Category Archives: Property spotlight

Property Spotlight – Home Built in 1912 Gets LEED Platinum Rating

Posted on April 15, 2013 | Leave a comment

When architect Isabelle Duvivier of Duvivier Architects bought a dilapidated 100-year-old home in the neighborhood of her dreams, she kept the 950-square-foot floor plan but gave it a modern, environmentally friendly update that won a LEED platinum rating as well as the U.S. Green Building Council’s 2012 Outstanding Home Award. Rather than demolish the 1912 house, Duvivier remodeled. “I wanted to preserve as much of the original house as I could,” she said. A new second-story master bedroom is set back from the street to respect the scale of the Venice, Calif., neighborhood. Duvivier planted a vegetable garden in the front yard, as well as fruit trees and grapes along the alley.

“I’m a green architect through and through,” she said. “I wanted to go for high LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) points, but my main goal was to demonstrate that a big component of green building is not building from scratch, but with what is there.”

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Duvivier’s goal was “to reduce the footprint/impact of our house on the planet through water, energy and material efficiency.” To improve energy performance, the house has carefully placed windows, solar tubes and skylights. High-efficiency appliances and 95 percent LED lighting result in a home that is 53 percent more efficient than California standards. A 4-kilowatt solar array produces more electricity than the house uses 10 months out of the year.

The “Worlds Greenest Office Building” Opens Later this Month

Posted on April 9, 2013 | Leave a comment

SEATTLE — When an office building here that bills itself as the world’s greenest officially opens later this month, it will present itself as a “living building zoo,” with docents leading tours and smartphone-wielding tourists able to scan bar codes to learn about the artfully exposed mechanical and electrical systems.

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Tenants have already begun moving into the six-story Bullitt Center, in advance of its grand opening on Earth Day, April 22. With the final touches nearly complete on the 50,000-square-foot office building at 1501 East Madison Street, at the edge of the city’s Capitol Hill neighborhood, its occupants are about to embark upon an unparalleled — and very public — experiment in sustainability.

Once settled in, they will be guinea pigs in a $30 million living laboratory distinguished by its composting toilets, strict energy and water budgets and a conspicuous lack of on-site parking. To earn its environmental bragging rights, the Bullitt Center must complete a rigorous one-year certification process called the Living Building Challenge, which requires both water and energy self-sufficiency, among a list of 20 demands.

Apartment Project Lures Residents With Free Solar Power – San Diego

Posted on March 31, 2013 | Leave a comment

Solterra

Location: 9685 Erma Road, Scripps Ranch

Description: 114 1- and 2-bedroom apartments, 741 to 1,127 square feet

Amenities: 3,200-square-foot club room with gaming center, cybercafe, restaurant-style bar and professional culinary kitchen, sports club, stand-up tanning salon; saltwater pool and spa, sun deck, free Wi-Fi, barbecue and fire pit lounge.

Energy saving features: Smart thermostats and in-home virtual net-metering displays, Energy Star General Electric appliances, prewiring for electric vehicle charging in garage

Projected rent: $1,495 to $2,255

Status: First move-ins, May; completion in June

Solterra, H.G. Fenton’s 114-unit apartment project nearing completion in Scripps Ranch, boasts a saltwater pool, games-filled clubhouse and stand-up tanning salon.

But what may prove to be the deal closer when the luxury project opens in May is free electricity to residents.

In San Diego County’s first such “net-zero” energy project, enough solar power cells are being installed to produce all the energy needed for average users as well as the common areas at the 4-acre site just east of Interstate 15 at Mira Mesa Boulevard. If residents don’t exceed the average use projected, they can expect a rebate check in the mail.

Company President Mike Neal said even at a time when vacancies are dropping, there is still stiff competition for landlords to attract tenants, especially in the luxury market.

“We want them to choose us,” he said.

And it’s the energy-saving features that he hopes will make the difference.

“With our apartment communities we’ve previously put photovoltaics on, we noticed our customers had a real interest in it,” Neal said. “Some of them would say, ‘How could that benefit my unit?’ We took it upon ourselves to take this project and try to answer that question by providing it and seeing how the customer likes it.”

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