GREEN SCENE
Planting New LEED Seeds
BY BENDIX ANDERSON
AFFORDABLE HOUSING FINANCE • FEBRUARY 2008
BRONX, N.Y. - Last fall, 28 low-income
homeowners moved into the
first community in New
York state certified under
the brand-new Leadership
in Energy and Environmental Design
(LEED) for Homes standard.
Local developer Blue Sea
Development Co. signed on to use LEED
for Homes at its Morrisania Homes project
while the standard was still a pilot
program. The U.S. Green Building
Council finalized the standard in
November.
Blue Sea principal Les Bluestone has
made it a priority to build as many green
features as he can into Blue Sea’s developments.
“It makes people feel good about
where they live,” he said.
Meeting tough LEED standards also
helps affordable housing projects stand
out in the competition for subsidized
grants and loans, according to state and
city officials.
LEED for Homes is better suited to
low-rise affordable housing than earlier
LEED standards originally designed
around the needs of larger office buildings.
An earlier standard, LEED for New
Construction, requires developers to hire
an independent green building expert to
check on complicated machinery, like
energy co-generation plants and water
reclamation systems, used at many green
high-rise projects. However, requirements
like that don’t make sense for a
townhouse project like Morrisania
Homes, where the technology is simpler,
said Bluestone.
To meet the new LEED for Homes
silver standard, Morrisania Homes met
federal Energy Star requirements in addition
to high standards for air quality and
the conservation of resources like building
materials. Ninety-six percent of the construction
waste at Morrisania Homes was
recycled, according to Blue Sea.
Green building features added about
$700,000 to the cost to develop the $14.5
million community.
Committing to meet the standards
also earned the 28 townhouses a lot of
positive attention. City and state officials
steered millions toward the project,
including $1.9 million in subsidies from
the city, a $1.5 million grant from the New
York State Affordable Housing Corp., and
$435,000 from Bronx Borough President
Adolfo Carrion.
Morrisania Homes also received a
$6.6 million construction loan from
JPMorgan, along with income from the
sale of the townhouses, which were priced
to be affordable to buyers earning up to 80
percent of the area median income.
Blue Sea expects its homebuyers to
save money thanks to green building.
Utility expenses are expected to be 30 percent
lower than at comparable developments.
These savings, which lenders took
into account when making loans, helped
the homebuyers qualify for their Fannie
Mae home mortgages, said Bluestone.
The development is also likely to be
cheaper for the homebuyers to maintain,
because the building materials are higher
quality than conventional building codes
require, according to Ryan Merkin, a sustainability
consultant for New York City-based
Steven Winter Associates, Inc.,
which advised Blue Sea on the project.
These rewards made LEED for
Homes well worth the trouble, Bluestone
said. Blue Sea is already applying for low-income
housing tax credits for Melrose
Commons Site Five, its next LEED for
Homes project.
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