine the state of sustainability and urbanism in Los Angeles.