As we build the Grow Community we will be chronicling our progress. This is the place for updates!

March Construction Update: Garage is on good footing(s)

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Work on Grow Community’s Phase 2 underground parking garage continues apace. Crews are now installing rebar and cables for the post tension slab for the Salal building, forming up walls and columns for the garage of the Elan townhomes, and crafting footings for the Juniper.  In utility news, a water line that will serve the new buildings is being routed up from the local main. It looks like foul weather is (mostly) behind us, so be sure to watch the dramatic progress each time you go past the work site.

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100 percent and a gold star – Grow aces the solar test

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Already the largest solar neighborhood in Washington state, Grow Community hit another milestone this week.

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With the completion of two more solar installations, every single-family home and duplex in Grow’s first phase, the Village, is now powered by photovoltaics.

PV systems numbers 22 and 23 are online and producing renewable energy, improving the neighborhood’s already stellar self-sufficiency while promising generous utility savings and financial returns for the homeowners.

“It’s a landmark moment for Grow Community and Washington solar,” says Greg Lotakis, project manager. “With 100 percent participation, our residents are really showing the way forward for neighborhoods that want to choose solar for a sustainable energy future.”

Grow’s next two phases, the Grove and the Park, will also offer the solar option.  Stay tuned for more details.

Progress, with a chance of rain

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February Construction Update 

We’ve had one of the mildest winters in recent memory, with no snow and only a few nights hitting freezing temperatures.

At the same time, we’ve had quite a few significant bursts of rain – 2 inches or more at a time. Such is the nature of winter construction in the Northwest.

The crews continue to work on footings and foundation walls at the north end of the site, including those for the Salal and Elan buildings.

Once the foundation walls are done for these buildings, the form work for the ceiling or “lid” of the garage will start. This will be the first peek for the public to get a sense of what we’re building as the main floors begin to take shape.

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Grow Community Earns the Prestigious Platinum Award from NAHB!

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Grow Community built by Bainbridge-based PHC Construction and developed by Asani, has earned the prestigious Platinum Award from the National Association of Home Builders, in its 2014 Best of American Living contest.

The sustainable, solar-powered neighborhood received top honors in the Green Community category.

As the oldest and most prestigious national design award program in the residential construction industry, the Best in American Living Awards spotlights the most creative and innovative projects from around the nation.

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The award was presented at the NAHB International Builders’ Show in Las Vegas this week.

Grow Community is the first development in Kitsap County, Wash., ever to win the NAHB’s Platinum Award distinction, and PHC is the first Kitsap builder to hold the award.

“The Platinum Award is an outstanding honor, and one we’re very pleased to receive,” said Marty Sievertson, president of PHC Construction. “To be acknowledged among the nation’s very best residential projects really speaks well to every facet of Grow, from concept to design to construction.”

What a great honor for our whole Grow/PHC/Asani/Davis team!

You can read the full news release here.

View the award on the NAHB website here.

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January 2015 Construction Update

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The weather has certainly been mixed, but Grow Community construction continues apace. Crews have completed the majority of the excavation work and have now started forming and pouring footings and foundation walls for the garage for the Grove, our next neighborhood.

While progress may not always be apparent from street level, we are using a “UAV” – an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle, otherwise known as a “drone” – to keep a visual record of the construction process.

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In the lower right corner of the accompanying aerial photo, you can see a series of white structures. This is actually a small part of the foundation and garage for a building in the Park, Grow’s third and final neighborhood.

This section of the last phase had to be built first in order to support the utilities and structures that will be uphill in the Grove. Construction sequencing can present challenges, but we always seem to figure out the right solutions!

The crews have also started in on the portion of the garage under the Salal building, and will march around to the northwest corner and then head south to form and pour the Elan townhome building next.

While the garage is being completed, the framing will start in earnest, so the two tasks – concrete foundations and framing – will be taking place at the same time.

We’ll be up out of the ground this Spring!

