"Green" medical building goes from ground to occupancy is six months
By Leslie Gibson, Rockwall County Herald-Banner
Kermit the Frog once said, “It’s not easy being green,” but thanks to increasing steel prices, builders of a Rockwall medical building found being “green” wasn’t so hard.
“We were able to build a green building at almost no additional cost,” said Scott Asbury, of 3L Realty Group.
Across from Presbyterian Hospital Rockwall, three medical office buildings are being constructed. Of them, 3L’s 17,000-square-foot building, which in early October was framework, will be ready for tenants in six months or less.
“We’ve only been vertical for a week,” Asbury said Oct. 2, from the construction trailer. “The entire building will be watertight in three weeks.”
Why and how? The envelope, please: Structural insulated panels (SIPs) are replacing the conventional metal stud and batt insulation wall-structure technique, said Tyler Adams, the building’s designer. He is from Centerpoint, and is LEED certified; and one can see his “Smart” car parked near the site; Adams lives what he builds, said Asbury. LEED stands for Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design.
The SIPs are non-proprietary from EH Systems in San Marcos, and consist of solid foam core with OSB board. They come pre-cut from the vendor, including cuts for windows.
“This saves waste,” said Asbury. “We are not throwing away 2-by-4s.”
He and Adams looked at the neighboring steel frames going up on other projects.
“None of them will have the efficiency levels we can get to with this type of construction,” said Adams.
“The outside will look the same. The people who will benefit are the tenants who see the efficiencies in their electric bill and operating costs,” Adams said.
“The building envelope will be as energy efficient as anything you can build now,” Asbury said.
Instead of electric bills in the thousands, bills will be about 40 to 60 percent less, according to Asbury.
The building started off as conventional construction.
“We budgeted as conventional, and went back in and started asking questions on how to make it more environmentally friendly,” said Adams.
“As steel prices were shooting up, these prices were shooting down,” he added. The foam panels are used primarily in residential construction and “demand for it is going down,” said Adams.
SIP technology has been around since the ’70s said Adams. “It is used typically in the north where heating costs are so high.”
A side benefit is that the air is significantly cleaner inside such envelopes.
Once the panels are put together and the envelope is completed by around Oct. 22, both outside wall material, and the inside finish-out of walls, and wiring and other jobs can take place simultaneously. This is why the construction time is significantly reduced.
Additional savers on the building are the use of a white reflective roof, and a “very efficient glass system” which is a high-end standard construction. Large awnings will prevent heat gain, while allowing natural light in the interior.
Carpet, with all recycled materials, and paint with low off-gassing are being used. “We chose materials on the inside that are environmentally conscious without adding any real costs to construction.”
The envelope’s SIP construction allows “significant savings on HVAC equipment,” said Asbury.
“The EPA changed requirements for efficiency on rooftop units and that was going to cost a lot more money. We were able to go for fewer high efficiency units at only $1,500 more as opposed to $20,000 more,” Adams said.
New codes also require that lights turn on and off based on motion sensors.
“Very receptive,” and “enthusiastic” was how Asbury and Adams described the City of Rockwall building officials.
A link to the original article can be found here.
Centerpoint offers turn-key design/build, construction and financing for its clients with experience in a wide range of project experience - medical, office, retail, multi-family, and industrial. With offices in Dallas and Houston, the company supports its clients' projects throughout Texas. The company has also been recognized nationally for its "green building" experience. For more information, please visit the company website at www.centerpointbuilders.com.
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Mesquite: Council postpones TIF reimbursement
The city council voted Monday to postpone the approval of a tax increment financing incentive package for the development of an active senior project until the July 20 meeting
The project is planned to consist of a 250 room age-restricted, multi-family resort style facility to be built at the northeast corner of U.S. Highway 80 and Gus Thomasson Road. The facility is designed to be a five story structure with retail on the ground level and living areas on the top four levels.
“[City staff members] think this is a very unique project for the city of Mesquite. We are excited about it, thinking it would be a good front door for our city, a project unlike anything we have seen in the city,” Economic Development Manager Tom Palmer said.
To obtain funds for the project, the developers are going through a Housing and Urban Development program that guarantees payments to a third party lender.
