Green building : Development News

The owners of a family farm in Baltimore County have spent $2 million to open a store featuring oven-baked breads, produce, cheeses, meats and flowers as it transitions from the wholesale to the retail market.

Seven years in the making, Richardson Farms debuted the 17,000-square-foot food market and garden shop this month at 5828 Ebenezer Rd. in White Marsh.

The farm had operated a 500-square-foot shop that it soon outgrew, says John Richardson, one of the farm's owners.

"We were getting more products from local people and we ran out of room," he says.

Co-owner Les Richardson says the family wanted to transition from the wholesale to the retail business because the prices in the wholesale industry fluctuate a lot more, making it more difficult to predict sales.

"Retailers don't vary their prices as much," he says.

Producers can also make more money by selling items directly to the consumers, rather than to a middleman, Les Richardson says.

"Anything you can raise on the farm and sell yourself you're making a lot more money then sending it out to the wholesale market," he says.

The area is full of neighborhoods dense with housing developments, making it a good spot to attract Baltimore County residents who live in Middle River or Perry Hall, the Richardsons say. The 400-acre farm is also close to Interstate 95, making it a convenient site to attract drive-by traffic.

Designed as an Amish-style barn, the retail facility incorporates several environmentally friendly features, geothermal heating and air conditioning, efficient electric and motion sensor lighting, and a blast freezer for quickly cooling foods.

The garden center is filled with hanging flower baskets and plants which are grown onsite at the farm's five greenhouses.Rabbit meat is among the market's more unusual items.

The market employs about 20 people.


Source: John and Les Richardson, Richardson Farms
Writer: Julekha Dash

Patterson Park Public Charter School (PPPCS) broke ground on a new $13,665.000 middle school building on Monday. The new facility was a result of closing on a $13,665,000 bond issue March 16, 2010 by the Maryland Health and Higher Educational Facilities Authority. The issue is the first of its kind for a charter school in Maryland and will allow PPPCS to refinance its existing facility and provide funding for the new middle school building.

As the largest traditional public charter school in Maryland, PPPCS enrolls 560 students in grades K-8 and will add a pre-K in fall 2011. The new building will complete the school's campus, fulfilling the vision that began with the school's opening in fall 2005,  adding six middle school classrooms and will also contain world class science and art facilities. 

The new building's design and construction will follow Baltimore City's Green Building Standards (equivalent to LEEDS silver). It will include solar panels, stormwater irrigation and recycled content materials. 

Principal Charles W. Kramer says the building will prove a major advance in the school's unique interdisciplinary curriculum by enhancing the school's science, art and technology instruction.

"The new facility is an important next step in providing superior education in Baltimore," says Ed  Rutkowski, spokesman, PPPCS. "Our middle schoolers will have the first-class environment they need."

Founded by community members who wanted educational choice, PPPCS offers all students a broad education. Besides reading, math, science and social studies, all students receive instruction in art, music, Spanish, technology and physical education. The curriculum makes extensive use of Patterson Park, the surrounding community and Baltimore City's rich heritage to widen students' perspectives and to emphasize community service.

Source: Ed Rutkowski, Patterson Park Public Charter School
Writer: Walaika Haskins

Students at Waverly Elementary Middle School in Greater Homewood will have a brand spanking new, state-of-the-art, LEED-certified school building within the next three years, the Greater Homewood Community Corporation announced.

In the works since 2004, the new school building will replace two relics of the last century situated roughly one and a half blocks apart in which students have been housed for the past six years.

"For many, many years, the school was K through 5. Back in 2003 there was a decision made to keep middle schoolers who had been zoned for Roland Park, closer to the community. The school board added grades making Waverly K through 8. They realized quickly though that there wasn't enough room for the middle schoolers and wound up putting them in building that was about a block away from the elementary school. The old Venable vocational special ed building plus a really ancient portable became the middle school for Waverly," explains Karen DeCamp, director Neighborhood Programs at Greater Homewood Community Corporation.

