Black Oak Associates

Spearheading sustainable

By Erica Rascón on Jul 8, 2013 in People

For Black Oak Associates, sustainability is a means of providing tenants with affordable commercial spaces while offering local residents a cleaner, healthier community.

Black Oak Associates has adopted a policy of sustainability that applies to the corporate office and its properties. Heberto Alanis specializes in the company’s green initiatives: “We believe that sustainability is a really good strategy. It promotes value, drives returns, and defines our organization,” Alanis says. “It will be an ongoing strategy for us that will help the community and our tenants.”

Black Oak has approached green building as a two tier endeavor, considering the needs of its tenants as well as the needs of the communities in which Black Oak properties are located. The site of Eldersburg Commons, for example, had been an eyesore for years. During the hardest times of the recession, tenants vacated the shopping center, leaving the 330,000 square-foot building as a concrete shell. Black Oak soon stepped in with plans to reinvent the site as a thriving community center.

“It is brownfield land that we are developing, which in itself is a green project,” explains Alanis. “We’ve been meeting with the architects and finding ways to integrate LED lighting, TPO roofing, and exploring our solar options. We will make use of more efficient HVAC units and energy saving programs to power the building.”

Once the green upgrades are in place, the shopping center will welcome its tenants. The project has piqued interest from many retailers. WalMart will serve as the shopping center’s anchor. Additional vendors will be selected with local residents in mind; Black Oak has reached out to residents to determine what stores and restaurants they would like to have in the center. The company established a Popularise page that allows residents to leave feedback for the development team. To date, home supply stores, a movie theater, health foods grocers and a few family-friendly restaurants top the list.

Dixon Harvey, president of Black Oak Associates, met with nearly a dozen homeowners in close proximity to the shopping center to address their concerns. The open dialogue resulted in about 30 suggestions that the developers brought back to the drawing board. “We’ve gotten a ton of input,” Harvey said in an interview with Carroll County Times. “We don’t pretend to think of everything, so being able to get community input at this stage of the game is key.”

At its completion, Eldersburg Commons will stand as a shining representation of Black Oak’s commitment to the environment and local communities.

Belair Edison Crossing Shopping Center is also receiving a green makeover. Black Oak has joined forces with the City of Baltimore and Blue Water Baltimore to transform the current waste management system at the site. The association will integrate trash interceptors into existing storm water drains, reducing the amount of pollutants that reach groundwater sources. Black Oak has installed similar waste management upgrades at multiple properties in the region to help tenants dispose of waste more efficiently with minimal adverse effects on the environment.

In addition to pursuing water purity, Black Oak plans to decrease its properties’ reliance on the power grid. In an interview with CityBizList, Harvey announced the company’s plan to reduce energy consumption at its existing sites by 20 percent over the next five years.

To meet that goal, Black Oak has installed satellite controlled internet-based lighting systems in multiple locations that reduce energy use by up to 50 percent. The company is also in negotiations with BGE to participate in the Smart Energy Savers Program, which supports the EmPOWER Maryland Energy Efficiency Act. Under the act, local entities collaborate to reduce both per capita energy consumption and per capita peak demand by 15 percent by the end of 2015. To date, Black Oak has entered into renewable energy purchase agreements totaling approximately 650,000 kWh.

Black Oak has found a way to help community members benefit from energy-conscious technology at their properties. College Square in Westminster, MD was the one of the first shopping centers in the region to host electronic car charging stations. The company recently opened another charging station at Hastings Marketplace in Manassas, VA. Shoppers can enjoy savings on fuel expenses while decreasing carbon emissions.

Successful green initiatives come in part as a result of Black Oak’s open communication with its tenants. Associates are better able to care for the unique needs of their clients with the help of time-saving technology. Ray Keil, Property Manager, uses Yardi Voyager for property budgeting and other critical property-level oversight. “Voyager enables us to pool all of our lead data into one place and access that information across departments,” Keil says.  The fully integrated software permits Black Oak staff to stay organized, make real-time updates, and free up time to spend with clients. “I can pull all that stuff in and generate the base budget for an entire shopping center in less than ten minutes. It has saved me a lot of time,” he says. “I would say I’m able to finish my work in one-third of the time that it took before.” Keil formerly used Excel to manually create reports. That time is better spent by finding ways to help clients save on operating expenses through sustainable upgrades.

There is still more work to be done to promote sustainability at commercial centers. Black Oak is up to the challenge.