Strange Bedfellows

When thinking about sustainability, Home Depot doesn't usually come immediately to mind, but perhaps changes are afoot. Global Green has teamed up with the Home Depot Foundation to rebuild the Katrina-devasted Holy Cross neighborhood of New Orlean's 9th Ward. Is Home Depot finally beginning to see what the future holds for it? We would like to think so, but perhaps we won't start holding our breath just yet... This next bit is challenging to muster too: props to Brad Pitt. He gave this project some celebrity shine which undoubtedly attracted additional supporters plus he put up $200K toward the Sustainable Design Competition for New Orleans.

A quick comment on the winning design: we wonder why more entires didn't emulate the classic southern architecture of New Orleans. Still we're happy for the city and certain it's a matter of time before sustainable design can be imbued in all sorts of different architectural styles rather than being reserved exclusively for the modernists.

"1": The First Luxury Eco-friendly Global Hotel Brand

Barry Sternlicht (W Hotels, Sheraton, St. Regis, Westin = Starwood) is outdoing himself again. In 2008 he'll launch the first hotel of his new "1" Hotels and Residences chain, in Seattle at Second and Pine Streets. "1" will be categorized as "eco-luxury", not "eco-ultra-luxury," though it also aims to compete with St. Regis and Four Seasons. The typical hotel will offer ~250 rooms and locations will immediately follow in Mammoth Mountain, California, Scottsdale, Arizona, Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, and Paris. A staggered following is slated for NYC and L.A. Most impressively, "1s" won't just be built green; they will operate green too. According to Hotel Law Blog, 15 "1" hotels will be under construction before October 2008. According to Sternlicht, all will be marketing to "the guilt-conscious yuppie."

It's undecided whether we will ever be able to refer to the brand as 1, not "1."

L.A.'s Tipping Point?

In our three minutes of free time we occasionally look into metropolitan pipelines in an effort to assess what percentage of projects in any given city are planning on going green. L.A. has more than 9,000 units in its residential for-sale 2007-2010 pipeline, and seventy five(!) projects (in greater L.A., which might include San Diego soon,) are slated for green. That's a tipping point by our standards. And, like all good tipping points, it's probably 70% marketing-driven, 30% policy-driven.

The brand builders: "(Biscuit Company Lofts' LEED status) has marketing cachet more than anything else." The political: "A Council motion introduced in January would raise those standards, requiring that all city construction meet LEED Silver levels." Read more...

Green Light for Green Condos

North Carolina gets its first green towers, and prices are starting to sound exactly like those at L.A.'s first green towers: "The market-rate condominiums at Greenbridge would cost $350,000 to $1 million." Maybe there is a 20% green premium after all.

The Solaire

We were at a green seminar last week, and someone asked "What one project should I know about if I'm going to talk about green successes?" The speaker naturally said The Solaire, Tribeca's now-famous green apartment building that rumor has it fully-leased in under five seconds. So, old news perhaps, but it reminded us every green residential blog should probably include the project somewhere.

The site's green feature shortlist isn't terribly in-depth but here's the quick skinny:

- nation's first green residential tower: 27 stories, 293 units, 580+ residents

- LEED Gold certification

- awarded Top-10 Green Projects by the AIA in 2004

- uses 50% less potable water, 35% less energy, and black water treatment on-site

Tomorrow, a selection from the AIA's most recent awards.

Lennar commits to SF

From Builder magazine's Feburary 22, 2006 issue:

"Lennar Homebuilding announced Wednesday that, beginning immediately, all of their new communities constructed in the greater San Francisco Bay market will be equipped with a roof-integrated solar electric system from PowerLight, a subsidiary of SunPower Corporation, as a standard feature. The launch begins with the introduction of Milano, a 77 luxury home development in Danville, Calif.

... Milano is one of 25 California communities that are under construction and using PowerLight's solar electric system. In addition to a one-time $2,000 federal tax break, home buyers will also receive a $5,000 to $6,000 California Energy Rebate and an average electric bill savings of 40 to 60 percent or up to $1,000 a year. Kelly says the cost to the consumers for the system is $23,000 to $25,000."

LEED, TOD, and L.A. Too

Kudos to The South Group of Los Angeles for not only developing to LEED certification standards in a prohibitively expensive construction market, but for its attempts to create a "neighborhood" with its three residential towers Elleven, Luma, and Evo. Not exactly mud huts, the residences won't meet die-hard green building fans' standards, but in a market like L.A. one could argue that there may not be 800 buyers who mandate "pure" green building and are also willing to live in, and pay $750,000 for, a (luxurious) box in the sky.

The projects' sales offices are located at 707 Grand Avenue in downtown Los Angeles.