Lessons learned

Three neophyte developers cut their teeth
on an amazing project that sets a new standard

BY CINDY GRHL | EDITOR

When three recent Oberlin College grads wanted, like so many grads, to find a reason to hang around their campus a bit longer, they came up with the idea of becoming developers. They saw the need for a complex of high quality housing for all income levels in a way that would foster new jobs and businesses and boost the downtown area. All three—Ben Ezinga, Josh Rosen and Naomi Sabel–were new to development, and all three then jumped on a learning curve that taught them how to clean up a brownfield, close a $15 million financial package, interview all the vendors and a multitude of other skills.
The result was the East College Street Project, a development of the trio’s Sustainable Community Associates (SCA). Says Ezinga, “We did not know anything about real estate development; we just bought a text book and kept putting the pieces together.” The project has two retail/residential and one office building, with a courtyard in the middle. It was built on the site of an abandoned auto dealership and dry cleaner, and it aims to develop the city eastward, across from the Oberlin Inn and a planned “green arts district” that will further connect with a 20,000-acre greenbelt around the city and add a new energy system.
The project had been in the works for seven years as a concept, when the SCA trio thought the property could and should be brought to better use in a way that made economic sense, and that Oberlin needed more condo-type and affordable housing, more shops and more office space, all in a contemporary design. They also, being Obies, wanted it green, and aimed at a Gold LEED neighborhood development designation. It became one of four LEED-ND pilots in this part of the state and, when the office building is occupied this fall as a business incubator, it will be the first ND completed here.
SCA worked with Integrated Architecture of Grand Rapids, MI, who came on because the trio had heard of the architectural firm’s reputation with green building. “When I first met them, I was impressed at how they went about it,” says IA’s Mike Corby, adding that they had input from such green luminaries at Oberlin’s David Orr of the Lewis Center for Sustainability and Richard Baron, principal of McCormack Baron Salazar, a major St. Louis-based developer and Oberlin alumnus. “They had done a lot of thinking and researched it and connected with the right sages,” says Corby. “The pedigree was comforting.”

Modified IPD
After seven years of planning, the project stalled due to construction bid overruns. It became feasible when a friend of the SCA trio suggested that they “go talk to Carmen.” Carmen Fiorilli at Fiorilli Construction says his firm joined the team as a value engineer and constructability expert, taking the approach of modified integrated project delivery. The open book format allowed the design team, contractors and the owner to make decisions together to restructure the project: changing means and methods in the construction sequencing and re-engineering brought tremendous savings while never compromising the aesthetics or the intent. “We worked with the vendors throughout,” says Fiorilli. “This was all done within a three-month span--we first met with SCA in September of 2008 and broke ground in January--and we brought the project back on track for its intended completion time and original budget parameters–truly an amazing feat considering almost three years worth of project planning prior to these maneuvers.” And the final savings were a cool $3 million.
While many of the other GCs who were asked to come on board told the trio, “You just can’t do this or that,” Fiorilli was the only one to add, “But you can get it done if you do it this way.” Says Sabel, “They were one of the few contractors not afraid of green and who would only take it on by imposing a quick 10% markup to accommodate it.”
The design/build project is unique, says Fiorilli, because of “the creativity of the project team as a whole in bringing it to fruition, taking an abandoned brownfield back to life while always keeping people, planet, and profit in mind: a 52,000-sf, 33-unit condo with an affordable housing segment, and seven
Class A retail stores of 28,000-sf, as well as 15,000-sf of parking.”

