Living in Atlanta
The Atlanta Business Chronicle
November 16, 2007 

The Green Life:  Home Buyers Say goodbye to allergies, high utility bills … hello to new environmentally friendly neighborhoods 

Oakland Park Condominiums, Atlanta Georgia in Historic Grant Park
www.oaklandparkatlanta.com

-Susan Sweet is hoping her new Atlanta condo will help her say goodbye to those pesky allergies.

It’s just one of the benefits she’s expecting by moving to Oakland Park, one of the city’s environmentally friendly communities. 

“For the first time in my life, I’m waking up without hay fever.” Sweet said. Instead of unbearable paint fumes, the low-odor, low volatile organic compound paint, sealants and adhesives used in the complex have a “lovely, fresh smell,” Sweet describes.

Her floors are made of bamboo, a biodegradable renewable resource.  The appliances bear the Energy Star seal and her toilets have a low-flush option. 

The expansive energy-efficient windows that span her two-bedroom sixth floor condo, providing views of tree-filled Historic Oakland Cemetery and downtown Atlanta, have impressed Sweet with their ability to allow in the sunshine, but not too much heat. 

These and other green efforts stood out when Sweet and her husband, Jim, were seeking a second home closer to her daughter and two grandchildren in Atlanta than their primary home in Naples, Fla. 

“We walked in and embraced the atmosphere,” she said.  “It was a big, big selling point to us.  It’s a lovely way to live.  It’s an easier way to live.” While Oakland Park is seeking certification from the U.S. Green Building Council as a LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) property, other communities are making their mark by following environmentally friendly guidelines and receiving kudos from such groups. 

It’s also growing in affordability, with condos at Glenwood Park, for example, starting in the high $100,000’s. At Eco Lofts, Atlanta’s first condominium certified by the regional EarthCraft residential green building program, the power comes from wind energy.

The developer of the Chamblee community also included low-flush toilets and showerheads, additional air sealing measures and insulation, and energy-efficient lighting and appliances. 

This wave of eco-friendly communities in Atlanta are builders’ response to folks becoming more conscious about the world that their children and grandchildren will inherit, said Tim Baldus, division sales manager for Morris and Raper Realtors. 

Developers also are touting the benefits the planet and residents likely will experience down the road.  At award-winning Glenwood Park, two miles east of downtown Atlanta, the energy savings resulting from the 300-plus EarthCraft built residences equals the air pollution saved by taking 243 cars off the road.

The decision to go green in choosing a new home also could be laying the groundwork for a new environmentally friendly generation.  Glenwood Park residents Andrew and Amy Kelly are raising 3-month-old daughter Ava in their new home.

“I think our generation is learning to be very conservative with everything environmentally and I think definitely where it wasn’t in the past a topic of conversation, it is now,” said Andrew Kelly, 29, who plans to develop a Lilburn community modeled after Glenwood Park. 

“Everything about it is smarter.” With a baby on the way, Liza and Steven Graff are placing their family’s roots in Glenwood Park and already are seeing the benefits.  Their new home is about 900 square feet larger than their previous home in the Kirkwood neighborhood, but utility bills in the middle of the summer were about $100 less. 

He’s also a builder for Hedgewood Homes in the neighborhood, which allows him to save mileage for his job and by walking to restaurants and stores in the neighborhood.  Since Graff moved in 18 months ago, he’s logged only 5,000 miles on his car. 

The pedestrian friendly aspects of such neighborhoods, which often are built near MARTA stations, add to the eco-friendly feel, residents say. “You’re not going to drive three miles to get a cup of coffee when you’ve got one in your neighborhood,”

Graff said. Many of the details are unseen, from the insulation to high efficiency furnaces to the way penetrations are caulked and sealed.  Going green has more to do with what’s behind the walls and underneath the floors.  

“It’s not just one big thing you can see.”  Graff said.  “Sometimes, it’s a lot of little things that come together to make the house eco-friendly and perform at a higher level than a regular house.” 

The signs Sweet sees of an environmental focus at Oakland Park include paint hues, such as soft greens in the complex.  But it’s not just a superficial effort.  The people embrace the environment, and she expects that atmosphere to be enhanced as others move in. 

“It’s almost as if everybody’s on the same track, thinking about the environment,” she said.  “You also feel that the people are going to be your kind of people because we’re all of the same mind.  You immediately feel like you’re going to have something in common.”