{"id":1004118510,"date":"2015-04-30T07:29:49","date_gmt":"2015-04-30T15:29:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/?p=1004118510"},"modified":"2022-12-05T16:00:18","modified_gmt":"2022-12-06T00:00:18","slug":"staying-prepared-coming-back-strong-insights-on-disaster-readiness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/staying-prepared-coming-back-strong-insights-on-disaster-readiness\/","title":{"rendered":"Staying Prepared, Coming Back Strong: Insights on Disaster Readiness"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Paul Rosta, Senior Editor<\/em><\/p>\n

Events like the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 and Superstorm Sandy have changed the way real estate professionals around the country think about disaster preparedness. In a wide-ranging conference at the New School in New York City, an eclectic group of professionals gathered on Tuesday to offer insights about lessons learned and best practices that apply to disaster preparation, recovery and resilience.<\/p>\n

The reminder is vital because \u201cpeople are like institutions,\u201d explained Kenneth Holden, chief facilities officer for the Mount Sinai Health System and a former commissioner of the New York City Department of Design and Construction, who oversaw the cleanup of the World Trade Center site after the attacks of 9\/11. \u201cOnce a disaster passes, the responsiveness to that disaster passes, and people move on to other things.\u201d<\/p>\n

Several speakers at the conference, which was sponsored by the law firm of Venable L.L.P., stressed the importance of establishing contracts with vendors in advance of an emergency. That exercise helps insure that help will be available promptly after the event and avoids price-gouging. For some panelists, that wisdom was hard-won after Sandy. As vice president of Waterfront NY Realty Corp., Christopher Flagg oversaw the recovery of the Terminal Stores building, a 1 million-square-foot converted historic warehouse near the Hudson River on Manhattan\u2019s West Side.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou need to have vendor relationships that are locked in place, prices that are locked in place,\u201d Flagg said. \u201cWithout putting vendors in place\u2014which we\u2019ve since done\u2014we were scrambling.\u201d Vendor contracts should also be vetted in advance by insurance carriers to avoid subsequent disputes over payment, he added.<\/p>\n

Sophisticated building owners and managers typically engage in tabletop exercises covering a variety of scenarios, noted Matt Duthie, who oversees a 15 million-square-foot office portfolio as managing director of JLL\u2019s property management group in New York City. Yet there are all too many gaps in preparation. \u201cIt\u2019s amazing how many smaller tenants didn\u2019t have a plan in place when this happened.\u201d Occupants themselves should take the initiative: \u201cIf I were a tenant, I would absolutely (tell) your landlord, \u201cI want to see your plan.\u201d<\/p>\n

Insurance concerns were also a dominant theme. \u201cAll-risk\u201d insurance coverage is something of a misnomer, since it typically excludes disasters like floods and earthquakes, explained Allyson Martin, managing director of the national real estate practice at Beecher Carlson Insurance Services Inc. Deductibles are covered differently for named storms and unnamed storms; hurricane coverage typically has multiple deductibles, she explained.<\/p>\n

Superstorm Sandy revealed the limited understanding of flood coverage among real estate stakeholders. \u201cUnfortunately it wasn\u2019t explained to policyholders because some of the agents didn\u2019t take time to understand it,\u201d explained Jana Critchfield, New York and New England regional sales manager for Wright Flood Insurance. The government\u2019s flood insurance program is geared for items like restoring damaged boilers and HVAC equipment, not to compensate policyholders for lost business operations.<\/p>\n

Though education remains a challenge, there is some good news on the insurance front. Prior to Sandy, \u201cMany tenants didn\u2019t understand their coverage,\u201d Duthie said. \u201cToday they\u2019re much more educated. They have done a deep dive to understand the gaps and how to fill them.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In a wide-ranging conference in New York City, an eclectic group of professionals shared best practices for preparation, recovery and resilience.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":445,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21781,1600,21742,10,21747,21785],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1004118510","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-corporate-real-estate","category-new-york","category-latest","category-northeast","category-office","category-property-management"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nStaying Prepared, Coming Back Strong: Insights on Disaster Readiness - Commercial Property Executive<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/staying-prepared-coming-back-strong-insights-on-disaster-readiness\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Staying Prepared, Coming Back Strong: Insights on Disaster Readiness\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In a wide-ranging conference in New York City, an eclectic group of professionals shared best practices for preparation, recovery and resilience.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/staying-prepared-coming-back-strong-insights-on-disaster-readiness\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Commercial Property Executive\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/CPExecutive\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-04-30T15:29:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-12-06T00:00:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Paul Rosta\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@cpexecutive\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@cpexecutive\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.commercialsearch.com\\\/news\\\/staying-prepared-coming-back-strong-insights-on-disaster-readiness\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.commercialsearch.com\\\/news\\\/staying-prepared-coming-back-strong-insights-on-disaster-readiness\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Paul Rosta\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.commercialsearch.com\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ed97e8245f278ce01a7b951f706152af\"},\"headline\":\"Staying Prepared, Coming Back Strong: Insights on Disaster Readiness\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-04-30T15:29:49+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-12-06T00:00:18+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.commercialsearch.com\\\/news\\\/staying-prepared-coming-back-strong-insights-on-disaster-readiness\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":543,\"commentCount\":0,\"articleSection\":[\"Corporate Real Estate\",\"New York\",\"News\",\"Northeast\",\"Office\",\"Property Management\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.commercialsearch.com\\\/news\\\/staying-prepared-coming-back-strong-insights-on-disaster-readiness\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.commercialsearch.com\\\/news\\\/staying-prepared-coming-back-strong-insights-on-disaster-readiness\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.commercialsearch.com\\\/news\\\/staying-prepared-coming-back-strong-insights-on-disaster-readiness\\\/\",\"name\":\"Staying Prepared, Coming Back Strong: Insights on Disaster Readiness - 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