Monday, May 30, 2011

The Tellus: Arlington's First LEED Gold Project Delayed Further


Arlington's most sustainably designed apartment building will spend at least another year in planning mode, say its developers. Erkiletian's plans for the Tellus, a 254-unit apartment building in Clarendon, designed to achieve LEED Gold certification back in 2008, is still likely a year away from construction.

The apartments that will replace an outmoded apartment building at 2009 14th Street were approved by the county in early 2009, with an expected late 2009 start date. "The economy had a little bit to do with it" says development manager Bill Denton of the delay. Erkiletian is now hoping for an early 2012 construction start. The Tellus will replace one of Arlington's least attractive office buildings, and would be the first residence to earn LEED Gold certification in the county, if built according to the original plans. Erkiletian originally planned for environmentally-friendly facilities such as storm water retention, on-site irrigation, drought-resistant native plants on a green roof plaza, low-flow plumbing fixtures, bicycle and smart car options, power derived from a green sourced grid as well as on-site solar, a sustainable power source that has yet to achieve commercial viability and is rarely used on multi-family buildings.

Lessard Group designed the building to achieve the 2nd highest LEED ranking, but Denton says specifics are still in flux. Regarding use of solar panels, Denton says "we hope to, it will be part of the consulting document, trying to reach LEED Gold," but that such options are still being weighed.

Arlington Virginia real estate development news

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

First of all, it's not Clarendon, it's Courthouse. Second, the article first says it is replacing an apartment building, then later says it is replacing an office building. Well, which one is it?

Anonymous said...

@Anon 3:19 - I think this is actually in Courthouse... it's about three blocks from the Courthouse Metro Station if I'm reading the map correctly.

More importantly, isn't it a bit presumptuous for the developer to say this will be the first LEED Gold building when USGBC certification is at least three years away? A lot will happen between now and then.

Anonymous said...

Definitely Courthouse especially since the location is literally across the street from Arlington County's Courthouse.

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