After several years during which the city would submit requests for funds to build a new school for the neighborhood that the state repeatedly rejected, progress finally came in 2007 after Dr. Alonso Gates became head of the Baltimore City Public School System.

With his support and that of local councilwoman Mary Pat Clark, the city was finally able to submit a plan that the state eventually approved in 2008.

A culmination of years of advocacy and community action, this new building will not only move students out of a sub-standard facility, it will bring competitive academic programs to the school and provide Waverly, Oakenshawe, and Ednor Gardens-Lakeside families with a great public school option in their neighborhood, says DeCamp

The new building, designed by Grimm and Parker Architects, will include a green roof of low-growing succulents and other energy efficient technologies. The building will be constructed in two phases. The new building will be constructed on the field adjacent to the current school building. Students will be able to continue to attend classes in their current building with the elementary school demolished and add the remaining classrooms and a gymnasium once the main structure has been completed.

"For us this is a huge victory for the community. The middle-schoolers have toiled away in substandard circumstances that we think affects achievement and this is just a great victory," DeCamp says.

Source: Karen DeCamp, Greater Homewood Community Corporation
Writer: Walaika Haskins

Leaders at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine are seeking greener pastures.

School officials are pursuing a silver LEED certification from the U.S. Green Building Council for four medical research buildings. Its facilities management office and computer teaching lab, located at 2024 E. Monument St., have already received a Silver LEED certification for commercial interiors. The renovated building is the first office in all of Johns Hopkins' campuses to achieve LEED status. LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design.

"It shows the institution is serious about the environment and reducing our carbon footprint," says Jack Grinnalds, senior director of facilities management at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.
 
In its application to the U.S. Green Building Council, Hopkins officials had to show that the school has plenty of parking and is close to public transportation, Grinnalds says.

Is other green initiatives that helped it achieve LEED status include:
• Reducing water consumption by 40 percent;
• Relying on regionally manufactured materials for nearly one-third of the materials used in its renovation. That reduces the need to transport materials and saves on energy costs; and,
• Relying on sensors so lights are turned off when the offices are not in use.

"It's quite a thrill and an honor," says Grinnalds of receiving the Silver LEED certification. "We've been working on this stuff for years and its finally getting to the point where we can get some publicity on it."

The school will know later this month whether its four research buildings will receive LEED certification.

Writer: Julekha Dash
Source: Jack Grinnalds, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine

A new PNC branch location has opened its doors and vault for customer deposits in downtown Baltimore. Located at 426 W. Baltimore Street, the branch is another example of PNC Bank's commitment both to its communiities and to the environment.

The LEED-certified building includes window panes that three times more efficient than conventional glass and allow a generous amount of natural "daylighting" in all occupied areas of the building. In addition, the branch offices are equipped with motion sensing light switches, so that when the office is not occupied the lights are automatically turned off. The branch also sports solar shades for windows that block direct sunlight without
eliminating daylight.

Green from top to bottom, the building's roofing material is highly reflective and reduces heat retention; and is supported by trusses and plywood that come from managed forests, which plant multiple trees for each one cut down. Roof projections were designed to shade the building interior from direct sunlight.While the heating and air conditioning systems use 35% less energy. The state of the art plumbing facilitates educed water usage through dual-flush toilets and low-flow faucets.

Inside the new branch, nearly everything is made from recycled material�from the steel structure to the carpet. Pre-manufactured exterior panels reduced construction waste. The paints, adhesives and caulking used during construction do not contribute to greenhouse gases.

Under the lead of Curtis Pope, branch manager, the branch will aid the community as much as it does the environment. Pope, a Baltimore native who grew up in the Northeast section of the city and graduated from Mervo in 1997, says that he wants members of the surrounding community to feel like they can come to the bank for all their needs or just a bit of advise.

