Case studies show sustainable features save on energy costs and are popular with residents and their families.
By Bendix Anderson
Colorful signs remind the residents at Brightview Severna Park to recycle. Other signs tell residents about the energy-efficient lights in the common areas and the drought-resistant plants in the landscaping at this senior housing property in Severna Park, Md.
“Seniors love participating in communities that are environmentally friendly,” says Alan Siegfried, vice president of operations and project manager for Brightview Senior Living, a developer and operator of seniors housing based in Baltimore, Md.
A handful of developers and operators of seniors housing like Brightview are using sustainable development features to compete for residents. These operators also save a significant amount of money over the life of their properties thanks to lower utility bills.
Sustainable development practices can also help developers of affordable seniors housing win the government funding they need to build.
Landis Homes succeeds with green
Every year, saving energy and preserving the environment becomes more attractive to the seniors who consider moving into Landis Homes, a giant campus that includes independent living, assisted living and memory support for seniors, near Lititz, Penn., about an hour’s drive east of Harrisburg.
“It’s really shifted in the last couple of years,” says Linford Good, vice president of planning and marketing for Landis Homes, based in Lititz. “Sustainable development has been getting more traction with our seniors.”
That’s a big change from 2010, when Landis Homes opened the first phase of an expansion at the community. Landis Homes is already home to more than 700 seniors who live on the nonprofit’s 114-acre campus. The campus, which first opened in 1964, also provides healthcare services and educational programs to seniors in the larger Lancaster County community.
The 48 new apartments in the expansion of Landis Homes earned a LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Gold certification from the U.S. Green Building Council.
LEED certifications have become common in recent years for property types such as office buildings or schools. But seniors housing developers still rarely build green.
As the proof piles up that a significant set of seniors housing residents want to live in green housing like the new apartments at Landis Homes, more seniors developers are likely to build green, says Good.
Four years ago, the new apartments at Landis leased up slowly at a rate of four units per month. That rate of lease-up has increased to 10 units per month today.
As the senior apartments filled, Landis opened a second phase with another 42 units in late 2012. A third phase will open with another 50 units later this year. The first two phases are now 98 percent occupied.
An improving economy helped attract more seniors to the environmentally friendly apartments. Also, the latest group of prospective residents seems to be just young enough to be more interested in environmentalism, says Good.
Many seniors first consider moving into seniors housing properties in their mid-70s. That means many seniors now considering moving into seniors housing were born around 1940 and were about 30 years old when environmentalists celebrated the first Earth Day in 1970.
“A couple years younger can make a difference,” he says. “There are people in that age group who are more like the Baby Boomers than the Baby Boomers.”
The adult children of prospective residents were interested in the sustainable development features at Landis Homes from the beginning. “Their children view it as very important,” says Good.
Sustainable development has helped set Landis Homes apart from other retirement communities nearby — none of them have received LEED certification. “It is quite competitive here,” says Good. “We needed something to help differentiate our community from the one down the street.”
Green building became a focus for Landis in order to attract more residents and fulfill part of its mission as a nonprofit developer. “One of our guiding values is stewardship, and that includes natural resources,” says Good.
Extra insulation, water-saving fixtures and energy-efficient lighting are just the beginning. The new apartments also carefully avoid using materials that let volatile organic compounds seep into the air. For example, many types of plywood and carpeting release formaldehyde vapors into the air.
To get enough points for a LEED Gold certification, Landis also worked on the open spaces around its property. A nearby stream was clogged with sediment left over from a series of mill dams built more than a century ago. The dams and waterwheels were long gone, but they had left tons of silt behind.
These sustainable development features integrated into Landis Homes added about 5 percent more in construction costs to the development, according to Good.
To LEED or not to LEED?
Brightview Severna Park is certifiably friendly to the environment. The 144 independent living, assisted living and memory care apartments opened in late 2013 with nearly all of the features necessary to win a LEED certification from the U.S. Green Building Council, according to Brightview’s Siegfried. That includes a series of signs that explain these environmental features to residents.
“We are already doing a lot of the items on the LEED checklist in the normal course of business,” says Siegfried. The point-scored LEED checklist includes features ranging from extra insulation to water-saving technology.
Brightview incorporates these green features into its developments because it’s good for business, says Siegfried.
The sustainable features either provide clear value to residents or they pay for themselves relatively quickly in operating cost savings, or both, says Siegfried.
However, the developer did not spend the extra money to have Brightview Severna Park certified for LEED.
It costs too much, according to the developer. In late 2011, Brightview spent $25,000 for the U.S. Green Building Council to send a set of independent LEED experts to certify another of its properties, Brightview South River in Edgewater, Md.
These experts, who confirmed that the new apartments had enough green features to qualify, even conducted a LEED “blower door test” to measure the draftiness of the apartments.
Specifically, the LEED experts closed the windows in the new apartment, placed a giant fan over the door and measured how much air they could pull out of the unit.
Brightview also had to spend thousands of dollars to supply other reporting for the certification process. In the end, the 90-unit assisted living and memory care property earned a LEED Gold certification.
The seniors who moved into Brightview South River appreciate the green building features at the property, which is now fully occupied.
“There is definitely interest in green from seniors and certainly their family,” says Dan Rexford, senior vice president of sales and marketing for Brightview.
