We have broken ground on our newest LEED project:
MADISON STREET RAISES CHATTANOOGA’S GREEN BAR
The streets running through Chattanooga’s Jefferson Heights community bear the names of famous U. S. presidents: Washington, Adams, Jefferson. Today, the neighborhood is much more about precedents as visionary architects and builders apply green design and construction to the redevelopment of the historic community.
The most compelling example of this marriage of modern and traditional is happening along Madison Street, where three LEED-certified homes – Chattanooga’s first – are nearing completion. The homes are the brainchildren of LEED-accredited designer/developer, Christian Rushing, who has been involved in Chattanooga’s urban renaissance for nearly a decade.
“I wanted to go beyond environmental cosmetics and do something that would raise the green bar downtown. Jefferson Heights provided the perfect testing ground,” Mr. Rushing said.
Jefferson Heights is part of downtown Chattanooga’s resurgent Southside district and is located just off Main Street, a historic business corridor that, until recently, was characterized by dilapidated buildings and abandoned sidewalks. But collaboration between Chattanooga Lyndhurst Foundation and pioneering investors has transformed Main Street virtually overnight, and the corridor is flourishing once again with artists’ studios, galleries and restaurants, and a handful of small tech businesses. Public art installations have animated the sidewalks, and an energetic and creative population base has taken hold.
“Jefferson Heights is the quintessential live-work-play downtown neighborhood,” says Sarah Morgan, who manages Lyndhurst’s work in the Southside. “It has affordable housing, a two-acre public park, a burgeoning business district, and a brand new public elementary school two blocks away.”
Fueled by incentives from the foundation, Jefferson Heights housing has been on the rebound for several years. Until recently, though, most of the residential development was either renovation or traditional new construction.
Enter Mr. Rushing, who had wanted for some time to build his own home, using state of the art sustainable design and construction methods. The lot orientation enabled him to integrate passive solar heating and day-lighting, and the park frontage almost demanded a design that would set a standard for the rest of the neighborhood.
The result is stunning – three 1,534-square-foot homes presenting modern interpretation of the vernacular architecture of the Southside guided by principles of efficiency and sustainability. In addition to the passive solar, the designs include:
° Specification of locally manufactured and harvested materials;
° Renewable and durable flooring materials (cork, concrete, bamboo);
° Durable cladding (fiber-cement board, larch, aluminum shingles);
° Metal roof made of materials that are both recycled and recyclable;
° Aluminum shingles that are 100% recycled and recyclable;
° Efficient, argon-filled Low EII insulated windows;
° Material-efficient advanced framing techniques;
° Native, non-invasive groundcovers;
° Pervious paving materials for the hardscapes.
The Madison Street homes all contain three bedrooms and two-and-half baths on two floors. The interior features include recycled glass countertops, Energy Star appliances, 100% recycled glass tiles, efficient dual-flush toilets, low VOC paints and adhesives, 14 SEER HVAC equipment, tankless water heaters, and compact fluorescent lighting.
Mr. Rushing looks forward to the day when he will walk or bike to his office in downtown Chattanooga and walk out his front door to kick a soccer ball with his son. Judging from the response to homes and office space along Main Street and in Jefferson Heights, others are, too.
More information about the Madison Street homes is available at www.madisonmoderns.com.
