What Makes The Green Building Green

By Branden Klayko -
4
The Green Building (BS File Photo)

The Green Building on East Market Street in the newly named NuLu district has been garnering quite a bit of news coverage lately, much of it detailing what makes The Green Building green. The 110-year-old structure is in the running for LEED Platinum certification, and is filled to the brim with an assortment of sustainable technologies. Here’s a wrap-up of the coverage by architects (fer) Studio and owner Gill Holland.

Architect Doug Pierson provides a detailed account of the history of the project and scrutinizes the details that make the project green. A longtime friend of Gill Holland, Pierson recalled that the building grew out of a desire to bring green building awareness to Louisville by implementing LEED Certification.

The road to NuLu, as the area is now called, has been tested by a continuous series of challenges during the design and construction process:

Flexible design program: The Green Building is a working model for active collaboration between architect, owner and builder to weave the integration of new technologies (a moving target) into the design program (traditionally a static element of the process). To reconcile these different approaches, the program was left intentionally loose at the onset to allow for the participation of experts in various fields as the project developed. Initial design schemes were built as a physical model by (fer) studio to test the dual design approach of engaging spaces and sound sustainable design principles. The model was then brought to the site as a design tool. As engineers became involved, the team navigated through design shifts that would allow the overall intent to remain intact while incorporating new and efficient systems into the overall approach. As a result, the team was able to absorb and incorporate new construction methods and systems such as geothermal wells, energy recovery ventilation and mass energy storage, all while staying in step with the overall design intent.

Cost controls: Also a constant challenge was cost escalation. Each time we added systems, we added cost and scope. In order to mitigate the increase, we constantly balanced the design program through a give-and-take process. In order to incorporate new systems such as geothermal wells, we revisited the design scope to search for areas where we could reduce scope and maintain the overall design intent.

LEED tracking: The third challenge in the project was the need for sensibility at the site for an array of conservation and tracking efforts required by the project team. Resourceful and time-consuming efforts were required to substantially minimize landfill diversion during demolition. All old timber members were inventoried and allocated for future use in the design integration process. Also, close scrutiny was required for all materials and resources specified in the project. For example, management of the changing landscape of Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified wood was constantly required since suppliers continually shifted the percentage and availability of the certified wood within their product (e.g. plywood) without notice.

Pierson recounted every detail that gives the building its iconic name including its vast recycling and reuse program. Among other things, one door, 72 light fixtures, and 17 hinges were donated for reuse from The Green Building. New materials in the structure are made of many recycled materials and a range of design techniques and technologies, old and new, help to complete the process.

Natural daylighting, energy efficiency, 81 solar panels, geothermal heat pumps, and, of course, a green roof all come into play. Pierson noted that “The Green Building exceeds by a remarkable 65 percent all energy efficiency standards set by Kentucky Energy Code.” There’s plenty of additional information about the project including more specifics on sustainable techniques in the full article; it’s well worth reading.

Doug Pierson and business partner Christopher Mercier also sit down for a telephone interview for EcoFactory, where many of the green principles are detailed again. The architects also discuss the sensitivity of the building to its historic context and the future prospects for sustainable architecture in the United States. Listen to the interview over here.

Gill Holland, film producer and owner of The Green Building, has also written an in-depth tome on his project for the University of Louisville’s Sustain Magazine (it’s not online yet). Gill and his wife Augusta knew they “wanted to go for official LEED certification. We knew we had lots of green ideas, but were just learning about this certification. We figured it was like dieting: if one is going to diet, one should not be scared to get on the scale.” The developers were “green” with inexperience before they were “green” with sustainability. Their architects helped clarify their vision along the way.

On one level we were like the crystal meth addicts who, upon seeing an empty house or a house for sale, break in and strip out the copper wiring to re-sell.  Until the economic meltdown, copper was trading at high rates. On the way to work I even started noticing manhole covers missing…

It’s not just the classic “reduce, reuse, recycle” at play here—it’s also how much can you divert from going to the landfill. The easy part is dedicating an area in the finished building as a recycling center; the hard part is demolishing responsibly.

Normally when you demo a building, you take some sledgehammers and just trash it, fill up the dumpster, take it to the landfill. It takes a lot of time to demolish a building in an environmentally friendly manner and time is money. Land is finite, and more and more humans live on it. For LEED, you have to weigh all the debris, and a percentage of its total weight and physical space must not go in the landfill.

