Office Space Leasing Decisions Should Consider Collaborative Work Needs

One of the first steps to increasing your company’s productivity may be found in the design and functionality of your office space and how it is used by your employees. Many research studies have found a direct correlation between office space and productivity. Cushman & Wakefield and CoreNet Global recently sponsored a research study of corporate real estate executives thoughts on how to foster innovation in the workplace. One of the key findings was that if you promote collaboration among employees you can achieve better work results.

More than two thirds of the study respondents rated the quality of the physical environment as important and 34.7% saw a need to change their physical environment to improve face to face collaboration. Other results also point to the need for office collaboration-93.5% ranked “in-person interaction and human contact” as the most important contributor to innovation.

The Cost of Creating a Collaborative Atlanta Office Space

Your current office space design may be very traditional with rows of cubicles, offices with doors and a conference room or two. How can you transform your current office space to promote more productivity and collaboration? The cost of reconfiguring your entire office space and replacing office furniture may be unrealistic based on your current operating budget.  Or you may need to lease additional office space to effectively rework your office layout to have more collaborative spaces and conference rooms.

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RedBird LED Hires John Gilmore as Vice President of Sales

Redbird LED is pleased to announce that LED lighting industry veteran John Gilmore has joined their sales and management team as the new Vice President of Sales. Redbird LED is an Atlanta, GA. firm that specializes in the design, manufacturing and distribution of premium energy efficient LED Linear Replacement Lamp products. Previously, John Gilmore was leading the LED Lighting sales efforts for SEESMART LED. In his new role, John will spearhead the sales and marketing of RedBird LED Tube Lights to lighting distributors, major national corporations, state and federal agencies, retailers and institutional owners throughout the United States.

Jonathan Eppstein, President of Redbird LED said, "We are excited that one of the most successful sales professionals in the country of LED Tube Lights has joined RedBird LED. John's commitment to RedBird validates our belief that there is a large demand for premium quality- high performing LED Linear Replacement Lamp products. The recent certification by the DesignLights Consortium for both our 22 watt and 18 watt Cardinal Linear Replacement Lamp products, which prequalifies them for many energy rebate programs, was a key factor in John's decision to join our firm at this time. Culminating several years of development and testing, the Cardinal LED Linear Replacement Lamp has become first, second, and still the only LED tube light in the world to receive DLC Certification."

In his previous position with SEESMART, a leading LED lighting distributor, John was responsible for managing the lighting sales operations, marketing strategy development, introduction of new products and managing key client accounts. During his tenure , sales revenue increased 92% to $11.5 million in 2011. Over this same time period his personal sales volume exceeded $7 million, including two of the largest LED Tube lighting contracts, Pasadena City College and General Services Administration. His previous clients included; Department of Defense (Army, Navy, and Air Force), Homeland Security, Department of Justice (correctional facilities), Department of General Services (City of Los Angeles), airports, schools, universities, and various municipalities throughout the US.

"I'm absolutely thrilled to be part of RedBird LED", says John Gilmore. "Jonathan is a brilliant engineer with a great vision. The fact that Redbird is exclusively focused on building the finest LED linear replacement lamps allows me to continue to build on my experience in marketing products in this category. Our plan is to leverage the Cardinal lamp's quality and DLC Certification to become the number one LED tube supplier in the world over the next year. Having the 18W tube on the DLC's qualified product list will allow us penetrate the massive fluorescent tube retrofit market, which has become a more immediate need with the recent obsolescence and subsequent unavailability of the older T12 style fluorescent tubes. Adding a rebate incentive to the basic energy savings, will allow the customer to see a complete payback in less than 1 year in many cases.

Over the past 5 years I have learned a tremendous amount about LED linear tubes. When I met with Jonathan and reviewed the RedBird LED technical data, the decision to make the move was very easy. It is truly the best LED tube in the world today!!"

About RedBird LED - Redbird LED is an Atlanta based designer and manufacturer of LED linear lights. Their company mission is to focus exclusively on providing quality LED linear light solutions to their customers. Redbird LED's core technology is in their premier linear LED light, designed and engineered specifically for retrofits of traditional fluorescent tube lights.

Ernst & Young To Save $1 Million Dollars Annually After LED Lighting Retrofit

Ernst & Young recently completed  one  of the largest LED lighting retrofit projects in New York Cty by replacing less energy efficient ligting at its headquarters office building in Times Square.  It is estimated that Ernst& Young will reduce their lighting and mainteance costs by 50% and will save at least $1 million dollars per year in lighting energy costs.The Ernst & Young headquarters building is 32 floors with 650,000 square feet of office space and houses 5,800 employees.

LED Lighting Retrofits Consistent With Firms Energy Policies

"Reducing the carbon footprint of our office space is part of our firm-wide strategy to reduce our environmental footprint as our business grows," says Leisha John, Ernst & Young Americas Director of Environmental Sustainability. "In fact, by the end of 2013, we plan to have a majority of our employees working in LEED and or Energy Star certified space. The completion of this lighting retrofit project in the New York office brings us one step closer to that goal, and will be part of that office’s Energy Star application.In addition to reducing our energy footprint, green technologies like LED help us to reduce our operating expenses, which is a best practice for any company," said John. "This project is the result of the collaboration between several infrastructure groups within Ernst & Young LLP, particularly the Facilities and Real Estate teams, and the Climate Change and Sustainability Services professionals, who advise clients on sustainability practices."

