This section is devoted to anything and everything related to sustainable energy.

Now available: Juniper homes entering the market

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Grow Community is pleased to announce 2- and 3-bedroom condominium units in the Juniper building are now entering the market for the first time.

Each unit offers the full range of quality construction, fine appointments and planet-friendly, energy-saving features buyers have come to expect from Washington’s largest planned-solar community.

These beautifully designed, ultra-efficient homes boast Bosch appliance packages, quartz counters, floor-to-ceiling windows, all-home circulation and heat recovery, and efficient low-flow fixtures.

Rooftop solar offsets utility costs and provides a refund to the homeowner each year.

All Juniper homes feature convenient, single-level living with bedrooms and active spaces on one level. Ground-floor garden homes open onto secluded outdoor patios, while second- and third-floor units offer spacious private decks.

A semi-private elevator provides access from underground parking and storage directly to your entryway.

The first three units are now open and available for showing:

Juniper Unit 104: A corner unit facing south onto the Grove, this 1,477 sf. home offers three bedrooms, 1.75 baths and an open, spacious living/dining area. An expansive private patio offers an additional 522 sf. of outdoor living, opening directly onto a community greenway. See photos and floorplan here.

Juniper Unit 201: This popular layout includes 2 bedrooms and 1.75 baths over 1,468 sf. of comfortable living space. A covered deck adds 98 sf. of year-round outdoor living with generous south views for family and guests. See photos and floorplan here.

Juniper Unit 303: Enjoy a birds-eye view of the Grove from the master suite of this 2-bedroom, 1,454 sf. unit. An open living/dining layout, ample walk-thru closet and 1.75 baths complement the many fine features.  See photos and floorplan here.

More available units will be announced soon as they enter the market. Contact Joie Olsen at 206.452.6755 and visit Grow Community and the Juniper homes today.

Click here for more information on these homes.

6 Reasons to Live at Grow Community

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Grow Community offers a simpler, more intentional lifestyle where you can be mindful of your impact on the environment while focusing on what matters to you most. The nearby shops, restaurants and other amenities of Winslow town center offer convenient “5-minute living.” And with inviting gardens, parks and green spaces, Grow Community makes connections happen: neighbor to neighbor, you to the planet.

1.The Environment

Enjoy the quiet company of woodland trees and an orchard right outside your doors in the Grove; stroll the sprawling central green that gives the Park neighborhood its name. Altogether, sixty percent of these neighborhoods are dedicated to peaceful, inviting natural spaces. Parking is underground, reducing impervious surfaces and putting cars out of sight (where they belong).

 

2.One Planet Living

Our neighborhoods are designed to One Planet principles: ultra-energy-efficient homes, goals for zero emissions and waste, sustainable materials, locally grown food, resource conservation, wildlife habitat and edible landscaping, culture, happiness and health. Add them up and you have a new way to live, focused on a positive future for yourself and your world.

 

3.Solar Power 

Grow Community is the largest solar community in Washington, with every single-family home and duplex powered by photovoltaics, and rooftop solar on many townhomes and condominiums. Solar arrays are offered as a buyer’s option on every home including multifamily. And going solar has never been simpler. With today’s strong financial incentives, your solar array will keep your power bill low and even put money in your pocket, just for doing your part for a cleaner planet.

 

4.5-Minute Lifestyle

Everything your family needs for a healthy, happy lifestyle is within easy distance of Grow Community. Local merchants and grocers, the library, fine cafes and coffee shops, theaters and museums, parks, health clinics and schools … you can reach it all without ever getting behind the wheel.  We call it the “5-minute lifestyle,” and it’s just one of the features that makes Grow such an attractive choice for homebuyers seeking a simpler way of living.

 

5.Community Connections

Harvest your tomatoes and take the extras next door. Read a book under a tree and see who stops to say, “Oh, you’ll love the ending!” Or just take a quiet stroll down a neighborhood path and bump into someone new. Grow Community is designed to promote serendipity, the unexpected meeting, the little connections from which lifelong friendships spring. Grow a community together, and get as involved as much (or as little) as you want.

