In May, international sustainability expert Theddi WrightChappell joined Cushman & Wakefield as a managing director,leading the firm's National Green Building & SustainabilityPractice, as well as its Valuation Services team, working fromSeattle. She also serves as the Ambassador of SustainableInitiatives for the Appraisal Institute. Chappell spoke withGlobeSt.com about the progress in sustainable development and thechallenges it poses to valuating properties.

GlobeSt.: What sector offers the greatestopportunities?
Chappell: Hotel, for a lot of reasons. Theirs, truly,is a whole experience, and sustainability is really about acomplete experience. People are making lifestyle choices, andthey're checking to see how hotels and resorts are handling certainissues. Office buildings in the private sector will be the easiestto see the benefits. With retail there have already been someresults--with companies like Wal-Mart putting skylights in fordaylighting. Industrial is also an opportunity; [some] studies showincreased productivity. They are producing something that'smeasurable.

GlobeSt.: What are some challenges?
Chappell:The first is education. There is very littleempirical data. The LEED valuation has been around for seven oreight years, so there has been very little time for transactions tooccur. Right, wrong or otherwise, appraisers want cap rates, andbanks want track records. Sustainability has been around for a longtime, but most of the early adopters that we're aware of werepublic sector. They don't even necessarily have to track the samedata the private sector does, that a pension fund or investorwants. What I'm doing with both the Appraisal Institute and Cushmanis trying to gather data, put information together that both theunderwriting and investment communities can use.