These are excerpts from a roundtable discussion sponsored byIncisive Media and Williams Real Estate. The full text will appearin the December issue of Real Estate New York magazine.

NEW YORK CITY-Eighteen months ago, recalled constructionattorney Kenneth Block, discussions about green building tended torevolve around the question of whether the cost and effort werejustified. Now, said a panel of experts Monday evening, everyonefrom tenants to lenders to government is making it all butessential.

"The state of the art will be green," said Block, partner atTannenbaum Helpern Syracuse & Hirschtritt LLP. "There's noquestion about that." Block pointed out that as part of their morestringent standards, lenders will insist on the-state-of-the-artwhen it comes to financing new construction. Moreover, governmentis leading the way in mandating green standards, he added.