uHome uCity uPdates

http://samfoxschool.wustl.edu/news/3427
Check out this piece from the architecture school on the uHome progress. We had a great design review yesterday and we're getting down to brass tacks on materials, pricing, layout options, etc...

uHome uCity

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=lf#!/pages/University-City-MO/uHome-uCity/160658013324?ref=ts

Become a Facebook fan of uHome uCity and keep up to date with the latest design info!

Real Estate in University City

Things get around in funny ways on the web these days. This link: http://realestate.yahoo.com/promo/where-home-prices-are-rising came from an HBA Twitter post to a yahoo news thing to a Forbes piece on areas of the country where home prices are rising. U.City is an inner ring suburb and one, in my opinion, where the new rules of lending and the old rules of appraising are still in play and quite dysfunctional. There has to be a middle ground between the Utopian and the Dystopian where things can, more or less, function.

uHome Studio Begins!

This is at the Studio location in the Arcturis office in the Laclede Gas Building downtown. Here the students are meeting me and the rest of team as we discuss roles in the project moving forward. Professor Koster has a challenging course laid out and the students seem fully engaged in the challenges ahead. As Director of Operations for Trumpet LLC I will also serve as LEED PM for this project.

uHome uCity

Although Boa is out of the mix the project is making and taking forward steps. I hope to remain involved in this project; it can be groundbreaking in every sense of the word. The latest news is that a market rate estimate of some proven low cost Platinum homes demonstrates that this can be done at less than 150/sf. With a bit more design ingenuity and hard work we can, perhaps, do even better.

West End Word on U City Project

University City partners with Washington U. to build green homes

University City is moving forward with a plan to build new “green” homes on five vacant lots in the Sutter Heights neighborhood, following the city council’s approval of the “U Home U City” plan Oct. 12. Over the past two years, the city has purchased the formerly county-owned properties on Crest and Bartmer avenues in the northeastern portion of the city with the intent of building homes that achieve the highest level of LEED certification from the U.S. Green Buildings Council. “We really believe in the sustainability movement and think this is the wave of the future,” said Assistant City Manager Petree Eastman. “It’s just a very exciting opportunity for folks who want to live in a very sustainable, little-impact-on -the-earth kind of way.” University City will devote $15,000 to marketing the project to potential buyers. Architectural firm Arcturis and Washington University’s Sam Fox School of Design and Visual Arts will design the homes, with input from the buyers, and green construction firm BOA Construction will build them. The homes will cost between $120,000 and $200,000, Eastman said, but there will be several incentives available to buyers, including eight years of tax abatements and neighborhood-improvement and energy efficiency tax credits. “Vacant houses and vacant lots start to take their toll on entire neighborhoods,” Eastman said. “We hope with the new green houses that a whole new life is injected into these two blocks.” The city plans to continue buying up vacant lots for green homes if the initial project is successful.

Also Sustainable St. Louis picked up the Post article: http://sustainstl.org/green-houses-aimed-at-weedy-lots-in-university-city/

5 LEED Homes in University City

http://uhomeucity.com/ is now online to describe our award-winning hybrid development process. It brings the custom experience and LEED Platinum homes to the affordable sector. Here is a Process Outline:
The idea has been to create an experienced team in sustainable housing and create some new partnerships that will yield some extraordinary results. University City, which recently won a 'Heroes of the Planet' Award as a forward thinking sustainable community, owns a few undeveloped lots in a strong working class neighborhood with a great location. Arcturis put together a team consisting of themselves along with Boa Construction Company and Washington University Sam Fox School of Architecture to figure out a way to build 5, affordable LEED Platinum homes on these lots. Check it out, consider buying one, spread the word and ask questions. This is the tip of the infill development iceberg; a test case in which a new development paradigm is being created and can peacefully coincide with other neighborhood improvement projects including weatherization of existing housing stock.

5 LEED Homes plus....

University City Project with Arcturis and Washington University gaining some momentum. See piece in the Post-Dispatch.