Although seniors care about energy efficiency and sustainable development, Brightview found that relatively few of them currently recognize LEED.
“People don’t care so much about the stamp of approval,” says Siegfried. “They care about what’s actually happening in the community.”
LEED certification made a difference in the marketing efforts at South River in the form of media attention. “LEED gets press coverage,” says Rexford “If I have LEED certification, journalists call up.”
As LEED becomes more widely recognized, Brightview executives say they may consider getting more of their properties certified, especially since relatively few other seniors housing properties have the ability to win certification.
“LEED is a differentiator,” says Rexford. “There are not a lot of people who are doing it.”
Saving money is good business
Brightview continues to build sustainable development features into the half-dozen new projects that the firm has started building since South River opened, such as Brightview Severna Park, even though Brightview does not plan to get these new developments LEED-certified.
For developers like Brightview that operate their own properties, sustainable development features can have a powerful effect on their bottom line.
Brightview chooses each design feature carefully. Many special features — like energy-efficient windows — may cost more to purchase and install than conventional windows, but save money over time.
Brightview typically invests in design features that save as much money on utilities or other expenses over 10 years as the extra cost to purchase and install the features. For example, a light fixture that costs $50 more to purchase and install might be a smart investment if it saves more than $5 a year.
The yield on energy-saving investments becomes even higher if utility costs and other operating costs increase. It’s never good news when the cost goes up for electricity or water. But a property that uses fewer utilities is less vulnerable to these price shocks. “In the last 12 to 18 months, costs have started to increase again,” says Siegfried.
Even programs encouraging residents to recycle can cut the operating costs at a property by reducing the amount of trash that local government can charge the community to haul away. “To lower garbage handling costs, get the recycling out,” says Siegfried.
Fixtures that save water tend to pay for themselves the most quickly, experts say. Other, more esoteric, green features still take too long to pay for themselves. Brightview, for example, has not yet invested in solar energy technology. The developer is waiting for the price of the technology to drop enough to justify the investment. “Eventually solar will work,” says Siegfried.
Other developers, like Jamboree Housing (see below) use grants or loans from state and local programs to help finance green technologies such as solar panels and even green, planted roofs.
Nearly all the items on the LEED checklist needed to win certification pay for themselves relatively quickly, according to Brightview. Many of these green features are standard at its new developments.
The major differences between South River and Brightview’s other properties include a bike rack and showers for employees who bike to work. Because Brightview, like many seniors housing developers, often build properties in suburban areas, not many of its employees bike to work. The showers at South River are largely unused.
To earn an extra point toward its LEED certification, South River also includes a series of signs that explain the sustainable development features of South River to residents.
The signs are highly popular with residents. Unlike LEED certification, the signs are now standard at Brightview’s new developments, including Brightview Severna Park.
Fast results
Developers have found that upgrades to existing buildings can show immediate results by lowering operating expenses. For example, Jamboree Housing Corp. found that energy-efficiency upgrades reduced the cost of utilities 12 percent at several of its properties.
“It’s much cheaper to operate these properties,” says Mary Jo Goelzer, COO of Jamboree. Jamboree also recently earned a LEED Silver certification for its Courier Place Apartment Homes in Claremont, Calif., which include 38 new apartments for seniors.
Jamboree specializes in gov-ernment-subsidized affordable housing. The nonprofit developer typically finances its new developments using federal low-income housing tax credits. To receive these tax credits, developers apply for funding in competitions held by state housing officials.
Across the country, these competitions often strongly favor applications to build sustainable developments.
Jamboree’s first experiment in sustainable development began with adding Energy Star-rated appliances to existing properties. The energy savings quickly made up for the extra cost. Energy-efficient lighting and water-saving fixtures also pay for themselves very quickly.
For example, some features like low-flow toilets or faucets can pay for themselves in less than a year. “Your water reduction is huge,” says Goelzer.
Jamboree also avoids or replaces materials that let volatile organic compounds like formaldehyde seep into the air. “You see an immediate response from residents,” says Laura Archuleta, president of Jamboree. “They can smell the difference.”
More expensive changes include installing double-paned, energy-efficient window and energy-efficient heating, ventilation and cooling systems.
“We all benefit from those savings in our properties,” says Archuleta. “It helps us keep the rents low.”
Even technologies that are too expensive to quickly pay for themselves can make sense, with a little finance help from state and local governments or utility companies.
Across the country, state agencies like the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority help owners and developers finance energy improvements including very expensive solar panels. Local officials in places like the city of Chicago provide grants that help developers pay to put pricey, planted green roofs on their properties.
Flashy sustainable development features like solar panels can also give affordable housing developers an edge in the competition for development funding. Jamboree Housing included a set of solar panels at Courier Place Apartment Homes that supply 17 percent of the site’s electricity.
At Park Landing, an affordable community that includes seniors housing in Buena Park, Calif., Jamboree also included a 22,000-square-foot green roof. The rooftop park provides beauty and enjoyment to residents, with barbecue areas, bocce ball court and a playground.
Green roofs can also be attractive to officials who manage local and state housing programs because they absorb rainwater that can otherwise overwhelm local water systems. Green roofs also reduce the “heat island” effect created by the sun beating on rooftops.