Once construction actually began, Gill recounted how thinking sustainably guides the building. Locally produced building materials were used to cut down on the carbon footprint associated with transport; he notes a pleasant side effect is stimulating the local economy. Wood products were harvested from sustainably managed forests and gypsum board contains 40 percent recycled materials. Indoor air quality also plays an important role as we spend so much of our time inside where air quality can be three times worse than outside. Paints and finished that don’t “off-gas” pollutants that can build up in the human blood stream were used throughout the building.

Some of these techniques cost a little more, but Gill looks at it as training new skills for local construction workers who “got educated as to where to buy these products, what to look out for in these products, and why these things are important. They will pass this information along and take it to their next jobs.”

One of the most dramatic features of The Green Building are its 81 solar panels on the roof. When combined with skylights for natural lighting and a green roof to capture rainwater runoff and reduce heat gain, The Green Building’s roof is a tour-de-force in sustainable roof technology. Gill described the solar panels:

Solar panels are made out of photovoltaic cells. We spent about $112,000 on the 81 panels we use which provide almost fifteen Kilowatt/hours on sunny days. That is enough to power the building so on good days, we are “off the grid” metaphorically (at present we still have to go through the grid). We do not generate enough energy to store and even if we did, batteries are not inherently “green” (though can be effective in remote areas). We do not yet have net metering on our building in Louisville so cannot yet sell any excess back to the electrical company. Kentucky, however, does allow this option and the paperwork is underway to accomplish it. Doing the math based on the average number of sunny days in Kentucky and the present cost of electricity, we should recoup in about sixteen years and then have a fixed asset that gives us a 2 percent return (which based on the stock market’s performance in 2008 is very attractive!) If one assumes the costs of energy will double every five years as it seems to have historically, the time to recoup drops significantly and the return increases…

The three DC-AC converters placed on the wall below the solar paneled roof are crowd pleasers. They count the amount of CO2 saved from entering the atmosphere due to the panels. So far, taking the less-sunny fall months as an average, we are saving 30,000 pounds of CO2 a month. If taxing carbon emissions becomes a reality, we will quickly make back our solar investments in savings!

There’s much more detail in the article covering everything from water efficiency and landscape architecture to paving and special concrete blocks made from the byproducts of iron and coal production. In the end, The Green Building as a veritable living laboratory of sustainable design that serves well to teach and promote green building in Louisville. We’ll let you know when the article goes online so you can read the rest.

What’s Up With The Louisville Condo Market

By Branden Klayko -
11

It seems every other day someone is saying the economy in Louisville is going nowhere fast, the condo market is painfully hurting, or there are way too many unoccupied condos Downtown. While we’re certainly still feeling some of the effects of these economic times, all the negative news is getting us down. We’ve noticed before how the small business scene in Louisville has been resilient in the face of this news (here and here), so we decided to take a closer look at the condo market in and around Downtown to uncover what’s really taking place. We spoke with three condo developers to get their take on where the condo market in Louisville is heading.

So is there a glut of unsold condos in Downtown Louisville? While all the developers we spoke with admit there are quite a few condos for sale, the consensus is that the majority of remaining units are situated in the upper cost limits of the Louisville market. No one seems too concerned that the current inventories are more than Louisville can handle and left with a feeling that Downtown is not in over its head.

Mark Isaacs of Legacy Development takes the approach of looking at the Downtown submarket as a niche of the overall housing market. Many of the remaining condos in and around Downtown are listed for above $350,000, and Isaacs says that price point is down across the boards. He notes that anywhere you look in Louisville, expensive condos take a while to sell. It’s important not to beat up on Downtown’s stock of expensive condos when the same dynamics are taking place all over the region.

But even with many expensive luxury units left Downtown, many believe we’re on the right track. David Barhorst of SoFo Development says his experiences have shown the Downtown market remains strong and Bill Weyland of City Properties Group speculates that the remaining condos could sell (or be “absorbed” in real estate jargon) in the next 18 months. Barhorst and Weyland agree there has been some overbuilding of luxury units, but say the market isn’t as weak as the mainstream media is letting on and there are buyers out there. It’s only a matter of time before the current stock is absorbed.