6.For All Ages

The neighborhoods at Grow have intergenerational living at their heart – because a true community should be as welcoming to a 73-year-old as it is to a 3-year-old. In the Grove and the Park neighborhoods, 60 percent of the homes offer single-level living with elevator access to front entries, while the community spaces invite interaction and sharing between generations year-round. And accessibility extends beyond the neighborhood. You’re just a few minutes from downtown amenities like shops, restaurants and theaters – even ice cream.

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We still have room for you in our FINAL HOMES…

Great opportunities to purchase and rent our FINAL HOMES are available in the Grove & Park neighborhoods. Beautifully designed, ultra-efficient 2 bedroom solar ready homes set a new standard for healthy, sustainable living.

Only three 2-bedroom homes remain to purchase in the Tsuga and just 6 in the Sage building.

We also have two homes that have become available to rent in our Juniper building.

Please contact our sales & leasing team for more details and to set up an appointment to tour our available homes: 206.452.6755 [email protected]

New solar array powers community center

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Grow Community boosted its standing as Washington state’s largest planned solar community this week with another new photovoltaic array – this time, for the new community center.

A 17-module, 5.1-kilowatt array went up atop the bike shelter behind the community building, centerpiece of the Park neighborhood.

The south-facing array takes advantage of excellent solar exposure through the day, turning the bike shelter roof into productive solar garden to help power activities at the community center.

The system also supports the local solar industry, using certified Made In Washington solar panels by iTek Energy of Bellingham.

Installation is by A&R Solar of Seattle, who’ve completed many of the residential arrays found throughout Grow’s three solar-powered neighborhoods.

Urban Land group visits Grow

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The prestigious Urban Land Institute held its Spring Conference in Seattle in early May, and Grow Community was both hot topic and host.

Grow welcomed thought-leaders in spheres ranging from development to investment, planning and design, as they came to Bainbridge Island for site visits throughout the conference.

Grow has been part of the ULI conversation since the project began, our community being a case study for creating healthy places, promoting intergenerational living, and integrating sustainability at scale.

Discussion threads running through the week included:

Creating a legacy. Pooran Desai, founder of the organizations BioRegional, which established the One Planet Living Principles, described effort at Grow as a legacy – both for the region, and in changing the conversation around the way we develop future communities. While the project has had many twists and turns, its consistency around creating a place for all ages to be comfortable and live in a more sustainable way is a profound achievement.

Intergenerational living. Visitors from the ULI appreciated Grow’s commitment to developing a community with many varied home types, to give people at every stage of life a comfortable place to live. It marks a change from development patterns often seen in the United States, where we tend to segregate generations, versus other communities around the world that embrace keeping mixed generations together.

Sustainability. Many of the ULI visitors came from places where a push for sustainability is just beginning, compared to the Seattle region where it is becoming the norm. Visitors were impressed by the range of areas where Grow challenged the norm: energy, materials, solar, and open space. Built Green standards allowed us to use a local certification program and consider our efforts from a neighborhood level, integrating our sustainability goals through One Planet Living. Grow gave visitors a model they can follow and incorporate into their own communities.

The Grow Community development team and investors thank residents for continuing to allow for guests like ULI to visit. These visits and conversations plant the seeds for other communities to come. They also provide the inspiration for others to take on the challenges of sustainable growth and living – allowing others to take what we have learned here, and spread the best of what we have for our One Planet.

Grow sponsors new ‘terrestrial’ podcast on KUOW

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Grow Community is all about making smart choices for the Earth – how we build and how we live.  Now we’re proud to sponsor the new podcast “terrestrial” on local radio station KUOW, exploring “the choices we make in a world we have changed.” Host Ashley Ahearn travels the country — from ranches in Oregon to churches in Colorado — to bring listeners stories about people making personal choices in the face of environmental change.

Subscribe to “terrestrial” through Apple podcasts, or listen online at here.

PSE celebrates Grow’s energy efficiency program

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Puget Sound Energy visited Grow Community recently to celebrate the success of our Energy Efficiency program for Multifamily buildings.

