Grow Community solar program highlighted in Kitsap Business Journal

Grow Community’s groundbreaking solar program got some great press this week in a Kitsap Peninsula Business Journal feature. Read it here.

The KPBJ gives a comprehensive look at the incentives that make Washington solar such a great deal, using Grow Community as a case study. The journal highlights Blue Frog's Solar’s Simple Solar program, which makes it easier than ever to make the move to energy self-sufficiency. Blue Frog provides the advanced microinverter technology integral to each Grow Community home solar system.

As the Business Journal notes:

Blue Frog is collaborating on the largest residential solar project in Kitsap County — Bainbridge Island’s Grow Community, a project of real estate development and investment firm Asani. It’s an example of effectively designing and building homes to accommodate rooftop solar panels.
“We knew from the outset that our goal was to create a net-zero community using solar,” says Marja Preston, senior director of development at Asani and owner of a solar home at Grow. “So everything there was designed, including the apartments, so we could get enough solar panels on the roof to provide all the energy needed for the homeowner.”

Thanks to the Kitsap Peninsula Business Journal and editor Tim Kelly for the great coverage!

Find out more about Simple Solar here.

Grow Community’s groundbreaking solar program got some great press this week in a Kitsap Peninsula Business Journal feature. Read it here.
The KPBJ gives a comprehensive look at the incentives that make Washington solar such a great deal, using Grow Community as a case study. The journal highlights Blue Frog’s Solar’s Simple Solar program, which makes it easier than ever to make the move to energy self-sufficiency. Blue Frog provides the advanced microinverter technology integral to each Grow Community home solar system.
As the Business Journal notes:

Blue Frog is collaborating on the largest residential solar project in Kitsap County — Bainbridge Island’s Grow Community, a project of real estate development and investment firm Asani. It’s an example of effectively designing and building homes to accommodate rooftop solar panels.
“We knew from the outset that our goal was to create a net-zero community using solar,” says Marja Preston, senior director of development at Asani and owner of a solar home at Grow. “So everything there was designed, including the apartments, so we could get enough solar panels on the roof to provide all the energy needed for the homeowner.”

Thanks to the Kitsap Peninsula Business Journal and editor Tim Kelly for the great coverage! Find out more about Simple Solar here.
- See more at: http://blog.growbainbridge.com/grow-community-solar-program-highlighted-in-kitsap-business-journal/#sthash.PIAyE0Pa.dpuf

CNN lauds Bainbridge Island Museum of Art among nation’s best

The Bainbridge Island Museum of Art, developed by Asani, gets a shout-out from CNN this week, named one of America’s Best Small-Town Museums.

"BIMA's curators aren't concerned with any big-city competition,” the writer notes. "They've honed in with a laser-like focus on contemporary fine arts and crafts from a very small radius: the Kitsap and Olympic peninsulas and the Western Puget Sound region ... in a dazzling glass building that reflects the region's eco-friendly spirit.”

A small town like Bainbridge Island is the perfect spot for a good art museum, CNN says, as "coastal hamlets, mountaintop villages and desert whistle-stops have inspired American artists for generations."

Read the whole story at CNN.com

Grow Community earns Built Green Hammer award for PHC Construction

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

August 22, 2014

SEATTLE - PHC Construction of Bainbridge Island has been honored as a 2014 Built Green Hammer award by the Master Builders Association.

The award recognizes Built Green members for outstanding projects from the previous year.

PHC Construction is being honored in the "Builder, Small Production" category for the Grow Community project in Winslow.

“We’re very honored to receive this prestigious recognition,” said Marty Sievertson, PHC Construction principal. “Our goal has been to make help make Grow Community the healthiest, most environmentally friendly project possible, and to show what’s possible in sustainable construction. This award is a great endorsement of how a sustainable project can be a success.”

The eight-acre Grow Community is the largest planned solar community in Washington state, with ultra-efficient, net-zero energy homes, neighborhood gardens and green spaces, healthy transportation options and other sustainable features. The community offers intentional, intergenerational living and a new "aging in place" focus on accessibility.

The project's first phase, the Village, is nearing completion, with groundbreaking this past week on its next two neighborhoods, the Grove and the Park.

