I was unable to attend the first 3 days of the class so there were quite a few site visits that I missed out on. For these site visits I will be providing a summary of the visits and a statement on why I think these places are important from a sustainability perspective.
- Pedernales Lofts: A mixed-use condo building located on the east side of Austin. This project was one of the first multi-family projects to earn the Austin Energy green building rating, which makes it fairly significant from a sustainable perspective, but the property is not being marketed as green and there are quite a few properties in the area with similar features so it has definitely lost some of its green value.
- Berry Chen Studios: An architecture firm that designs buildings to be both sustainable and cost effective. They believe that the formal green building rating systems are a secondary concern to the ultimate goal of creating sustainable structures which is good to hear because it seems like too many people get caught up on meeting LEED or other rating system standards and stop thinking outside the box to come up with sustainable ideas for their developments.
- Riverside Grove: A townhome project in east Austin that focused on energy efficiency. The features of the project lead it to have very low energy costs which can be used as a powerful marketing tool. It proclaims to be an "affordable" green residential project which makes it quite unique.
- Austin Green Energy: A representative from Austin Energy spoke to the class about the company's Green building program, which was one of the first energy efficiency programs in the country and is now one of the most complete and extensive programs around. It is very significant because it has been driving energy efficient building for over 20 years and is now leading the way with building energy modeling requirements and other innovative municipal sustainability programs.
- Eco-Wise: This is a store in Austin that sales green building products. These products include newly produced environmentally friendly materials along with recycled or salvaged building materials. This type of store is important because it compiles green and sustainable materials under one roof and it also diverts a large amount of building products for the dump and puts them back in to use. This cradle-to-cradle practice is extremely sustainable because it gives products a second lift and prevents us from having to put raw material and energy in to creating a new product.
- Austin Sustainable Food Center: The mission of this center is to get the citizens of Austin eating more local and healthy foods. They coordinate farmers markets and other programs such as farm direct, which involves produce going directly from local farmers to city dwellers, and farm to school, which involves farmers delivering fresh produce to the Austin area schools for use in their cafeterias. They serve an important role of establishing community support for local farmers which are a real backbone for our country's food supply. I am a huge fan of this because I hate the thought of our produce being shipped long distances, which is very unsustainable, and I feel that local farmers very rarely get the recognition and support that they deserve.
- Austin Mueller Site: This is a large mixed-use development on the site of the old Austin airport, which shut down in 1999. The project includes retail, multi-family, single family homes, the Dell Children's Hospital and a Ronald McDonald House. The developer of the project really believes in sustainable green development and set the tone for the project by building themselves a LEED-gold marketing office on site. The rest of the project also includes many green and sustainable features, including a very efficient on-site power plant, efficient building designs that incorporate sustainable and non-toxic materials, extensive green spaces and a live-play setup that keeps residents from having to get in their car to head out for entertainment purposes. The project is also situated to be connected to the rest of the city with rail service which will reduce the car usage even more. The Ronald McDonald house on site is also very significant because it was the first platinum rated building in Austin and the first platinum rated house in the world. I believe this is important because non-profits, like the Ronald McDonald House, can use all of the economic savings they can and energy efficient properties can save the owner a significant amount in operations costs which in turn lessen the burden on the non-profit. The Mueller project is significant from a sustainable perspective for countless reasons. Overall I believe that this development serves as an example for future projects. They have successfully created a large mixed-use development that incorporates green and sustainable features in all parts of the development. This is something that I hope catches on with other developers across the nation because it really impacts our society in a positive way.
- Sol - A Sustianble Community: This east Austin residential development has 23 homes in it currently with plans for 40 homes. The design of the subdivision and homes attempts to use the smallest amount of energy possible and around 40% of the homes are priced below marked value. The homes are located on smaller lots, with shared greenspace, and all of the homes include multiple energy efficiency features. This development is significant from a sustainability stand point because it is an example of a single-family neighborhood that was built in a sustainable fashion but managed to maintain some affordability, which is important because green living is not something that should be reserved for the rich only.
- Austin Eco-School: A 5 year old private elementary school that strives to provide a healthy environment for their students. They focus on teaching the students that everyone plays an important role in protecting the environment and building a positive future. They also get the students involved in community service, gardening and recycling. I think a facility like this school is very important because it sets a foundation in sustainability and environmental stewardship at a young age, which is when most people are most easily influenced. If kids can gain an appreciation for the environment early on then they have their whole life to act on this appreciation and make the world healthier and more sustainable.
- Alamo Architects: This architecture firm does a large amount of green projects and was one of the first USGBC members in San Antonio. Their office is a great example of a energy efficent adaptive re-use project. The building was the second LEED certified building in San Antonio and used a large amount of the material from the former manufacturing facility in the new office. I think architecture firms are the on the leading edge of green building so it is important that they practice what they preach. Alamo Architects has shown what is possible with their office and it can in turn be used as a marketing tool, which is very important for sustaining the company's business.
- Solar San Antonio: A non-profit organization that screens and coordinates solar customers and contractors. They can educate and pre-qualify potential customers and also make sure that qualified contractors are connected with these qualified customers. This program is part of the city of San Antonios push towards using solar energy and around 150 homes per year have been hooked up to solar power through this program. I believe that solar energy is a very important energy source that we should all be taking advantage of so I was very happy to see that San Antonio had a program like this. The current power plant setup in our country is not sustainable so the more power we can get from natural sources the better off we are from a sustainability, economic and health perspective.
UTSA - Sustainable Business Program: This program was launched in 2010 and provides business support and education in the areas of sustianable business practices. They advise businesses on many items including energy compliance, environmentally friendly operations, green marketing, business sustainability practices and disaster resiliency. This type of sustainability program is very unique and important for a couple reasons. It provides business with the support they need to catch up with the green movement that has swept the country. It also gives graduate students an opportunity to think about business sustainability and work through real world sustainable issues in a mentored school setting so they will be better prepared to tackle these issues when they enter the business world.
- Poteet Architects: This architecture firm has focused on adaptive reuse and revitilization projects, including their home office space. Their work is all over San Antonio and is catchy enough to be featured in architectural publications quite often. The type of work that Poteet does is very important to sustainability because it preserves and re-uses the structures that already occupy our space. It is signifigantly more environmentally friendly to re-use an existing building and Poteet has done a great job of making these old buildings attractive and desirable again which is very important because if no one will use a building after renovation then it was pointless to undertake the project and only wasted more manpower and material.
Summary of Site Visits Missed
I regret not being able to attend these first three days of class but I feel that looking through the information on all of these site visits and writing this blog entry has given me a good insight in to what the stundents in atendence were exposed to. Ausin and San Antonio are rich in sustainable focused business and developments and this is evidenced by the amount and broad range of site visits during the first 3 days. I tend to think of sustainability from a real estate perspective only quite often, since that is the line of work that I am in, but these site visits show that sustainability can be looked at from many different perspectives and that all of these perspectives are important in the grand scheme of sustainability. If we can get everyone in to a sustainable mindset and pattern during their daily lifes then they will demand sustainble real estate and in turn we make the world a much better and more environmentally friendly place.
It is time to stop bloggin from a distance now and head down to San Antonio to join the group. I am looking forward to the site visits we have planned for San Antonio and Houston and cant wait to broaden my knowledge and understanding of sustainable business and real estate.
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