Your closest neighbor at Grow Community? The environment. Healthy, sustainable living has never been more convenient. Grow puts you close to your community - and closer still to the great outdoors. Residents of the Grove enjoy the quiet company of woodland trees and an orchard right outside their doors; homes in the Park flank the sprawling central green that gives the neighborhood its name. Altogether, sixty percent of these neighborhoods are dedicated to peaceful and natural open spaces. Parking is underground, reducing impervious surfaces and putting cars out of sight (where they belong). Not that you'll really need a car. We've got bikes you can borrow, too. Find out more about life at Grow Community here.  |
 Ten projects. Ten slides. Ten minutes. And one goal: to honor the very best in sustainable construction - like Grow Community. We'll be one of 10 projects featured at this year's prestigious "Green Building Slam," this Saturday Nov. 15 at the University of Washington. Sponsored by the Northwest EcoBuilding Guild, the rapid-fire event showcases unique projects and new approaches for environmentally conscious construction. Find out more about the upcoming Slam and to buy tickets here. |
Grow Community, 2014 Roof-Mount Solar Project of the Year Runner-Up
Grow is a runner-up in Solar Builder magazine's 2014 Project of the Year contest in the roof-mount systems category. We earn a nice feature in the glossy magazine's new issue, and you can read the story online here.
 "We wanted to deliver a product that both was designed to be extremely energy efficient but also had the idea of solar in mind at the time of design," project manager Greg Lotakis tells Solar Builder. "We started at the roof, asked how many panels we could get on it, designed the roof for that, [estimated] what we expected [to] produce, and then we used that energy budget and worked backwards into the house. What we are really striving to do: deliver a really healthy, energy-efficient home that has the ability to be net zero with solar."
It worked! Grow is already the largest planned solar community in Washington, with more solar on the way in our next two neighborhoods, the Grove and the Park.
It's also a great success for local manufacturing. Grow Community uses Made In Washington solar components including microinverters by Blue Frog/APS and solar modules by itek Energy.
Oh, by the way: The winning project is Solar For Seals, a rooftop system powering a Luguna Beach, CA, environmental center that rescues and rehabilitates injured marine mammals. We don't mind finishing second to those guys!
Read the story in Solar Builder here.
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A Construction Update for the Grove
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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INTERESTED IN LIVING AT GROW COMMUNITY?
We still have room for you
Great opportunities are still available in the Grove neighborhood with its mix of single-level homes, townhomes and single-family residences, all arrayed around a quiet native woodland and orchard. With beautifully designed, ultra-efficient homes and even a solar option, the Grove sets a new standard for healthy, sustainable living.
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