As the saying goes: We all live downstream

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That’s literally true for the rich sea life of Eagle Harbor and Puget Sound. Sediments and other runoff from land can have a harmful effect on their ecosystem, smothering fish eggs, increasing ocean acidity, or carrying heavier pollution (like plastics) into their — our —  precious waters.

So as we continue site work for Grow phase 2, we’re making sure we don’t send any pollutants off into the harbor.

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We’ve commissioned “Rain for Rent,” an innovative, portable filtration system that captures and treats our runoff before it leaves the work site. The process looks like this:

First, water is channeled across the entire site and into a large sediment pond at the south end of the grounds. After heavy rains and once the water level reaches a certain point, our “pond” is pumped into the treatment system.

Then the blue “Rain for Rent” tanks run the site water through sand filters that remove sediment and pollutants, and balance pH levels to assure the water we finally discharge is cleaner than what landed on our site to begin with.

With Eagle Harbor less than a mile downstream from our several-acre worksite, we’re committed to giving it all the protection it deserves. After all, lives are at stake.

 

 

November Construction update

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You may have noticed: it’s autumn. Lots of wind and rain, and with them a bit slower progress on the Grow phase 2 worksite.

Not to worry, as we’ve built the challenges of the season into our schedule. And we’ve made good progress getting the site prepped, stockpiling dirt for later use and digging foundations for the Salal and Juniper buildings.

Concrete forms for the underground garage will arrive onsite in the next few days, and the footings and foundation walls will begin to take shape. Reinforcing steel will be delivered in batches to allow continuous concrete “pours.” As the forms march around the garage perimeter, the concrete will cure in advance of construction of the garage roof.

You’ll see a rhythm as the work progresses, and so it will go for the next several months – wind and rain no deterrent.

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Construction update: We DIG the dirt!

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Whether you’re planting a garden or a new foundation, you have to dig in the dirt!

With Grow Community phase 2 site work underway, excavators and earth movers are rolling to and fro to prepare the foundations for the Salal and Juniper. Dirt is being stockpiled on the south half of the property, soil that will come into play as backfill once the parking garage foundations and lid are completed.

Concrete work will begin even as excavation for the rest of the garage continues. It may be hard to see all this underground work from the street, but the garage structure will soon be visible, poking up out of the ground in the coming weeks and months.

Trees removed during the site work are moving on to their next purpose. Root balls have been saved for use in salmon habitat development in spawning streams, while some of the trees themselves will be refined into custom furniture by an island craftsman.

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A Construction Update for the Grove

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DCIM100MEDIAAs the kids head back to school and we are all enjoying those cool mornings and warm afternoons of Indian Summer, the work on the Grove – our next neighborhood at the Grow Community – is ramping up. The homes along John Adams have been decommissioned with materials recycled, donated to local “re-use” organizations, and salvaged prior to demolition. The site and utility work has begun in earnest with earth moving and excavating equipment on site and construction fencing in place to secure the perimeter of the property. It is a big project so we have had to get excavator hire mackay to make sure we stay on schedule. There will quite a few different contractors on the site in the coming weeks, from electricians to bricklayers to earthmovers so it’s important that the project remains coordinated as things can easily get out of hand at this point in a project.

The site and utility work will continue through the fall with the work on the underground parking garage overlapping by four to five weeks. The above ground structures will be the next major activity once the garage is well underway. We hope that the changes we are making will help shape and change the local area into an even better, more vibrant community. An exciting time for this next phase of the community!

If you are willing to donate some of your time then we would be more than grateful for anyone to come and help us out. Don’t worry, you don’t need any construction qualifications – we are looking to plant some shrubs and trees once work is finished to help bring more life to the area. Keep an eye out for further details!

One Planet Lunch for Construction Team

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Contractors in the Grow Community PHC Construction team were treated to a locally grown luncheon on the job site last week. All food for the noontime repast was grown on Bainbridge and North Kitsap farms. Local agriculture, sustainability and health are always on the menu at Grow!