Massachusetts Renewable Energy Trust Grants Urban Edge
$500,000

CDC to Integrate Eco-Design into Egleston Crossing

May 12, 2003 -- The Massachusetts Technology Collaborative (MTC) awarded NeighborWorks organization Urban Edge $500,000 to implement "green building" concepts into the design and construction of Egleston Crossing, the developer’s 64-unit mixed use project due for completion in 2004. The Green Building Initiative is part of a $47 million-dollar strategic plan funded by the Commonwealth to spur the shift of energy consumption in Massachusetts from conventional energy sources to those generated by renewable resources.

"As a community based development organization we are cognizant of the local to global impacts of our development efforts," says Noah Maslan, project manager for Egleston Crossing. "Green building and design elements coincide with the mission of our organization."

This grant will allow Urban Edge to cut the building’s energy demand by nearly 50% by incorporating solar energy, utilizing environmentally sensitive materials and other energy efficient building design. Egleston Crossing is a mixed-use brownfield redevelopment project located in the heart of Egleston Square. It is the next phase of a comprehensive revitalization strategy led by Urban Edge in the Egleston/Jackson neighborhoods of Roxbury and Jamaica Plain. Two vacant lots located on underutilized will be razed this June to make way for two new buildings that will include 8,300 square feet of ground floor commercial space plus 64 new units of affordable housing, 15 of which will be dedicated to formerly homeless individuals and families through a unique collaboration with Pine Street Inn.

Urban Edge has teamed with ICON Architecture, SAR Engineering, McPhail Associates and others to pursue an integrated design approach that will result in a "greener" project consistent with the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leader in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) guidelines. With this grant, Urban Edge will be able to put those ideas into action to attain renewable energy, energy efficiency, and sustainable design objectives.

"Our recognition of these global impacts can be seen in our commitment to revitalizing urban neighborhoods, reactivating brownfield sites, being sensitive to the disproportionate rates of asthma in the population we serve, and making it our priority to reduce the dependence on conventional energy in order to lower the energy cost burden on our tenants," says Maslan.

The Egleston Crossing Groundbreaking Ceremony, with featuring Mayor Thomas M. Menino, is scheduled for June 28, 2003 at 11 a.m. in Egleston Square.

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