"I was born and raised here. There's something about having a branch in the area to kind of help the community rebuild. I love that piece of PNC bank. We can touch both realms of the community - low to moderate incomes and high incomes as well. We want to help change the community one person at a time. I hope that even if we can't do anything for them from a banking aspect because bottom line is you can't help every person, just being able to be that person who people can come in and talk to and put a smile on their faces or listen when they have life changing events and point them in the right direction," he says.

Source: Curtis Pope, PNC Bank
Writer: Walaika Haskins

The University of Maryland College Park has opened the new $30 million home for the Philip Merrill College of Journalism. 

The state-of-the-art John S. and James L. Knight Hall includes 53,400 square feet of high-tech classrooms, multimedia labs, offices and space for professional journalism centers, bringing together all of the college's programs under one roof. The new journalism school features abundant open space, glass and light, to echo the transparency of necessary for good journalism. Knight Hall is also the first "green" building on U of MD's campus. Students begin the spring semester there on Jan. 25.

"The state-of-the-art Knight Hall is one of the most exciting new centers for the study and teaching of journalism in the nation. This is a transformational event in the life of our college and our university," says Dean Kevin Klose, a former Washington Post editor, National Public Radio chief and broadcast executive who came to Maryland last year. "We are indebted to the visionary leadership of President [Dan] Mote, and the Maryland legislature, and the generous support of the Philip Merrill family, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, and scores of other charitable foundations, alumni and private citizens."

The building is nearly twice the size of the old Journalism Building, built in 1957 for $350,000, which had never undergone a major renovation despite an increase in enrollment from the 100 students who comprised the the facility's first residents to the 650 undergraduate and graduate students there today.

Knight Hall offers many architectural gems that were the brainchild of former Dean Thomas Kunkel, including the Great Hall, which he called the family room or "hearth" of this new home. The two-story-high lobby extends the length of the building, with front and back doors. Groups of couches, flat-screen TVs, a snack bar and stools at a cyber caf�-style counter for computer workstations are designed to make this the building's primary gathering space. It overlooks the East Lawn, a landscaped new courtyard that physically ties the journalism college to the Benjamin Building and Tawes Building and provides a common green space.

Knight Hall is expected to be the first building at the university to earn a LEED, or Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, gold rating. It features a high percentage of recycled content in its construction materials as well as regional materials, plumbing fixtures designed to reduce water use by 40 percent, an underground rainwater-collection system that will irrigate the property, and natural daylight providing more than 75 percent of its lighting.

The small and large seminar rooms offer video cameras and microphones that instructors can control to stream their lectures online. The Richard Eaton Broadcast Theater goes a few steps further, with 70 seats, a retractable whiteboard, rear projector, four robotic cameras and field cameras and a control room; it can be used as a classroom or studio.

The "news bubble," also on the first floor, dubbed the "students' playground." Open around the clock, the multimedia lab offers capabilities for graphic, text and audio creation around a serpentine table that allows students to work together.

The building's third floor houses offices and the professional centers: the Journalism Center on Children & Families, Hubert H. Humphrey Fellowship Program, National Association of Black Journalists and American Association of Sunday and Feature Editors. The trade magazine American Journalism Review has moved next door to Tawes Hall, where UMTV will remain. Fiber lines connect the university's TV station to the control room in the Eaton theater.

Studio C, or the "garage band space," on the top floor is a giant area where students can collaborate on multimedia production. It includes a section of audio recording sound-conditioned booths, a computer lab/classroom and a video studio. It will open later in the spring semester.

The state contributed $16 million to the building, with the rest coming from private donors. The building is named for the brothers who founded Knight Newspapers (forerunner of Knight Ridder), and later the Miami-based Knight Foundation. The foundation has given the university more than $21 million, including $5 million for the journalism school's new home.

Source: University of Maryland College Park
Writer: Walaika Haskins

Green building will support 7.9 million U.S. jobs and pump $554 billion into the American economy � including $396 billion in wages � over the next four years (2009-2013) despite the challenging economic outlook, according to a new study from the U.S. Green Building Council andBooz Allen Hamilton.

