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Austin area stores go green
As environmental awareness becomes an increasingly important issue, Austinites may find themselves shifting from just keeping Austin weird to keeping Austin weird and green. In an effort to help lessen their carbon footprint, many Austin area companies are working to make their businesses more environmentally friendly through energy efficient and sustainable practices. Two national retailers, Recreational Equipment Inc. and Office Depot, are using the Austin area as the stage for their green transformations.
REI plans to open a store in Round Rock this fall to test its new green-building prototype design. The new retail location is the second of its kind for the company, which opened another eco-friendly store in Boulder, Colorado last October.
Office Depot plans to open its first green location on Anderson Lane this summer. This store will be one of the premier projects to qualify for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification under standards set forth by the United States Green Building Council.
According to the United States Green Building Council Website, “LEED is a third party certification program and the nationally accepted benchmark for the design, construction and operation of high performance green buildings.”
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NAI Global ranks in Real Estate Forum’s top five companies
For the first time ever, monthly commercial real estate publication Real Estate Forum has ranked the top 100 companies in the brokerage, development, finance and ownership areas of the industry. In the inaugural rankings, NAI Global was named the no. 3 company within the brokerage category.The companies on the list were ranked using four general categories: 2006 revenues, projected revenue for 2007, number of employees and number of offices. This information was provided by the individual firms.
NAI Global has more than 8,000 employees in 375 offices worldwide. Its 2006 gross revenue was $750 million, and its projected revenue for 2007 is around $800 million. NAI Global works primarily with office and industrial transactions, but also deals in retail.
NAI Austin, an NAI Global subsidiary, works not only in the office, industrial and retail sectors, but also has a land department. The Austin office, like all NAI branches, is independently owned and operated.