Village green
The mindset was how to make it more sustainable, says Fiorilli. But not a single thing was sacrificed. “Value engineering can mean, ‘What do we leave out?,’ but we pulled the building apart and put it back together, addressing costs but keeping that mindset.” Adds Ezinga, “Carmen deserves the credit for helping us deal with the brownfield remediation.”
The project is located right downtown in a mixed-use area on a former brownfield returned to use. “We were respectful of the architecture around it,” says Corby. “We pulled the building apart, put the parking underground with access to both residences. That made it safer in an urban area and opened up room in the middle for a passive use ‘mews’ in the center of the development. It preserved a major tree and gave the retailers a second entrance, as well as one on the active streetscape side.”
Over 93% of material, more than 1,000 tons, was recycled or reused, with hand-carved foundation stones from a previous building used for a fountain at the Lewis Center in Oberlin and a walnut tree that had to be removed used for sills in each unit. Insulation is a closed cell polyisocyanurate foam with R-45 at minimum and R-21 in the walls. The white thermoplastic roof has a high solar reflectance index to reduce energy needed for cooling and reduce the heat island. Ezinga had found a source called Insulation Depot, which finds and reclaims insulation from buildings being demolished. Polyisocyanurate doesn’t break down over time, so it is bad for landfills but good for roofs, and it’s relatively easy to remove. But it requires some extra work from the roofing installer to find whole pieces, and include it as part of a 20- or 30-year warranty on the whole roof system can be iffy. “Wilham Roofing was great to work with,” says Ezinga. “We got around the warranty issue by putting a single layer of 1½ in. of new polyiso on top of two layers of 3 in. recycled, so the membrane can attach to a brand new product. And I’d say 95% of the sheets we got were usable whole. We ended up getting 7½ in. of insulation for about $15,000 less than we would have paid for 6 in. of new insulation. We also saved 15 truckloads of material from the landfill, and supported Insulation Depot.”
All rainwater from the roofs of the three buildings is stored in an underground cistern for irrigation. Low flow fixtures help reduce aggregate water consumption by 30%. The retail floor is structural concrete, with pre-engineered trusses for residential floors. Large, high performance windows by Andersen and Milgard use Suncoat low-e coating, with argon injected between panes and an Edgegard Max spacer and sash system to stop heat flow and reduce condensation. High ceilings maximize ventilation, and units have balconies. Finishes include low-VOC paints and sealants like Harmony paint from Sherwin Williams and flooring from bamboo and Forest Stewardship Council hardwood. Floors are wood, countertops granite, and two-story units each have two entrances. Energy-Star appliances use 20% to 40% less electricity than required by federal standards.
SCA is partnering with Oberlin College, the City of Oberlin and Lucid Design Group on energy monitoring and displays through a Great Lakes Protection Fund grant to show electricity and water consumption of residential and retail components, showing data in kilowatts, dollars spent and CO2 emitted. Residents and retailers can log on to compete to see who uses the least resources, just as Oberlin student dorms do. The building’s energy use will be 100% fossil free and carbon neutral through the use of renewal energy credits from hydroelectric power offsets, except for the natural gas used by restaurant tenants. Future plans call for onsite energy generation.
Says Fiorilli, “Some of the special challenges, like the roof insulation we talked about, showed this project was about more than just points toward a neighborhood development project. Every decision concentrated on cost-effective solutions that were sustainable and created a legacy for economic viability as well.”

Financial packages
The was not a typical project with a typical developer mentality by any stretch of the imagination. Social consciousness (people), extremely creative financing (profits), and sustainable mantra (planet) for a the entire development is one of a kind and a first for this region. Corby notes SCA’s reliance on market forces, which brought the original 49 planned units down to 33, in response to neighborhood input. Being a development, he adds, return on investment had to be key. “This is unique, a public/private partnership,” he says.
“The financial structure was off the charts—federal grants, the first tax increment funding (TIF) in the city, the streetscape, input from the college, New Market Tax Credits,” adds Fiorilli. “There were so many nuances, but this project was supported by the whole community as an economic development engine for the city.”
Building C’s offices, the last piece of the overall development, will be online by fall. Some 20 of the 33 residences are filled, with each unit being distinct in order to appeal to a broad spectrum of buyers. Six out of seven retail units are filled, with tenants including the Slow Train Café, Ohio Educational Credit Union, and Green Star Home Center, a 1,600-sf source of some of the project materials with its building supplies, lawn and garden offerings, housewares and expert advice about same. The college is participating by housing an alumni office, art gallery and studios in one building, driving foot traffic along East College.
And all parties have benefited. SCA learned development, and the fledgling developers, with this in their portfolio, are now looking to use their new-found expertise in other projects. “We fell in love with the process of doing things and want to continue,” says Sabel.
“The kids grew into being developers, but there was a lot more to it than that,” says Fiorilli. “They taught me a lot about my business, and we changed the whole complexion of how we look at business,” says Fiorilli. “This project has heightened the sense of awareness throughout our business and has motivated our staff to strive to reach the highest degree of awareness in these concerns as we look to the future.”
Concludes Corby, “The real story is how three individuals made something happen by bringing together planners, funders, occupants and builders at a time when all the economic conditions prevailed against it. It is remarkable.” BXM

Owners: Sustainable Community Associates
Architect: Integrated Architecture
GC: Fiorilli Construction
Cost: $15 million
Vendors:
n A & R Builders, Ltd.
n Akron Insulation & Supply, Inc.
n Bontrager Excavating Co., Inc.
n Columbia Building Products
n Cooper Disposal
n Dempsey Surveying
n Genesis Electric Corporation
n Griffith Paving, Inc.
n Heights Constructors LTD
n Isaac Lewin & Associates
n The Glass Act, Inc.
n Kapton Caulking
n KS Associates
n Level-Tech Systems, Inc.
n Mack Industries, Inc.
n Mentor Lumber
n Mooney & Moses
n Otis Elevator
n Pond Avenue Management, Inc.
n Phoenix Cement
n Ram Construction
n Ray Esser & Sons Inc.
n R.M. Riggle Enterprises, Inc.
n Westland HVAC