Researchers also found that green construction spending currently supports more than 2 million American jobs and generates more than $100 billion in gross domestic product and wages. During the eight year period from 2000 to 2008, the economic impact of the total green construction market contributed $178 billion to U.S. gross domestic product; created or saved 2.4 million direct, indirect and induced jobs; and generated $123 billion in wages.

Researchers also looked at the U.S. Green Building Council's 19,000-plus member organizations and found that they generate $2.6 trillion in annual revenue, employ approximately 14 million people, come from 29 industry sectors and include 46 Fortune 100 companies.
The study was released at the USGBC's annual Greenbuild International Conference & Expo, the industry's largest gathering of representatives from all sectors of the green building movement.

"Our goal is for the phrase 'green building' to become obsolete, by making all building and retrofits green � and transforming every job in our industry into a green job," says Rick Fedrizzi, president, CEO and founding chairman of USGBC. "This study validates the work that the 25,000 people gathered here at Greenbuild, and every member of our movement, do every day."

The study considered the total value of green buildings and the results include workers from the architects who design them to the construction laborers who pour their foundations to the truck drivers who deliver the materials, in recognition of the how extensive the impact of green building is.

"The study demonstrates that investing in green buildings contributes significantly to our nation's wealth while creating jobs in a range of occupations, from carpenters to cost estimators," says Gary Rahl, Officer, Global Government Market, Booz Allen Hamilton. "In many ways, green construction is becoming the standard for development. As a result, it is expected to support nearly 8 million jobs over the next five years, a number four times higher than the previous five years."

The full report can be downloaded at www.usgbc.org/greeneconomy, where one can also find other research, resources, tools and information about green building and its role in the economic recoveries of professionals, businesses and the nation.

Developers in Baltimore came together last Thursday to celebrate their own. The Baltimore District Council of The Urban Land Institute  hosted the first annual WaveMaker Awards event at the Legg Mason Tower in Inner Harbor East. The awards were given to developers whose local projects are unique, innovative, and visionary; the seven WaveMaker recipients were honored alongside the national ULI's Heritage Award Winner, Baltimore's Inner Harbor.

Earlier this year, ULI Headquarters honored Baltimore's Inner Harbor with its prestigious Heritage Award. The award is bestowed periodically on developments that have demonstrated industry excellence and made substantial contributions to their community's well-being for at least 25 years. Only eight developments have been selected to recieve the prestigious award in the past 35 years.

"Through the redevelopment of 192 acres of dilapidated and abandoned waterfront property, the Baltimore Inner Harbor catalyzed reinvestment in Baltimore -- supporting more than 50,000 new jobs, generating $60 million in new tax revenue, and generating a $4 billion tourism industry that was previously non-existent. The harbor now stands as the model for post-industrial waterfront redevelopment around the world," states the national selection

The ULI Baltimore also recognized the seven recent local projects that demonstrate industry excellence with the WaveMaker Award.

These projects are respectful of their surrounding neighborhood, economy, history, geography, and local government, and provide strong economic returns to stakeholders. The WaveMakers  were able to stretch the boundaries of what was considered possible and accelerate sustainable, prosperous development in Baltimore.

"ULI Baltimore is excited to build on the Heritage Award presented to Baltimore's Inner Harbor. The WaveMaker Award is an excellent opportunity to acknowledge the developers and projects that are shaping Baltimore's skyline," notes ULI Baltimore Chair, Caroline G. Moore.

The 2009 WaveMakers are:

Miller's Court, 2601 N. Howard St., Seawall Development Company

Silo Point, 1200 Steuart St., Turner Development Group

Legg Mason Tower, 100 International Dr., H&S Properties Development Corp.

Fairfield Inn by Marriott, 101 S. President St., Summit Associates LLC/A&R Development Corp.

