Jones Lang LaSalle Inc. has acquired ECD Energy, a consultant focusing on the development of the Green Globes for The Green Building Initiative (GBI) and Go Green Interactive Software, for BOMA Canada. The staff at ECD Energy will join with the staff of Jones Lang LaSalle in their Toronto offices.Lauralee Martin, Chief Financial and Operating Officer at Jones Lang LaSalle told CPN, “Acquiring ECD has given us tools that simplify the task of establishing a sustainability baseline in existing buildings and portfolios, and allow us to suggest cost-effective ways to enhance energy and water efficiency and reduce the impact of…

Foundation Software, based in Cleveland, Ohio, has released an improvement to its flagship product, Foundations for Windows, an application used in the construction industry.The new feature, Executive Dashboard, lets users view and analyze key data for job expenses to facilitate financial accounting. Users will be able to view a summary on one screen, and then if they want to, they can choose to delve deeper into details. The Executive Dashboard is completely integrated multi-user environment in real–time, so that added pertinent information will be instantly accessible, making this a far more beneficial system for managers than traditional spreadsheets and printed…

Blacktop roads can be a source of solar power, according to reports from a team of researchers at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Worcester, Mass., who have been developing a solar collector to turn patches of asphalt pavement into a new source for harnessing solar energy. If we already have “put up the parking lot”– and an asphalt pavement surface must be resurfaced every ten years or so — this study reasons, why not put in a new feature to simultaneously produce energy? President of Novotech Michael Hulen, whose background is in physics, and who initiated the project, told CPN “There…

Las-Vegas-based TRIRIGA, a provider of software solutions for the real estate industry, has announced the availability of its new system called TREES (TRIRIGA Real Estate Environmental Sustainability). TREES measures, manages and reduces energy consumption of buildings. TRIRIGA’s client base include one third of the Fortune 100 companies, including Nokia, GE, AIG, Capital One, Wells Fargo, Starbucks, The Gap, and The Opus Construction Co. All of these clients served on an advisory board to help design and develop TREES. The new system, two years in development, is already installed and in use by Nokia. TREES provides operational processes, procedures, 24 metrics,…

Brown Harris Stevens SELECT, a new marketing division of Brown Harris Stevens has started immediate implementation of the new free product designed by Microsoft Live Labs. The product, Photosynth can be downloaded virtually by anyone, and appreciated by anyone who has a digital camera. Photosynth will be of exceptional interest to architects, builders, managers and buyers of real estate. With Photosynth you can fully explore and experience a space because it takes virtual panorama-viewing one step further. Photosynth allows the viewer to navigate and control their own immersive experience of a space, without having to be there in person, to manipulate…

Lower airline capacity, tighter credit markets and the general economic downturn now gripping the U.S. have taken a deep toll on casino hotels. A sector that was enjoying positive times as recently as 2007 is now experiencing some daunting problems in two gaming capitals, Las Vegas and Atlantic City.Atlantic City is grappling with a “triple whammy” of bad news, said Mark Capasso, managing director at Cushman & Wakefield Inc. In addition to the economic slowdown, competitors are snapping at Atlantic City’s heels, Capasso notes, in the form of increased competition from slot machines at Philadelphia Park racetrack; the Empire City…

The flagship of the United States office investment and leasing market, Manhattan is now also at the heart of the financial crisis. The stunning events of recent weeks point to a new era for the economy, but experts differ about how the changes will play out in Manhattan’s commercial real estate market during the next several quarters and beyond.Some industry veterans are offering a stark assessment. “In the last couple of weeks, it’s become obvious that the fundamentals are changing,” Eric Michael Anton, an executive managing director for Eastern Consolidated, the Manhattan-based investment advisory firm. he told CPN this afternoon….

It might have been a weekend, but there’s no rest for attorneys. At least not those involved in the Wachovia-Citigroup-Wells Fargo dispute. A judge has granted Citi an injunction blocking further Wachovia-Wells Fargo negotiations until this Friday, but that might not change anything in the not-so-long run, especially if Citigroup ultimately feels obliged to up its offer for Wachovia. The Federal Reserve wants the two suitors to divide the company along geographic lines, and according to the Wall Street Journal, talks between the parties continued through the weekend toward that end, without resolution. Wachovia is no small prize, with a…