Companies Are Saving Millions of Dollars Per Year with LED Lighting Retrofits

Companies as varied as Ernst & Young, Marriott Hotels and the owner of the Empire State Building are saving millions of dollars by installing energy efficient LED lighting. The reason- LED lighting lasts for years and reduces lighting energy costs by up to 50%. The payback is relatively quick, often less than two years.One hurdle is the upfront cost of replacing your current outdated lighting with the more energy efficient LED Linear replacement lamps.

RedBird LED Inc., an Atlanta, GA. firm that specializes in the design, manufacturing and distribution of high quality energy efficient LED linear lighting products for industrial and commercial applications, has addressed this problem by introducing new LED lighting products that qualify for energy efficient rebates from selected Utility Companies. These Utility Companies are members of the DesignLights Consortium. The DLC recently certified the second RedBird LED Cardinal™ LED Linear Retrofit product.  In May, RedBird LED received certification by the DLC for their 22 watt LED Linear Replacement Lamp at both 4100K and 5000K CCTs.  The RedBird LED 18 watt Cardinal™ LED Linear Replacement lamp  has now also been certified by DLC as a Qualified Product.

 Culminating several years of development and testing, the Cardinal™ LED Linear Replacement Lamp has become both the first, second, and still the only LED tube light in the world to receive DLC Certification.
By establishing the Cardinal LED tube light's position on the Qualified Product List of the DLC, RedBird LED has ensured that these products will be eligible for all rebate programs currently in place among the DLC's membership and will facilitate rapid approval by other rebate sources as well.

Lighting Retrofits Can Reduce Lighting Costs by 55% or More

The 18 watt linear replacement lamp is the most popular model used for one to one fluorescent lighting retrofits of standard 32 watt T8 or 40 watt T12 fluorescent lamps. When retrofitting with a Cardinal LED tube the user will expect to save as much as 55% on their energy consumption when compared to a standard 40 watt T12 model or 40% on a 32 watt T8. With this level of savings and the rebates available, the customer can see paybacks as low as 9 months in many states.  

JonathanEppstein, President of RedBird LED commented, “While we were ecstatic to have been the first, and only LED Linear Replacement Lamp to have qualified for DLC Certification with our 22 watt product in May, the DLC Certification for our 18 watt lamp is an even more exciting event. We expect the DLC Certification of the 18 watt Cardinal Lamp to dramatically increase the adoption and deployment of this breakthrough product.  Having both our 22 and 18 watt LED tubes on the DLC Qualified Product List solidifies our position as the market leader in this sector of the LED lighting industry.”

Contact: info@redbirdled.com  678-RED-BIRD (678-733-2473).

State Farm Expands in Atlanta Bringing 500 New Jobs

This past friday, Governor Deal announced that State Farm, the largest insurance firm in Georgia, is expanding- leasing almost 400,000 square feet of office space at the 64 East Perimeter Center and 66 East Perimeter Center office buildings. State Farm anticipates hiring 500 employees for their new customer service/sales center.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that, "The financial, professional and business service industries account for about one-fifth of Atlanta’s 2.3 million jobs and have added roughly 11,000 positions during the last year." The news from State Farm represents another large increase in professional sector jobs for Atlanta. “Obviously, three years into this economic recovery we still have a very soft labor market in Atlanta and nationwide,” said Roger Tutterow, an economics professor at Mercer University. “So we readily welcome 500 jobs in any capacity.”

This is great news for our city. The same day, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution featured a large screaming headline about Georgia ranking as the number one state for residential foreclosures. An easy headline to write, but the State Farm announcement is very important for many reasons.

 For the real estate industry this is one more major office space lease that takes a large available amount of contiguous office space off the Perimeter Center office market. The Atlanta economy will certainly benefit from these new jobs which will include clerical, technical and management positions.

This is the third time in the last 12 months that State Farm has expanded and announced new job creation. “This expansion is just another way State Farm continues to adjust to meet the changing needs and preferences of our customers," said State Farm Senior Vice President Tim McFadden. State Farm is currently ranked No. 43 on the Fortune 500 list of largest companies and has more than 65,000 employees.

The State farm customer service center is expected to open in the Fourth Quarter of 2012.

Terminix Saves 20% on Office Space Rental Costs Through an Early Renewal and Extension of Their Office Lease

Terminix, recently signed a new office space lease to remain in their current office space. They were able restructure their current office space lease and an early extension for 15,762 square feet for their regional contact center in Norcross. Terminix will not only reduce their rental costs by 20 percent , they will also receive capital for improvements to  the entrance and lobby of the their office.

Many companies are looking to reduce their real estate costs by taking advantage of current market pricing and conditions. A creative way to do this is to restructure your current lease through an Extend and Blend leasing agreement. The Extend and Blend is simple amendment to a current lease that extends the length of the lease and usually includes additional incentives from the building owner. These incentives can include reductions in rental rates, operating expenses and in some cases tenant improvements. 

Terminix was able to reduce their real estate costs by planning early and signing an extension while they still had more than a year left on their current office lease. Because the office space vacancy rate for the office submarket is high and Terminix is in a growth phase , the landlord was motivated to keep Terminix as a tenant in their building. Terminix announced this year that they would be hiring additional workers at this regional call center.

For more information on the Extend and Blend lease program please download the Extend and Blend leasing program brochure.