Towns at Orchard Ridge, 4020 Maple Ridge Dr., Pennrose Properties/Doracon Development LLC

Baltimore Medical System's Highlandtown Healthy Living Center, 3700 Fleet Street, Highlandtown Development, LLC

American Brewery, 1701 N. Gay Street, Humanim

Turner Development has signed a $40 million deal with Landex Development, LLC to purchase land that will used for an aparment development at the Westport Waterfront.

Westport Waterfront is a $1.2 billion, 50-acre transit-oriented, mixed- use development located on Baltimore's Middle Branch of the Patapsco River. The 1.07 acre Parcel L is located on the newly created John Moale Boulevard at the southern end of the Westport Waterfront site just a block from the Light Rail station.

Landex plans to build a luxury apartment building as part of Westport Waterfront's first phase of development. Accordin to the architectural plans the building will be six stories with a glass fa�ade, LEED certified with 200 apartments featuring balconies and terraces with views of the waterfront and surrounding parks. The spacious, contemporary apartments will have a variety of suite layouts and will include secured underground parking with concierge services. Construction on this site is slated to begin by the 4^th quarter of 2010.

"The Westport Waterfront offers very strong market potential", says Peter Siegel, CEO of Landex Development."Its proximity to rail and highway transportation as well as the availability of outdoor recreation activities such as biking, walking trails and kayaking at the front door make it a very desirable location for professionals looking to combine beautiful living space with outdoor activities and easy access to Washington and Baltimore. "Landex is very excited about collaborating with Patrick Turner and helping to implement his vision for the Westport Waterfront Master Plan."

Westport Waterfront is on the forefront of sustainable "green" design. The project is presently the only neighborhood development on the East Coast seeking LEED for Neighborhood Development (LEED-ND) platinum designation. The Maryland Board of Public Works recently voted to award more than $800,000 to aid with the development Westport's wetlands.

"Landex is exactly the kind of partner that we want to bring to Westport Waterfront � an experienced developer that takes a holistic approach to housing, neighborhoods and communities," says Patrick Turner, president of Turner Development. "Their design mandate that the building must be attractive, contemporary and sustainable over the long term fits our vision for Westport Waterfront."

Source: Patrick Turner, Turner Development
Writer: Walaika Haskins

Thanks to a push by PNC Bank to design environmentally friendly buildings, green isn't just the color of money � it's the color of the place where money changes hands.

The financial services group is the first major corporation to design and build LEED-certified bank branches known by the PNC trademarked term "Green Branches." The most recent of these opened in Charles Village, bringing the number of LEED-certified buildings built by PNC to 66 (the most built by any company in the world).  A new branch with green elements opened earlier this year in Harbor East and "Green Branch" is slated to open in Annapolis this fall.

Like all PNC Green Branches, at least 50 percent of the Charles Village was constructed with materials that were locally manufactured or made from recycled or environmentally-friendly materials, including flooring, wall covering and furniture fabric. Its cabinetry is made with non-ureaformaldehye substrates and the carpet in the entryways is made of hog's hair. Interior carpet tiles are made from 72 percent recycled material that is 100 percent recyclable back into carpet at the end of its lifecycle, and the hard floor surfaces are made from recycled rubber.

The location is also energy-efficient, using at least 35 percent less energy than a traditional branch and about 4,000 gallons less water due to high-efficiency systems, insulation, and window walls that are three times more efficient than code. During construction, wood, steel, aluminum and cardboard were recycled or salvaged to minimize waste, and non-chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) refrigerants were selected for the cooling system to protect the ozone.

According to PNC representative Darcel Kimble, the decision to pursue green construction was led by Senior Vice President Gary Saulson beginning in 2002 at a time when the bank began expanding its branch network. He, along with senior management, decided upon a win-win scenario of making buildings that were less expensive to maintain and kinder to the Earth.

"We are really excited to be part of the Charles Village community," said Annie Spain, PNC Charles Village branch manager. "Our Green Branch is an example of how businesses can have a positive impact on the community without compromising the environment."