Built Green is a program of the Master Builders Association in partnership with local counties.

The program is designed to help homebuyers find quality, affordable homes that offer opportunities to protect the health of their families and the Northwest environment. Built Green homes are designed to provide homeowners with comfortable, durable, environmentally friendly homes that are cost-effective to own and maintain. 

The award will be presented at the 2014 Built Green Conference, Sept. 18 in Seattle.

Site preparation work gets under way this week at new Grow Community Grove and Park neighborhoods

We’ll do our best to keep the dust down, and the noise. But bear with us for a few days, and we think you’ll like what comes next.

Site preparation work gets under way this week at our new Grove and Park neighborhoods, beginning with removal of the old military housing along John Adams Way. We’ll be recycling as much of the material as we can, although lead paint unfortunately will prevent reuse of some debris. You’ll also see some tree harvesting around the five-acre site, but significant stands and individual trees will be retained for the new neighborhoods to come. Trees that are taken down will be salvaged by the good craftspeople of Bainbridge Island’s Coyote Wood Shop, to be milled and repurposed as fine furniture. Maybe for future homes in the Grove!
Next comes the good stuff. As part of site development, we’ll be planting more than 250 more trees tha n are lost. These healthy new specimens will define and enhance the Grove’s signature green corridors, help neighborhood stormwater retention, and play a big role in carbon sequestration for future generations.
We expect onsite tree salvage to go through the week, and demolition of old structures to run about a week after that. Watch this site for updates, and then look forward to watching the Grove neighborhood GROW.
- See more at: http://blog.growbainbridge.com/site-preparation-work-gets-under-way-this-week-at-our-new-grove-and-park-neighborhoods/#sthash.b60DdQ5G.dpuf

Site preparation work gets under way this week at the new Grove and Park neighborhoods, beginning with removal of the old military housing along John Adams Way.

We’ll be recycling as much of the material as we can, although lead paint unfortunately will prevent reuse of some debris. You’ll also see some tree harvesting around the five-acre site being performed by the good craftspeople of Bainbridge Island’s Coyote Wood Shop. These will be milled and repurposed as fine furniture. Maybe even to use in future homes in the Grove!

Next comes the good stuff. As part of site development, Grow will be  planting more than 210 new trees. These healthy new specimens will define and enhance the Grove’s signature green corridors, help neighborhood stormwater retention, and play a big role in carbon sequestration for future generations.

We expect onsite tree salvage to go through the week, and demolition of old structures to run about a week after that. Watch this blog for updates, and then look forward to watching the Grove neighborhood GROW.

Site preparation work gets under way this week at our new Grove and Park neighborhoods, beginning with removal of the old military housing along John Adams Way. We’ll be recycling as much of the material as we can, although lead paint unfortunately will prevent reuse of some debris. You’ll also see some tree harvesting around the five-acre site, but significant stands and individual trees will be retained for the new neighborhoods to come. Trees that are taken down will be salvaged by the good craftspeople of Bainbridge Island’s Coyote Wood Shop, to be milled and repurposed as fine furniture. Maybe for future homes in the Grove!
Next comes the good stuff. As part of site development, we’ll be planting more than 250 more trees tha n are lost. These healthy new specimens will define and enhance the Grove’s signature green corridors, help neighborhood stormwater retention, and play a big role in carbon sequestration for future generations.
We expect onsite tree salvage to go through the week, and demolition of old structures to run about a week after that. Watch this site for updates, and then look forward to watching the Grove neighborhood GROW.
- See more at: http://blog.growbainbridge.com/site-preparation-work-gets-under-way-this-week-at-our-new-grove-and-park-neighborhoods/#sthash.b60DdQ5G.dpuf

