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/

St. Louis Heroes of the Planet

The St. Louis Business Journal unveiled the winners of their local Heroes of the Planet Awards this past Thursday. Here is a link to our involvement in the event and the work leading up to the awards.

I was tapped by Habitat to accept if/when we won for Sustainable Alliances and, sure enough, we won. Kyle and the gang are the big reasons for creating such a successful green venture and we are simply glad to help.

University City won in the Sustainable Communities category for a number of remarkable accomplishments including a great renovation of their historic City Hall. We are lucky enough to be a small part of this with our team approach to LEED housing development mentioned previously on this site. I will have more announcements on this in 2 weeks or so.

Finally, congrats to all the finalists and participants for leading the way in our region. It is an honor to be in your company.

Team Wins U. City Project

Arcturis, Boa Construction Company and Washington University teamed up in response to an rfp for 5 LEED Homes near Olive and Kingsland. Our proposal was accepted and we have our first meeting on the project with University City on Tuesday.The initial stages of our project will include the search for 5 home buyers to participate in the design and maybe even construction of these homes as we create a uniques process for these times and for this project.Anyone want a LEED Platinum home?