AUG 19

Forbes Park in Chelsea, MA is an historic remnant of the industrial revolution. But, as we know, the industrial revolution is thankfully slowly being replaced with the green revolution, and Forbes Park is being brought into that movement, and the 21st century, with a green restoration plan.

Urban Design & Development is restoring the building and the land around it with their “hybrid homes” design, turning the building into fancy, energy-saving lofts. First off, a 240 foot tall wind turbine provides the bulk of the electricity needed for the complex to power all the energy star appliances, and their shared fleet of EVs. Should the power start to be used up, there will be “Forbes Orbes” letting the residents know that they need to cut back a little on energy use. I want a Forbes Orb in my neighborhood!

Rainwater will be harvested, and will go towards both the complex’s water needs, and to restoring the costal grasslands and marshes that are native to the area. The interior set up will be done in such a way as to eliminate the need for air conditioning, thanks to lots of breezeways. And any demoed materials will be reused, with less than 20% going to the dump.

This project is extra cool because it underscores that green building is not all that difficult when people stop to plan it out. Unfortunately it also underscores that green living on this level is still for the well-off. Prices for lofts start around $205,000, which in this market is pretty pricey. I’m really interested to know how the prices on these places will alter, if at all, as they become more commonplace. With Colorado, Victoria, and other communities world-wide greening up housing, we should have plenty of fodder for analysis soon.

Via Inhabitat

Comments (2)

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$350/sq foot!
written by Josh, August 19, 2008

The cheapest unit I spotted on this list (link has a price and availability pdf on it) was 228K. That was for a 650 sq foot loft on the first floor. So, that's $350 a square foot - yep pricey! But I wonder what Boston area real estate averages per square foot these days - might be surprisingly close...

Still cool to see even if you gotta rob a bank to buy one of these shoe boxes.

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price v. value
written by john, August 22, 2008

hi, i work for urban d&d. great article. the prices are cheaper than boston, but higher than other lofts in the neighborhood. much like prices for organic produce or hybrid cars, but being relatively new processes there aren't low-cost mass production systems yet to create these items (wind turbines, rain catchment canals, etc...). at forbes, a lot of the value lives in the energy efficiencies relieving about half the energy costs and the flexible site design to upgrade as technology progresses, restoring the 12 acres of waterfront preserve land, and the social community amenities like the canal village with commercial spaces, harbor taxi dock with greenhouse and retail, the bar and restaurant, elec cars, etc... So, given the unique natural and designed features, we feel it is a pretty great value for the money. when i joined the team here, i was just really excited that there were people who were crazy enough to even try a project like this given the lack of documented financial success. there was no model from which to draw up a plan for this project. we figured as the project evolved and by the time it was done, new technologies would be available to increase efficiencies, so we tried to build for the upgrades. but, for now, i think it's a great step forward for sustainable urban design. and websites like this, with the amount of discussions going on about it are a great sign.
regarding the authors' intro: it is pretty cool to stand out on site and see the wind turbine towering next to the factory old smoke stack. it's a great picture of our transition from the old sign of progress to hopefully, a new one.

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