Massachusetts Home Made From ‘Big Dig’ Scraps
Paul Pedini, a 51-year-old civil engineer who worked on Boston’s $14.6 billion “Big Dig” highway construction project for a decade, has just finished building a house out of steel and concrete salvaged from the project, and although it came in over budget, he reports that “it doesn’t leak.” Concrete slabs, each about 40 feet long and weighing up to 25 tons, comprise the floors and roof of the 4,300-square-foot home, which cost $645,000 to build in a neighborhood of modern homes in the suburb of Lexington. Besides the 600,000 pounds of steel and concrete, the rest of the home has new materials. Pedini got the scrap materials for free, estimating the giveaway saved his company, one of the project’s main contractors, $20,000 in demolition and dumping fees. He paid a crew $10,000 to transport the slabs on trailers. Pedini, along with architects John Hong and Jinhee Park, want a percentage of government-funded transportation construction contracts to require “pre-cycling.” In the meantime, residents and civic groups have nixed the design for a 24-unit apartment building in North Cambridge made with Big Dig scraps and Pedini is peddling his “engineered pre-cycling” concept to the state of Washington, which is preparing to replace the Alaskan Way Viaduct in Seattle, and to federal transportation officials. (www.usatoday.com)
USA Today (8/6/06); Ken Maguire, Associated Press
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KB Home Cuts Holdings as Market Cools
Reevaluating its property holdings in today’s slumping housing market, KB Home has started pruning its land portfolio in Southern California and recently sold its 49% stake in the massive Anaverde master-planned community in the Antelope Valley to the majority owner, Empire Cos. of Ontario. KB, the fifth-largest home builder in the nation, in recent years has beefed up its land-development business to capitalize on rising property values during a six-year housing boom. But now with demand for new homes on the decline, major builders are under pressure from Wall Street to justify their ownership of land that isn’t already primed for building and that doesn’t have a prospective buyer lined up. Some analysts also worry that builders could be forced to write down the value of their land if they can’t unload it, or if land values start to decline. “Builders are trying to become more like manufacturers who want ‘just-in-time’ inventory,” said Patrick Duffy, a managing director for Hanley Wood Market Intelligence. (www.latimes.com)
Los Angeles Times (8/30/06); Annette Haddad
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Silicon Valley Ranks Dead Last in Ranking of U.S. Tech Hubs
High housing costs are among the factors that have relegated California's Silicon Valley to last place among the nation’s 12 technology hubs, according to the newest survey by Silicon Valley Leadership Group. North Carolina’s Raleigh-Durham area, which enjoys relatively affordable housing and a thriving job market, was in first place. The valley — defined broadly as the region stretching from San Jose north to San Francisco and Berkeley, as well as corporate suburbs such as Cupertino and Palo Alto — fared particularly poorly because of its expensive homes. Only 14.9% of local homes are within the price range of individuals earning the median income, according to NAHB. By contrast, 65.8% of homes in the North Carolina tech hub were considered within the reach of those earning the median income. However, the valley attracts nearly $8 billion annually in venture funding, four times more than its closest domestic rivals. (www.ap.org)
Associated Press (9/1/06); Rachel Konrad
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A Star’s Down-to-Earth Role
GREEN.O.LA by Andrew Kotchen and Matthew Berman of Workshop/APD in New York has won a contest by Global Green and actor Brad Pitt to create eco-friendly housing for New Orleans. By adopting a neighborhood — Holy Cross in the Ninth Ward — Pitt hopes to jump-start the rebuilding process while providing a new standard for architecture that will give the rebuilt city a reputation for forward-thinking design and energy efficiency. The contest’s jury, which included such experts as Pritzker Architecture Prize winner Thom Mayne, felt that the winning entry was the most adaptable to various settings. Pitt attributes his interest in architecture to a college course on Frank Lloyd Wright and more recently has been taken by the work of Frank Gehry, whose Guggenheim museum in Bilbao, Spain moved him to tears. When remodeling his 1930s Arts and Crafts-style residence extensively, Pitt collaborated on every detail of his guest house and stark art studio, according to designers at the Los Angeles office of the Graft architecture firm. A shoebox of concrete, Venetian plaster and glass contains little more than a Gerrit Rietveld Zig-Zag chair, which can be hidden away in a wall. Pivoting glass doors offer a smidgen of eco-design by admitting breezes and keeping the need for air conditioning to a minimum. Pitt says he will be returning to New Orleans to monitor progress on the Global Green project while filming “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.” (www.washingtonpost.com)
Washington Post (9/9/06); Linda Hales
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Contractor Pitches Saving Green by Going Green With Biodiesel
Working on a 48-unit green townhouse development, for the first time in his career, Ernie Sota, a 56-year-old general contractor in Pittsburgh, is requiring on-site subcontractors to use a fuel blend that is 20% biodiesel and 80% traditional diesel. Made from animal fat and vegetable oils, biodiesel reduces the use of petroleum-based diesel fuels and many of the pollutants they emit. “There are a lot of good contractors in the area,” he said. “But we’re trying to differentiate ourselves as a firm with a green approach that saves money for the client and end user, along with providing environmental benefits.” Sota is no stranger to environmentally sensitive construction techniques, but he realizes the biodiesel initiative moves him in a direction that involves people who might not always think of the earth first. “It’s always difficult to change behaviors,” he said. “I have to educate my subcontractors about the product and how it can help them improve the performance and lifespan of their equipment. Once they understand that, it’s an easier idea to sell.” (www.pittsburgh.bizjournals.com)
Pittsburgh Business Times (8/25/06); John Altdorfer
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On With the Model Home Show
Centex Homes’ Los Angeles/Ventura County division recently decided to “warm up” the largest model of its Milestone community in Santa Clarita by having actors pose as a family of four in a performance of “HomeLife.” The advertising and public relations agency that came up with the idea to integrate real estate and entertainment presented a loosely-scripted skit revolving around Mom’s surprise birthday, in which the family would be making dinner, baking a cake and listening to music. The “family” was given enough information about the property to answer basic questions while playing their characters, and was encouraged to not only field questions from visitors but ask them as well. The show was originally set for a two-time run, the first performance coinciding with Milestone’s grand opening, but it was so successful that Centex has taken it on the road. “We see a lot of benefits,” says Amanda Larson, the Centex Homes unit’s marketing director. “We like it, and people like it because they can picture themselves in the home and learn more about it. From what they’re telling us, it’s been a positive experience.” While it is hard to say how many sales have resulted from the promotion, it has generated tons of traffic and publicity and costs substantially less than a newspaper ad. (www.realtytimes.com)
Realty Times (9/6/06); Lew Sichelman
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