Although commercial buildings are often thought of as big-box stores or high rises in city centers, 90 percent are actually smaller than 25,000 square feet. These are mostly one- and two-story, single- or double-occupancy buildings that are easy and inexpensive to add on to and/or renovate. If Section 179D is amended, the tax credit would apply to property placed in service on or before Dec. 31, 2013.

In the next few months, how the nation responds to joblessness and the deficit will determine the strength of the recovery.

“Creating solid investments for CRE lenders and getting commercial vacancies filled is key to our economic recovery,” Edward Mazria, founder and CEO of Architecture 2030, said of the BBI plan. “This is a great opportunity for Congress to get to the heart of the matter and create hundreds of thousands of jobs without adding additional burden to the U.S. deficit.”

The Architecture 2030 Better Buildings Initiative Fact Sheet and companion analysis is available at the Architecture 2030 web site: http://architecture2030.org/hot_topics/bbi_fact_sheet.

* The 303,551 jobs created include 138,494 direct jobs, 78,071 indirect jobs, and 86,985 induced jobs.