Many Real Estate Pros Not Sold On Green Design

More than one-third of real estate professionals said that "green construction" would not be in their real estate development plans in the next 12 - 18 months, according to the fourth annual Bryan Cave Real Estate Executives' Forecast Survey. The study surveyed real estate executives from across the country. Approximately 12 percent said they were "very" interested and 38 percent said they were "somewhat" interested. About 18 percent said they were neutral on the issue. The rest fell on the "unimportant" and "don't know" side. "The fact that the survey reveals such a substantial level of reluctance to embrace green construction is surprising," said Barry Ross, a partner in Bryan Cave's Real Estate Group. "Previously viewed as prohibitively expensive by the real estate community, green construction is not universally gaining ground because the true cost-effectiveness of green construction is still a matter of debate."