July 22, 2008 4:07 PM

Greenest apartment in Denver under construction near DU

Denver-based MacKenzie House LLC, in a joint venture with Harrison Real Estate Capital, has started construction on the $60 million-plus Asbury Green apartment community near the University of Denver.
The 171-unit, four-story development will be the first market-rate Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, or LEED-certified apartment building in Denver, said Don MacKenzie, chairman of his namesake company.
The development, underway at East Asbury Avenue and South Josephine Street in the University Park neighborhood. It's a block from DU. MacKenzie is targeting Asbury Green at upperclassmen and graduate students from DU.
Pre-leasing will begin in this winter and move-ins in time for the school year in the fall of 2009.
"I'm very excited to being doing the first LEED-certified, multi-family housing development in Denver," MacKenzie said. He said sustainability and energy savings are very important to students.
Energy saving and sustainable feature at Asbury Green will include:
• Dual flush toilets
• Recycled content of building materials
• Recycled carpet
• Environmentally friendly alternative to linoleum
• Extensive use of materials natural to Colorado
• Very high energy efficiency construction
• Plans to purchase "green power" (wind, biofuels, etc.) through Xcel Energy
• Green cleaning program (environmentally friendly, non-toxic cleaners)
• Storage for more than 100 bicycles
"I would say the sustainable features added 5 percent to 7 percent of the cost," MacKenzie said.
In addition, Asbury Green has an exceptional high bed-to-bath ratio of 93 percent, which is very important to students, MacKenzie said.
"We'll rent to anyone, but our target are students. We are near the light rail station, so that could be appealing to a lot of people," MacKenzie said. "Our market research shows there is a significant demand for such housing, as long as you have high parking ratios and high bathroom to bedroom ratios. Freshmen and sophomores are required to live on campus, but everyone else is sort of on their own. The older students "
Asbury Green also will have a high parking ratio of 1.7 spaces per unit or 0.83 spaces per resident.
MacKenzie said that ample parking also helped him win the support of most of the people in the neighborhood. "They like the fact that our apartment building should not impact the surrounding streets," MacKenzie said. "We think we will have enough parking for all of our residents."
In addition, the building is being designed with an interior courtyard.
"We did focus groups with students, and it was very important to them to have a place where they could hang out," he said.
Within Asbury Green's units, residents will have "sleek, contemporary finishes and furnishings;" high-quality, energy saving appliances. Utilities, cableTR and high-speed Internet will be included in the monthly rental fee. The rents will be commesurate with the market for newer apartments in the area, MacKenzie said.
Other amenities will include a fitness studio, laundry facility and an interior courtyard enhanced with water features and fire pits.
MacKenzie House is being constructed by the Kiewit Building Group. Other members of the team are Odell Architects, Nuszer Kopatz Urban Design Associates (landscape architecture), BCER Engineering (mechanical, plumbing and electrical engineering), KL&A, Inc. (structural engineering), Vision Land Consultants (civil engineering), YRG Sustainability Consultants and Greenhouse Partners.
YRG will make sure that , Asbury Green will be designed in accordance with the specifications of the U.S. Green Building Council's LEED Green Building Rating System.
Asbury Green will be managed by American Campus Communities, one of the most respected student housing management companies in the country. American Campus Communities is a national leader in the management of high-quality on- and off-campus student housing, with a local presence in both Denver and Boulder.
MacKenzie House is currently focusing on building assisted living centers and student housing. For more information: Denver-based MacKenzie House, LLC, has designed and developed award-winning www.mackenziehouse.net.

Posted by John Rebchook at 4:07 PM | Comments (3)