Our development team and PHC Construction welcomed PSE officials for the occasion, to fete an effort that has been ongoing for several years.

Incentives from the PSE program helped offset costs for the heat pump hot water heating systems within the Salal, Juniper and Tsuga buildings.

Coupled with rooftop solar production, the program has greatly reduced energy costs in these multifamily buildings. Owners benefit additionally from solar power net-metering and production incentives.

We hope to repeat the program with other multifamily buildings now underway in Grow’s third neighborhood, the Park.

“It was a great morning visit, and an overdue tour for the PSE team that has been working with us to help Grow’s goals of energy efficiency,” said Greg Lotakis, project manager. “PSE has been a great partner.”

Grow Community’s multifamily solar program was chronicled recently at Solar Power World Online. Read the story here.

Built Green gives Grow 5 Stars

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Weather-tight outside, snug and warm within. Built Green gives Grow Community phase 2, the Grove, a prestigious 5 Star rating in its new online feature.

Built Green cites Grow homes’ excellent standards for energy efficiency, indoor air quality, and top-quality materials in home that “cultivate a healthy, happy, and sustainable community for all ages.”

Built Green helps homebuyers find quality, affordable homes that offer opportunities to protect the health of their families and the Northwest environment. Built Green homes are designed to provide homeowners with comfortable, durable, environmentally friendly homes that are cost-effective to own and operate.

These resource-efficient homes are crafted to exceed building codes and provide homeowners with years of healthy, quality living, while protecting our families and the precious Northwest environment.

Read the Built Green feature on Grow Community here.

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Three flavors of multifamily solar at Grow Community

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Condos, apartments, townhomes – three flavors of multifamily construction, each with its own challenges for reaping the power, and financial benefits, of solar investment.

Asani development company is tackling all three at once at Grow Community.

On buildings dubbed the Salal, the Juniper and the Elan, now complete in the project’s expansive second phase, solar arrays will benefit both homebuyers and renters alike.

One roof apiece, with many beneficiaries beneath.

“Our investors said, ‘let’s go for it,'” said Greg Lotakis, Asani president and Grow Community project manager. “Without their desire to be the largest solar community in Washington, and wanting to plant the solar flag in the ground, we wouldn’t be doing this. Without their support, it wouldn’t be possible.”
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The Salal condominiums, with 12 units spread over three stories, is effectively a “community solar” project on a rooftop. Solar was included in the purchase price – no option – and incentives from the State of Washington will be apportioned equally among condominium owners, with each owning a one-twelfth interest in the array.

Asani worked with state officials and the local utility provider to craft a program that satisfies the complicated provisions of Washington law.

The opening was a provision allowing common use of single roof for solar in multifamily buildings. Asani banked on prospective buyers seeing shared solar as a good investment as they bought their condo units, one that promised annual paybacks while lowering operational costs of their building through solar harvest.

Solar was designed into the Salal building. A single production meter monitors total system output, while 12 sub-meters track consumption in individual units for utility billing.

Buyers are rolling the cost of solar, about $15,000 per unit, into their mortgages to take advantage of low interest rates at the time of purchase.

“We wanted it very clean and divisible by all the owners,” Lotakis said. “I think it would be pretty difficult for six, 10, 12 people to come together and agree upon how the system would work after the fact. This gave us a chance to just deliver it.”

Lotakis expects the 44kW array to produce about $1,500 in incentives per unit annually – cumulatively much higher than the state’s $5,000 cap on incentives for a single-family residence.

Next door at the 12-unit Juniper apartment building, the 44kW rooftop array is similar but the equation is different. Renters will enjoy the benefits of solar production through net-metering, but not the annual state solar rebate. That will go to the building’s single owner, and will max out at the state’s $5,000 cap.

The two-story Elan townhomes presented the most straightforward challenge. Individual 6-9kW solar packages are offered for each section of the common roof. No modules will cross the “virtual lot lines,” making each system self-contained within the owner’s patch of rooftop. Three systems have been installed so far.