Weyland points out that Downtown living is unique from typical housing options and fundamentally based around Downtown jobs and the walkability of the neighborhood. Someone buying a home in most of the city still must commute work, recreation, and shopping. Living Downtown allows you to step outside your front door and walk almost anywhere you need to go. This is a strong draw for many who desire a new level of convenience not found in driving to the strip mall.

The major hurdle for selling condos has been the ability of potential buyers to sell their suburban homes. David Barhorst says this has been the preeminent problem for Downtown. Plenty of people are interested in making the move, but they can’t sell their current house. He says his experience has been that the Downtown market is stronger than its suburban counterpart as prices remain steady and have increased in some circumstances. In many ways, as the suburban housing market improves, so will the Downtown market.

Out of town buyers have helped to fuel Downtown condo sales. Many young and creative buyers moving to Louisville are bringing a new, urban mentality with them. They want to take advantage of the benefits of city life and are working to create a real Downtown neighborhood. Weyland expects this trend to continue as innovative people come to find jobs in a growing Downtown.

Everyone we spoke with says there’s still plenty of room in the market for sub-$200,000 condos. Mark Isaacs again points to the ease of selling more affordable units not only Downtown but across Louisville. There are few units remaining on the market in this price range and developers have noted that the most affordable units are usually the first to be sold.

Bill Weyland hopes to tap into that niche as he moves forward with several of his projects including the Edge at Liberty Green. He has little interest in building condos priced at $500,000 or above. Instead, his model includes an assortment of smaller, more affordable units. If a buyer is interested in a larger condo, Weyland will combine two or sometimes three affordable units upon request.

There are challenges to overcome when building more affordable units. There’s still a pervasive suburban mentality trying to guide the development of Downtown. Bill Weyland says a condo in an urban environment isn’t going to be the size of a suburban McMansion and that’s a good thing. It’s sometimes difficult to convince banks, though, that there’s a market for small, affordable units. Weyland said his experience shows otherwise.

The cost of a Downtown condo building can present challenges, too. Many times, the land costs and the building type drives up the overall cost resulting in more expensive condos. That’s why a new paradigm for Downtown development that includes smaller unit sizes is so important. Opportunities exist to find cheap land, but an urban multi-family building is constrained by a variety of economic obstacles. For example, building codes dictate the construction method of a building by project size. Whether it’s made of wood, steel, or concrete, the building type will affect the overall cost and risk of a project. Renovation projects face similar challenges.

How long can we expect to feel the results of the economic downturn in Louisville? Bill Weyland pointed out that Louisville never rode the crest of the real estate boom that many Southwestern cities did. Now we’re not facing the same types of problems as other cities that underwent rapid expansion. Weyland says Louisville is not in crisis mode.

Isaacs takes a more conservative approach. He believes that as long as the unemployment rate remains high and foreclosures continue, we won’t see the kind of activity we’re hoping for and prices will generally be depressed in the overall market. He speculates we could face three to five more years of depressed prices and sales across the larger residential market before everything is back to normal.

David Barhorst is happy with the Louisville market today. He said the Louisville market is correctly positioned for growth today and the worst problems are behind us. He speculates that in five year’s time, we’ll be in an even better position as the market grows even more bullish.

But Downtown is currently positioned to make a quick comeback. Weyland points to progress being made on amenities such as the new arena and the general lifestyle that Downtown provides. He says employment in the core has remained strong compared to the suburbs and notes the gains in high paying jobs in the Medical Center. He says the trends remain strong and there’s no need to panic.

Developers in and around Downtown have been quick to respond to market forces, too. David Barhort’s Bycks Lofts recently sold out with the help of a couple lease-to-own options and his under construction Ice House Lofts has been converted to apartments until the market improves. Weyland says its important to manage your own inventory and keep the units leased if they won’t currently sell.

On the upside, there are plenty of deals to be found. While many prices for condos remain the same or have risen in some cases, Mark Isaacs says you can find condos listed for 10 to 15 percent or sometimes up to 20 percent below their market rate. He suggests that if you have a job and have some money saved up, now is the time to find an opportunity. This is especially true for first time home buyers who can take advantage of a government sponsored $8,000 tax credit for first-time home buyers.

Enormous Potential In Shippingport’s Barren Fields

By Branden Klayko -
11
Empty land in Shippingport

Directly west of Downtown Louisville, acres of land in the Shippingport neighborhood sit barren and unused, trapped between a floodwall and an expressway. You can access the land from the levee trail that runs along the riverfront and Portland Canal, but most never venture into the sea of weeds and rubble. You can still make out the old street pattern of cobblestone and yellow bricks. In some places, there are still sidewalks and steel rails, a reminder that long ago, the area roughly stretching from 9th Street to the 14th Street elevated rail line was industrial and housed many rail yards.

