‘‘We look at the entire cycle of development, from land development through planning and permitting, through design, finance, construction and property management,” said Margaret McFarland, director of the real estate development program.
Students are concerned with making sure the Earth survives for future generations, McFarland said. Developing properties in sustainable ways is becoming not only a desire but essential to being a successful real estate developer, she said.
The industry sits on the precipice of reusable, sustainable development, said Colvin, principal of Questar of Baltimore, a group of real estate development firms.
If society is to find a way to disengage from fossil fuels, he said, it must attack the problem in two primary areas: ‘‘the internal combustion engine and the structures that we utilize to either live, work or shop,” he said.
The goal is to teach how to reduce, to the greatest extent possible, the carbon footprint that future development will create, Colvin said.
Cheaper greener buildings
One company that’s going greener is bank holding company PNC Financial Services Group of Pittsburgh.
PNC is using a prototype for branch offices that’s approved for certification by the U.S. Green Building Council and can produce a branch that costs $100,000 to $150,000 less to build than a conventional location. In January, PNC opened its first ‘‘green” branch in Maryland at the Fairwood Green Shopping Center in Bowie.
PNC has an extensive training program for contractors so that, no matter where the green branches are built, they are familiar with the design, said Gary Saulson, director of corporate real estate. ‘‘It’s a very hands-on process from the standing of our ownership position,” he said.
More than half of the material in the green branches — including floors, wall covering and furniture fabric — is made from recycled material. Operating costs are reduced by nearly 45 percent with energy-efficient windows that make maximum use of natural light, creating a sunny, open atmosphere for employees and customers.
‘‘Since 2005, we’ve been seeing green on a lot more people’s radar, especially within the architecture, building design and construction industry,” said Ashley Katz, spokeswoman for the U.S. Green Building Council. The nonprofit certifies sustainable businesses, homes, hospitals, schools and neighborhoods.
‘‘It’s a natural transition for the education realm to pick up on it and incorporate it into their curriculum,” Katz said of the University of Maryland program.
Colvin points to the real estate maxim ‘‘location, location, location” in highlighting how the university’s proximity to Washington, D.C., and Baltimore will benefit students.
Washington is full of industry trade associations and development leaders come to either visit those groups or lobby. ‘‘We have access to the best minds in the industry,” Colvin said.
Between the new construction in and around Washington, and older neighborhoods being rehabilitated and reborn in Baltimore, students have a laboratory where they can take what they learned in architecture, planning and preservation, and go on field trips to see the best of those disciplines, he said.
Paying homage
Colvin said the new institute is named for his mother, who ‘‘broke all the glass ceilings.”
Naomi Colvin had virtually all of the large property owners in Baltimore City as her clients, he said. ‘‘I grew up in a world where major urban renewal projects were being talked about at my dining room table years before the public was made aware of what was going on,” he said.
Colvin attended the University of Maryland and worked summers at his family’s brokerage firm until he graduated in 1969, when he jumped into the business full-time.
He is past president of the Maryland Builders Association and the Home Builders Association of Maryland, and past director of the Greater Baltimore Board of Realtors. Colvin went back to teach at the university 10 years ago, and will continue to do so at the institute, he said.