Growing neighborhood solar

From project inception, Asani set out to build the most environmentally friendly development possible.

Relentless sourcing of renewable materials and low-impact fixtures, and close connection to the island’s town center, have positioned Grow Community in the marketplace for healthy lifestyle-conscious buyers.

The project’s first phase is noted for its shared pea-patch gardens and winding footpaths through close-set homes. The second and third phases are oriented around a woodland grove and open greenway.

The project has earned recognition in national magazines and won awards from local and national homebuilder associations. It is only the second planned community in North America to be certified under the One Planet Living standards.

Grow’s first phase of 23 detached units sold out immediately, and every homeowner chose to add the solar package.
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Asani has also showcased Made In Washington components to support the state’s solar industry.

Modules at the Salal are by Itek Energy of Bellingham, while the Juniper and Elan arrays include APsystems microinverters manufactured and distributed by Blue Frog Solar of Poulsbo.

Using a mix of in-state and out-of-state components allows Asani to achieve different price points for buyers while optimizing local incentives where possible.

Lotakis cautions that Grow Community’s multifamily solar program relies on particularities in Washington law. Multifamily programs elsewhere would face their own challenges, although he believes Grow offers a useful model for developers nationwide to consider.

With the Salal building only recently certified for occupancy, new residents have no comparative data on their energy savings. But the solar component was attractive, as it has been to buyers throughout the three-neighborhood, 142-home project due to be completed in late 2017.

“Solar was a factor,” one new resident said, “along with a development that encourages a sense of community.”

Between the federal tax credit and annual rebates from the state, Lotakis said, owners buying into the Salal condominiums could have their share of the common array paid off within five years.

“And because they’ve rolled the cost of solar into their mortgage, they don’t really see it,” he said.
“Those production checks will be like a dividend.”

Grow ‘hits the Easy button’ for sustainability

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It takes a lot of work to make sustainability simple.

But making the choice of a low-impact lifestyle easy for buyers was the goal at Grow Community from the very start.

In an article titled “We Only Have One Planet,” Reserve Magazine explores the history of Washington’s largest planned solar community, and the thoughtful features that have earned it the prestigious One Planet Living certification.

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“We wanted to hit the Easy button for people,” Asani President Greg Lotakis tells the magazine, “so they could get in and just focus on the things we can’t control, which are creating community, enjoying community and enjoying each other.”

Leading elements of Grow’s high-performing homes include rooftop solar arrays, airtight construction and insulation, and nontoxic construction materials, among other low-impact features. Grow homes use 30 to 40 percent less water than a typical Pacific Northwest home, the magazine notes.

It all adds up to a formula for sustainable, intergenerational living. Grow does the hard work, so residents can get on with the fun stuff: living.

“This idea that we can start to create places where generations share space, where elders pass along wisdom, where you have children who are being looked after by friends or grandparents and where young couples or single folks get a chance to live in a community where there’s a mix of support — to us, it’s a recipe for success in the future,” Greg says.

Read the whole story online here.

One planet, one community, and one goal: a new model for sustainable living.

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Grow Community was founded on the principles of One Planet Living, proving that from design and construction to the choices we make as neighbors, we can live within the productive capacity of the earth.

How are we doing? Find out in our “One Planet Annual Verification Report,” now available for download HERE.

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It’s Grow’s report on itself, a self-assessment of our progress toward Health and Happiness, Local Food and Sustainable Water, Culture, and other key indicators of a forward-thinking community.

1planet-reportDid you know:

  • 85 percent of Grow residents say they’re walking more, and 31 percent are biking more, since joining our community
  • More than 65 percent participate in our bountiful shared garden program
  • Every resident in our first neighborhood, the Village, has invested in a home solar system, making Grow the largest planned solar community in Washington State – and still growing as our next two neighborhoods build out!

We’re proud of our success so far, and will strive with our residents to meet the goals of One Planet Living. It’s built into Grow Community by design, and comes with the lifestyle.

Download and read the report HERE, and find out more about what Grow has to offer the earth, and you.