Empty land in Shippingport
Empty land in Shippingport. (Branden Klayko / Broken Sidewalk)

That’s fitting to the history of Shippingport as a center of industrial and commercial trade and movement along the canal and Falls of the Ohio. Many years ago, the area was abandoned and sits empty still to this day. When you look around the swath of open space, easily walkable from Downtown Louisville, it’s easy to be amazed at how the waterfront land directly adjacent to the heart of the city is utterly forgotten.

As many have pointed out, movement along the river has defined Louisville’s early growth, especially in this area. Before the Portland Canal was built, boats were unloaded in Shippingport and freighted to Portland below the falls. After the opening of the canal, the area remained strong with industry and warehousing. This movement of goods helped Louisville and especially the area around the Falls grow.

Empty land in Shippingport
Empty land in Shippingport. (Branden Klayko / Broken Sidewalk)

Some have claimed recently that the elevated Interstate fulfills this historical function of movement along the Ohio River in a modern way. It’s simply not true. How are the neighborhoods here benefiting from the highway when they look like this? At most, you can look up and see the trade and commerce passing you by. Now, the highway’s exit structure provides only two links to the area at 22nd and 9th Streets. Replacing the elevated road with an urban boulevard would change this predicament as locals travelling on a local street will be directly linked with the neighborhood. A boulevard would provide connections at more frequent intervals. Good for congestion and for the neighborhood.

But imagine if we could reuse this space for parks and development. This is one of those areas where the elevated Interstate 64 really demonstrates its ability to be a barrier, but with 8664.org‘s plan to create an urban boulevard at street level, you can imagine how the land suddenly is opened up to the water and the additional access to Louisville’s street grid could spur development. The river trail would certainly benefit as well with the addition of “Waterfront Park West.”

It’s a long way off, but not out of reach. There’s enormous potential in Shippingport that could help to expand our Downtown’s western boundaries and create a vibrant canal-front neighborhood. There are issues to be dealt, of course, with such as the flood plain, but there is no shortage of creative solutions that could make it work. We must first resolve to fix our urban transportation problems in a responsible way and the possibilities will unfold in time. Just imagine what Shippingport could be for the city.

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Empty land in Shippingport
Empty land in Shippingport
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Empty land in Shippingport
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Empty land in Shippingport
Empty land in Shippingport
Empty land in Shippingport
Empty land in Shippingport
Empty land in Shippingport

Afternoon News Roundup

    By Broken Sidewalk -
    5
    Photo by Diane Deaton-Street
    Photo by Diane Deaton-Street
    (Diane Deaton-Street)

    So yesterday’s sidewalk photo was indeed pretty easy to locate. Several of you pinned it as the Douglass Loop, one noticed a barber shop theme, and another identified the barber who uses the front chair. Well done Daniel, archintent, and SushiK. Here’s the next round. You’ll have until Monday to leave your guesses in the comments. Enjoy your weekend.

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    Discerning Abramson’s Mark On Louisville

      By Branden Klayko -
      1
      Louisville Mayor Jerry Abramson (photo via Metro Louisville)
      Louisville Mayor Jerry Abramson (photo via Metro Louisville)
      Louisville Mayor Jerry Abramson. (Courtesy Metro Louisville)

      The Urbanophile has a great post up with some thoughts about Mayor Jerry Abramson’s impact on Louisville over the years as he winds down his final term before running for Lt. Governor. There’s no denying that Abramson is an iconic leader in Louisville, to whom the Urbanophile compares Chicago’s Mayor Daley. Whether you agree or disagree with the so-called “Mayor-for-Life,” the Urbanophile’s level-headed look at the transformation of Louisville for better and worse is well worth a read.

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      Could River Ferries Work In Louisville?

      By Branden Klayko -
      5

      In this week’s Kentucky Transportation Cabinet video address, ferries are on topic. Stimulus money will be used to upgrade three ferry crossings in Kentucky. The video above has the details (via twitter / @KYTCminute). The news reminded me of of a proposal several years back to start up a ferry connecting Louisville with Jeffersonville. The plan obviously fell through, but it’s still an interesting topic.

