Dallas building industry leaders have joined forces to make downtown Dallas more eco-friendly. Photo courtesy of Dallas 2030 District.

Aug. 23, 2016

A group of Dallas building industry leaders have joined forces to make downtown Dallas more eco-friendly with the launch of a local chapter of the 2030 District. The group is one of 13 chapters of the Seattle-based nonprofit whose mission is to promote urban sustainability nationwide.

Since launching last year, the Dallas chapter has aligned with local community groups and government agencies to work toward a goal of reducing energy, water and emissions by 50 percent by 2030.

According to Salima Moolji, an SMU grad and executive director for the Dallas 2030 District group, their territory is defined as the Uptown and Downtown districts, from Lamar to McKinnon, and includes 18 million square feet. 

Each month, the Dallas organization keeps the conversation going with its Lunch & Learn Education Series. The next Lunch and Learn will be held Aug. 30.

Moolji said the luncheons are geared toward building owners and managers.

“Our turnout is great, our last event on PACE was sold out,” Moolji said. “We believe in education, networking and training.”

In the past, the group has covered topics as diverse as building audits, energy audits, water conservation, air quality, green leasing and healthy buildings.

This month’s presentation is on “Advancing the Efficiency Economy: Using Technologies to Drive Optimization.” Nonmember tickets are $35. Member admission is free. The speakers will include Meighan Forrer, associate director, Flywheel; Bill Moebius, senior vice president at Peloton Commercial Real Estate; and Mark Wilshire, senior property manager, Peloton Commercial Real Estate.

According to Moolji, the presentator will address challenges owners and operators are facing, such as increased deferred maintenance expenditures and decreased capital availability, as well as limited bandwidth, expertise and risk tolerance. 

“Each day the industry is asked to do more with less, hire a workforce with fewer young people entering the industry, battle aging infrastructure and higher maintenance costs, in addition to continuing to find, preserve and generate money,” says Moolji. “The lunch and learn is intended to share new technology trends and compare products in the market that help solve the pain points with owning and operating a facility.”

For those who are interested in joining 2030 District, Moolji said there are three types of members.  

“There are the Building Owners/Managers. These members in our group currently represent more than 18 million square feet. Then there are the Professional Members creating a marketplace for our buildings. We have 16 company members in this group. We also have Community Members. Under this category, 11 nonprofits are providing resources and support to the District.”

Including Dallas, there are 13 cities with 2030 District chapters including Albuquerque, Denver, Los Angeles, San Antonio and Toronto, to name a few. 

“The multi-purpose vision of the 2030 Districts Network is to onboard new cities to the 2030 District model, support peer exchange across Districts, store and share data, use the aggregate purchasing power of the District membership to secure reduced costs, create national partnership relationships and influence national policy on transportation infrastructure and building water and energy efficiency,” according to the 2030 Districts website.


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