Site preparation work gets under way this week at our new Grove and Park neighborhoods, beginning with removal of the old military housing along John Adams Way. We’ll be recycling as much of the material as we can, although lead paint unfortunately will prevent reuse of some debris. You’ll also see some tree harvesting around the five-acre site, but significant stands and individual trees will be retained for the new neighborhoods to come. Trees that are taken down will be salvaged by the good craftspeople of Bainbridge Island’s Coyote Wood Shop, to be milled and repurposed as fine furniture. Maybe for future homes in the Grove!
Next comes the good stuff. As part of site development, we’ll be planting more than 250 more trees tha n are lost. These healthy new specimens will define and enhance the Grove’s signature green corridors, help neighborhood stormwater retention, and play a big role in carbon sequestration for future generations.
We expect onsite tree salvage to go through the week, and demolition of old structures to run about a week after that. Watch this site for updates, and then look forward to watching the Grove neighborhood GROW.
- See more at: http://blog.growbainbridge.com/site-preparation-work-gets-under-way-this-week-at-our-new-grove-and-park-neighborhoods/#sthash.b60DdQ5G.dpuf

Site preparation work gets under way this week at our new Grove and Park neighborhoods, beginning with removal of the old military housing along John Adams Way. We’ll be recycling as much of the material as we can, although lead paint unfortunately will prevent reuse of some debris. You’ll also see some tree harvesting around the five-acre site, but significant stands and individual trees will be retained for the new neighborhoods to come. Trees that are taken down will be salvaged by the good craftspeople of Bainbridge Island’s Coyote Wood Shop, to be milled and repurposed as fine furniture. Maybe for future homes in the Grove!
Next comes the good stuff. As part of site development, we’ll be planting more than 250 more trees tha n are lost. These healthy new specimens will define and enhance the Grove’s signature green corridors, help neighborhood stormwater retention, and play a big role in carbon sequestration for future generations.
We expect onsite tree salvage to go through the week, and demolition of old structures to run about a week after that. Watch this site for updates, and then look forward to watching the Grove neighborhood GROW.
- See more at: http://blog.growbainbridge.com/site-preparation-work-gets-under-way-this-week-at-our-new-grove-and-park-neighborhoods/#sthash.b60DdQ5G.dpuf

Site preparation work gets under way this week at our new Grove and Park neighborhoods, beginning with removal of the old military housing along John Adams Way. We’ll be recycling as much of the material as we can, although lead paint unfortunately will prevent reuse of some debris. You’ll also see some tree harvesting around the five-acre site, but significant stands and individual trees will be retained for the new neighborhoods to come. Trees that are taken down will be salvaged by the good craftspeople of Bainbridge Island’s Coyote Wood Shop, to be milled and repurposed as fine furniture. Maybe for future homes in the Grove!
Next comes the good stuff. As part of site development, we’ll be planting more than 250 more trees tha n are lost. These healthy new specimens will define and enhance the Grove’s signature green corridors, help neighborhood stormwater retention, and play a big role in carbon sequestration for future generations.
We expect onsite tree salvage to go through the week, and demolition of old structures to run about a week after that. Watch this site for updates, and then look forward to watching the Grove neighborhood GROW.
- See more at: http://blog.growbainbridge.com/site-preparation-work-gets-under-way-this-week-at-our-new-grove-and-park-neighborhoods/#sthash.b60DdQ5G.dpuf

Solar-powered Grow Community continues to blossom outside of Seattle

Green building guru Matt Hickman of the popular Mother Nature Network has a great writeup here about Grow Community phase 2, calling it “even more lovable” than phase 1!

 Mother Nature Network

Matt Hickman
Wed, Jul 09, 2014 at 02:36 PM

Bainbridge Island's fast-growing intentional community enters phase two with the unveiling of new intergenerational micro-neighborhoods where cars are out of sight, out of mind.

When I last checked in with Grow Community, an exceptionally sustainable residential development on Bainbridge Island, Wash., it consisted of nothing more than three net-zero energy model homes, a sales office, and a whole lot of well-deserved hype.

Now, nearly two years later, it's apparent that this beyond LEED-striving intentional community has gone through quite the growth spurt.

In the time since the first phase of Grow Community entered the sales process (and quickly sold out), the development’s maiden micro-neighborhood, the near-completed Village, has emerged as the largest solar-powered community in Washington State. And in addition to Grow Community and its developers, Asani Development, being the subject of a decent amount of local, national, and international press, one of the Village’s Jonathan Davis-designed panelized homes was featured prominently in Sherri Koones’ latest coffee table-ready modular building tome “Prefabulous World.” Fast Company went as far to deem the Village — and Grow Community, as a whole — as “arguably the most resilient – and healthiest” urban neighborhood in the entire United States.