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      Highway Transformed: Hudson River Park

      By Branden Klayko -
      2
      Hudson River Park

      Once home to a notorious elevated highway, Manhattan’s west side is now dominated by a linear park filled with bikers, joggers, and strollers. The West Side Highway has been recreated as an “urban boulevard” and the entire waterfront remade into a park.

      The elevated highway was one of the first of its kind in the country when it was built in the 1920s, serving as a model for urban highways across the country including Boston’s now buried central artery. After years of disrepair, an ironic accident shut the highway down for good. In December 1973, a concrete truck headed to make repairs to the road caused a 60 foot span to collapse. After the highway was closed, more than half the traffic disappeared completely:

      When the West Side Highway was closed in 1973, 53 percent of the traffic that had used this highway disappeared, dramatic proof that building freeways generates traffic and that removing freeways reduces traffic. Yet there was tremendous pressure to replace this highway with a bigger and better freeway named Westway.

      The plan was defeated after a David versus Goliath struggle that lasted for more than a decade, with a group of west-side residents, community boards, and environmentalists fighting the entire New York political establishment, including New York city’s mayor and New York state’s governor and two senators.

      Now, there is a park, pedestrian promenade, and bicycle path along the Hudson River on Manhattan’s west side—public places that are real amenities for Manhattan on land that used to be blighted by an elevated freeway.

      It took decades to transform the highway into the urban boulevard it is today, but the results are stunning. The boulevard alternates between 3 to 4 lanes in each direction (that sounds like a lot, but this is New York City after all) and features a landscaped median and pedestrian crossings as stop lights like any normal street. After another strip of landscaping, a two lane protected bike path with its own special stop lights is also heavily used.

      The main jewel is the large pedestrian promenade on the water. There’s ample room for runners and walkers on the main path and a boardwalk was designed just for the slow walking set. There’s abundant lawn for frisbee and lounging and hundreds of benches for watching the sunset.  Mixed into the park are tennis courts, basketball courts, children’s play areas, and a dog park. It’s all heavily used all the time.

      And the new boulevard doesn’t act as a barrier to the water at all, since, after all, it’s only a street. Like any normal street, there are wide crosswalks at most blocks that provide safe and easy crossing into the park. Once you cross, though, you hardly realize the roadway at all as the Hudson River now takes center stage. This is great example of reconnecting to the river.

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      Hudson River Park
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      Boardwalk at Hudson River Park
      Boardwalk at Hudson River Park
      New Jersey's Colgate Clock from Hudson River Park
      New Jersey's Colgate Clock from Hudson River Park
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      Hudson River Park
      Boardwalk at Hudson River Park
      Boardwalk at Hudson River Park
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      Bike path at Hudson River Park
      Bike path at Hudson River Park
      Bike path at Hudson River Park
      Bike path at Hudson River Park
      West Street along Hudson River Park
      West Street along Hudson River Park
      Bike path at Hudson River Park
      Bike path at Hudson River Park
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      Details at Hudson River Park
      Details at Hudson River Park
      Bike path & West Street at Hudson River Park
      Bike path & West Street at Hudson River Park
      Bike path & West Street at Hudson River Park
      Bike path & West Street at Hudson River Park
      Details at Hudson River Park
      Details at Hudson River Park
      Details at Hudson River Park
      Details at Hudson River Park
      Crossing West Street into Hudson River Park
      Crossing West Street into Hudson River Park
      Crossing West Street into Hudson River Park
      Crossing West Street into Hudson River Park
      West Street at Hudson River Park
      West Street at Hudson River Park
      Construction of the park continues
      Construction of the park continues

      Lunchtime News Roundup

        By Broken Sidewalk -
        3
        Photo by Diane Deaton-Street
        Photo by Diane Deaton-Street
        (Diane Deaton-Street)

        Another successfully identified sidewalk, this time by Melody who recognized the view on Hickory Street in Germantown. Know this sidewalk? Reveal it in the comments.

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        Lunchtime News Roundup

          By Branden Klayko -
          5
          Photo by Diane Deaton-Street
          Photo by Diane Deaton-Street
          (Diane Deaton-Street)

          Excellent work identifying yesterday’s sidewalk photo. I was stumped, but our readers weren’t. Bill and Gary both correctly identified the photo as Belmar Drive located in Camp Taylor. Here we go with another round; guesses in the comments.

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