-June 2010 – Fairmount Avenue Development Moving Full Speed Ahead
Posted on 16. Jun, 2010 by admin in News Archive
Chattanooga Housing Authority Moving Full Speed Ahead
On $4.5 Million Fairmount Development
June 16, 2010 – Chattanooga Housing Authority officials will have a bid opening on June 30 for its Fairmount Avenue development, which has an estimated total development cost of $4.5 million. The North Chattanooga-area housing complex is being designed to comply with Enterprise Green Communities criteria, which address specific aspects of design, development and operations such as energy efficiency and the use of materials beneficial to the environment.
“CHA is not only continuing to carry out our mission of providing safe, sanitary and affordable housing with Fairmount, but we’re aggressively seeking LEED certification through the U.S. Green Building Council to make this community as environmentally-friendly as possible,” said Naveed Minhas, CHA’s vice president of development.
Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design is an internationally recognized green building certification system, providing third-party verification that a building or community was designed and built using strategies aimed at improving performance across specific metrics.
The 18-unit, 23,000 square-feet Fairmount development is being designed by a local firm, Hefferlin + Kronenberg Architects. It will feature nine three-bedroom units and nine two-bedroom units. Minhas said the building’s exterior will be clad with white lapboard siding, and will incorporate energy efficient windows and doors while the interior design will boast of stained concrete floors and environmentally friendly linoleum flooring, as well as wood veneer cabinetry.
The townhome-style development will also include Kynar-coated standing seam metal roofs. “The roofing facing south of the development will incorporate photovoltaic panels to provide 10 percent of the site’s total estimated energy demand,” Minhas said. He added that the rainwater collected from the roofs will be diverted to an underground cistern and reused on the site as irrigation for all the landscaping, which consists of either native or non-invasive plant species.
Officials added that the Fairmount development will also have three all-weather pathways leading down from the housing site and connecting to Dallas Road, Mississippi Avenue and Forest Avenue. This will provide residents and the surrounding neighborhood with better access to adjacent amenities.
CHA Executive Director Elizabeth F. McCright said an important component of the Fairmount development is an upward mobility plan for the residents living there.
“We want to attract working families and other residents who are willing to take part in our Family Self-Sufficiency Program,” Mrs. McCright said. “Through FSS, we will help residents set short-term and long-term goals in terms of employment, education and even homeownership.”
A North Chattanooga area residents’ group is also on board with the Fairmount development.
“We are very pleased that the Chattanooga Housing Authority and the City, especially Mayor Ron Littlefield and Councilwoman Deborah Scott, worked with us over the last year to develop a project that should serve CHA residents well, and respects the many concerns expressed by residents of the surrounding neighborhood,” said Pete Lapina of Friends of Fairmount. “We look forward to watching this project proceed as it has been described by CHA, and meeting our new neighbors once the project is completed.”
CHA was awarded a $3.9 million grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to demolish the existing Fairmount Avenue Apartments and build 18 townhomes on the property. In addition to these federal funds, CHA and the City of Chattanooga will provide additional funding. Officials expect construction to start in early September with a tentative completion date of March 2012.