While the branch already is open for business, a grand opening event is slated for the fall. 

Writer: Lucy Ament
Source: PNC Bank

What's cooler than green? Green and customized.

East Baltimore Development Inc. (EBDI) has put a dozen "green" rehab homes on the market that will be designed in myriad ways by the new owner at the point of sale. The homes, located on E. Chase and McDonough Streets on EBDI's 80-acre development site, are effectively shells of existing homes that have been thoroughly stabilized (with "green" lumber, of course) and are a blank slate ready to be built to suit the homeowner's specifications within about three months.

Stroll through the model home at 1714 E. Chase Street and you'll feel like a kid in a candy shop when presented with the available amenities. Among the possible features are granite countertops, stainless steel appliances, skylights, recessed lighting, whirlpools, hardwood floors, and carpet.

Perhaps the most impressive feature of the homes is that the load-bearing walls are all external, so buyers can choose where to put interior walls. That means the homes can have as many or as few rooms as the owner would like. This design flexibility can also help buyers keep the price down, as simpler floor plans will be less expensive. The 12 homes are as small as 1,000 square feet and as large as 2,200 square feet, and can range in price from the high $100Ks to the mid $200Ks.

"It's difficult to use conventional standards to describe these homes," says Dennis Miller, EBDI vice president for real estate development. "From the outside you think these are wonderful, beautiful Federal-style homes from the late 18th and early 19th centuries, but when you walk inside you find an urban dwelling unit that has amenities of any new house built today. It's a great blend of the old and the new."

The "green" components are also extensive. The homes -- which use formaldehyde-free building materials and VOC-free paints, sealants and adhesives -- incorporate windows, appliances, lighting fixtures and roofing materials that meet Energy-Star rated home standards. They also feature tankless water heaters, foam or cellulose insulation, and state-of-the-art caulking practices around windows, doors and penetrations. Buyers can upgrade to solar thermal water heating system and a solar electrical system.

"What we're offering is the opportunity to live in the city, closer to your place of employment and places of entertainment, and have a home that's cheaper to maintain with the amenities and qualities you're accustomed to enjoying in the suburbs and other areas," says Miller. Moreover, he says, EBDI's long-term plans to invest in the surrounding neighborhood are a virtual guarantee that the homes won't lose value.

More information on EBDI's green rehabs is available from sales manager Patrice Fulcott at (410) 234-0660 x 238

Source: Dennis Miller, EBDI
Writer: Lucy Ament

Low-income families in Baltimore will get some help keeping their heating bills low this winter thanks to federal legislation that provides $15.7 million for a citywide weatherization initiative.

Mayor Shelia Dixon announced in June that some 700 families over the next 3 years will receive assistance keeping the elements out of their homes and, consequently, their energy bills down. The process of weatherization has been shown to reduce energy consumption by as much as one-third.

Funding for the weatherization project comes from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, signed into law in February by President Obama. The law is designed to provide assistance and relief the communities and families that are struggling financially and to bolster investment in initiatives that create jobs and promote the stability of the economy.

"Today is the beginning of a movement to make the entire city greener and more sustainable," Dixon says. "The weatherization initiatives will ensure that energy efficiency and 'greening' programs are active in every neighborhood in Baltimore."

The initiative is also expected to have a positive impact on the city's workforce, as city employees working on the initiative will earn certification by the Department of Energy to conduct weatherization, according to Dixon. This certification process should add skills to the Baltimore-based workforce and local contractors that meet new federal certification standards.

The city will coordinate the weatherization project with the health department's "Healthy Homes" and lead abatement initiatives, as well as housing rehabilitation programs from the Department of Housing and Community Development and energy efficiency programs under the Empower Maryland program.

Funds coming through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act will be monitored in quarterly reports by the Baltimore Economic Recovery Team. Reports are available at http://recovery.baltimorecity.gov.