Real estate veteran Jeffrey M. Miller, who recently joined Lee'sNew Jersey industrial division as a senior vice president, willspearhead the new group as executive vice president. Miller bringshis experience as principal of Quadrillion RE, an energyconsultancy he founded in 2008, to the new role.

According to Miller, "The building sector consumes more energythan any other--in fact, it exceeds transportation and consumesabout 8.6 quadrillion BTUs per year--and we have a uniqueopportunity now to improve properties while lowering occupancycosts through energy upgrades."

He coins the relationship between real estate and the energysector as a "joining at the hip." The bottom line is, well, tomaximizing tenants' bottom line. "We can encourage tenants to staylonger at a building if their lease is coming due in a year ortwo," Miller tells GlobeSt.com. "With some joint investment betweentenant and landlord, we can extend that lease out for another fouror five years simply by trimming the expenses for the tenant."