Ginkgo Residential, formerly Babcock & Brown Residential, has recently been showcased in Units Magazine, an NAA publication. Although Ginkgo Residential is operating with the same employees, its focus has gone green. Owner, Philip Payne says, “It’s a refocus and re-energizing of this management group to do what we’ve always done – maintain and make available high-quality, middle market rental housing…”

Ginkgo Residential has a new objective and is placing a stronger emphasis on environmentally friendly renovations rather than building new construction. Payne says tearing down structures is wasteful and renovating or “rehabilitating” projects is essentially green.

Payne reveals the most difficult challenge to overcome is convincing owners and investors that adopting an environmentally friendly campus can not only increase value but profit as well. Ginkgo Residential is taking small steps to introduce environmentally friendly materials to suspicious clients on a budget, such as installing CFLs (Compact Flourescent Lightbulbs) in apartment breezeways, followed by the next step consisting of water submetering and low-flow toilets.

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