Green condos on H Street now being crowdsourced

[Neil Takemoto]

The Bearden Arts Building is a mixed-use project by Taurus Development Group, completed in August 2008. This renovated green building at 1341 H Street NE includes ground floor retail and two floors of office space. The second phase of the project will be a new five-story extension to the original structure, to house approximately 20 units of 'green' residential condominiums.


The Bearden Arts Building has the following triple bottom line goals.

Financial/Economic
The Bearden Arts Building will meet required member rates of return, serve as an appreciating investment for its homeowners, and provide a revenue source for strategic environmental organization partners. The project will demonstrate that urban-infill ‘green’ residential condominiums can be attainably priced and profitable with or without the use of government subsidy, serving as a model suitable to be widely replicated in other locations.

Social
The Bearden Arts Building will deliver attainably-priced contemporary residential condominiums to the H Street, NE corridor, contributing to the ongoing neighborhood revitalization. The project will be crowdsourced, allowing future owners to participate in the design and development process from the beginning. The retail tenant will be a locally-owned, independent business, with attainably-priced coworking office space for start-ups and growing small businesses above.

Environmental
The Bearden Arts Building will be built using sustainable design and construction practices. As a model of elegantly efficient green living, the residences will be efficiencies with low carbon footprints. A limited number of parking spaces, compared to new housing developments, will result in more residents that walk, ride bicycles, take the bus or metro, and use short-term rentals (Smartbike, Zipcar) as alternative means of transportation.

A triple-bottom-line benefit of the green building approach will enable the tenants, building residents and others to participate in a Green Collar Job Training program which will provide education and skills for workers to occupy jobs related to living, building, and working green. With on the job training and an employment placement program, green collar workers will be provided with the resources necessary to succeed in the green marketplace. Bearden Arts will become a resource and training center for the Green Collar Job Training Program.