Will the crushing economy derail the big Green development plans for our cities and towns?

As cities continue to grow, large developers are incorporating sustainable technologies into their buildings. Reusing existing materials and installing roof mounted solar panels are two simple ways skyscrapers are going green.

Related Companies, is one of the biggest developers in the country and is responsible for some of New York City’s most aggressive skyscraper builds.

Jeff Brodsky, President of the Management Division of Related Companies.

Our expectation is that we’re going to be building green buildings, sustainable buildings, across our portfolio. Our commitment is over 30 billion dollars not only built but also in the planning stages and development. It’s an expectation of us that the client is expecting a sustainable and an environmentally sensitive product and if you don’t build it green now, three years from now it’s gonna be an obsolete building anyway.

And Related Companies is just one of many developers following through with their commitment to Green building despite the current economic landscape.

For more on building Green, click on the following links.

The Urban Project: A Green Development Company

Chipolte Restaurants Seek LEED for All Chains (Market Watch)

Green Tech for Cities (World Changing)

The New Green Building (New York Times)

Photo by Neil101.

For more of our exclusive interview with Jeff Brodsky, click below.

Q: Will tightening economic conditions cause future developments to back off building Green?

A: No, as a matter of fact, our expectation is that we’re going to be building green buildings, sustainable buildings, across our portfolio. Our commitment is over 30 billion dollars not only built but also in the planning stages and development. It’s an expectation of us that the client is expecting a sustainable and an environmentally sensitive product and if you don’t build it green now, three years from now it’s gonna be an obsolete building anyway. To the extent that that’s an expectation, our expectation is that it’s not only a commitment that we need to meet for our clients but a commitment organizationally across our portfolio so regardless of property type, we’re building sustainable products.

Q: Does it make financial sense to build a building that lasts more than 10 years now anyway?

A: Actually we’re long term holders. We’ve been in business for 35 years. I run the organizational devision that operates the properties and I’ve been with Steven for 25 of those, we’re long term holders. We’re looking at useful life cost structures and frankly, as long as utility costs in particular or energy costs or energy product availability becomes more and more difficult to deal with, sustainable buildings make more an more sense the longer you go out. So we’re long term holders with long term perspective.