“There (are) no low income restrictions at all with the specific program,” project architect David Gunderson said. “The reason that we are applying through that method is obviously the standard credit markets for this type of development are completely frozen. We think this is one of the few avenues available to fund this.”
The HUD approval process takes several months and the developers were not sure how much of the loan would be approved by HUD up front, so they presented the council with the project divided into two phases.
It was the possibility of a two phase project that raised concerns with council members. Council member Stan Pickett questioned the payment of a full tax increment financing district reimbursement on the project since it may not all be fully completed when the payments are made.
“We want to be a participant with the economic development in our city, but we also like see projects be completed or at least 60 to 75 percent,” Pickett said. “I know at this point you don’t know whether or not it is going to be a one or two phase project.”
The developers told the council that the TIF would be used to help pay for the infrastructure that has to be replaced in order to complete the project.
“Almost all of the expenditures on the infrastructure will be done on the first phase of this [project]. Having met with city staff on water and sewer that needs to be replaced, it is going to have to be done regardless of whether there are 100 units or 300 units.” said Rich Billings, one of the property owners.
Pickett said that he did not feel that he could justify giving full reimbursements for a project with too many maybes involved. Mayor John Monaco echoed Pickett’s concerns.
The council tabled a vote on approval so that a plan could be put into place to have the TIF line up with the amount of the project that is completed at the time of reimbursement.
- Star Community Newspapers, Kenny Green Staff Writer, July 8, 2009 (full article here)
Centerpoint offers turn-key design/build, construction and financing for its clients with experience in a wide range of project experience - medical, office, retail, multi-family, and industrial. With offices in Dallas and Houston, the company supports its clients' projects throughout Texas. The company has also been recognized nationally for its "green building" experience. For more information, please visit the company website at www.centerpointbuilders.com.
The project is planned to consist of a 250 room age-restricted, multi-family resort style facility to be built at the northeast corner of U.S. Highway 80 and Gus Thomasson Road. The facility is designed to be a five story structure with retail on the ground level and living areas on the top four levels.
“[City staff members] think this is a very unique project for the city of Mesquite. We are excited about it, thinking it would be a good front door for our city, a project unlike anything we have seen in the city,” Economic Development Manager Tom Palmer said.
To obtain funds for the project, the developers are going through a Housing and Urban Development program that guarantees payments to a third party lender.
“There (are) no low income restrictions at all with the specific program,” project architect David Gunderson said. “The reason that we are applying through that method is obviously the standard credit markets for this type of development are completely frozen. We think this is one of the few avenues available to fund this.”
The HUD approval process takes several months and the developers were not sure how much of the loan would be approved by HUD up front, so they presented the council with the project divided into two phases.
It was the possibility of a two phase project that raised concerns with council members. Council member Stan Pickett questioned the payment of a full tax increment financing district reimbursement on the project since it may not all be fully completed when the payments are made.
“We want to be a participant with the economic development in our city, but we also like see projects be completed or at least 60 to 75 percent,” Pickett said. “I know at this point you don’t know whether or not it is going to be a one or two phase project.”
The developers told the council that the TIF would be used to help pay for the infrastructure that has to be replaced in order to complete the project.
“Almost all of the expenditures on the infrastructure will be done on the first phase of this [project]. Having met with city staff on water and sewer that needs to be replaced, it is going to have to be done regardless of whether there are 100 units or 300 units.” said Rich Billings, one of the property owners.
Pickett said that he did not feel that he could justify giving full reimbursements for a project with too many maybes involved. Mayor John Monaco echoed Pickett’s concerns.
The council tabled a vote on approval so that a plan could be put into place to have the TIF line up with the amount of the project that is completed at the time of reimbursement.
- Star Community Newspapers, Kenny Green Staff Writer, July 8, 2009 (full article here)
Centerpoint offers turn-key design/build, construction and financing for its clients with experience in a wide range of project experience - medical, office, retail, multi-family, and industrial. With offices in Dallas and Houston, the company supports its clients' projects throughout Texas. The company has also been recognized nationally for its "green building" experience. For more information, please visit the company website at www.centerpointbuilders.com.
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