While continuing to garner the accolades, Grow Community has announced plans to move ahead with phase two of the development, a phase that will see the creation of two new micro-neighborhoods, the Grove and the Park, along with a community center to join the Village.

Sales for homes at the Grove kicked off earlier this month with prices starting in the $400s.

What strikes me most about phase two of Grow Community is what a departure it is from phase one while managing to stay true to the development’s overall — and very much holistic —vision of creating a progressive yet totally laid-back eco-utopia driven by the rigorous framework established by One Planet Living’s Communities program.

Read the rest of the article here: http://www.mnn.com/your-home/remodeling-design/blogs/solar-powered-grow-community-continues-to-blossom-outside-of#ixzz370wjLaNj

Introducing the Grove & the Park

Urban living with nature at every doorstep.

Grow Community’s first neighborhood, the Village, set a new standard for comfortable, sustainable urban living with its cluster of beautifully designed, energy-efficient single-family homes. Now come the Grove and the Park, two new neighborhoods of high-quality, sustainable homes surrounding lush public greens and a shared community center. The garden spaces, healthy transportation options and low-carbon designs of the Village are here too — along with those solar-ready roofs -- this time in a thoughtful new mix of designs including townhomes and single-level homes. 

The Grove and the Park also promote intergenerational living. Sixty percent of the homes will be fully accessible, and the community center will invite year-round sharing among our current and future residents over many generations.  

Very soon we will begin pre-selling homes in the Grove and are opening a sales office at 180 Olympic Drive SE on Bainbridge Island - just a 2 minute walk from the ferry terminal. We invite you to come and learn about this beautiful new phase of Grow Community. 

We hope you'll join us for our Grand Opening weekend - July 12 & 13th, 12-5pm. 

 

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Bainbridge's Gateway development ready to welcome people to Winslow - Kitsap Sun

By Tad Sooter
Posted April 20, 2014 at 5:19 p.m.

BAINBRIDGE ISLAND — A familiar bakery and a new tavern are among the businesses setting up shop this spring on Bainbridge Island’s busiest street corner.

Contractors are putting finishing touches on the last building in the Island Gateway development at Winslow Way and Highway 305. Interior finish work, driveway paving, landscaping and signage are all that remain to complete the five-year project, said Andrew Lonseth of development firm Asani.

Photo by Meegan M. Reid, Kitsap Sun 

Andrew Lonseth talks about lights to illuminate the Eagle Harbor Market sign that is part of the Island Gateway development at Winslow Way and Highway 305.

Island Gateway already is home to the Bainbridge Island Museum of Art, Kids Discovery Museum and tech firm Avalara. The final two-story building on Winslow Way is filling fast.

Bainbridge Bakers, a popular café in Winslow Green, will open a second location this week on the ground floor. The bakery will be joined in late June by the Ale House on Winslow, a planned craft beer taproom. Avalara expanded into the top floor of the building. A rooftop event deck will be available for rent.

Photo by Meegan M. Reid, Kitsap Sun

Andrew Lonseth exits the rooftop Thursday of the Island Gateway development on Bainbridge Island.

One street-front retail space in the building remains to be filled. Lonseth said he is in discussions with several potential tenants but nothing has been finalized.

“We’d like a tenant that brings interest and excitement,” Lonseth said. “It’s important to us that we have a destination community.”

Bainbridge Bakers owner Mike Loudon said he’d had his eye on the corner location since well before the Gateway project broke ground.

“It’s the realization of a pretty long dream,” Loudon said Friday.

The new Bainbridge Bakers has seating for 85. Like the original location, it serves coffee, baked goods and food. Beer and wine will be added to the mix later this year.

The café also can double as a venue for theatrical and musical performances. Loudon, an avid community theater booster, said seating can be rearranged to accommodate 150 guests.

“I’m so excited about having it filled with music and people and light,” he said. “It’s going to be something pretty special for the island.”

Bakery customers might well mosey next door after those evening performances. The neighboring Ale House on Winslow aims to fill a niche as a craft beer taproom and late-night hangout.

Photo by Meegan M. Reid, Kitsap Sun

Andrew Lonseth talks Thursday about the remaining construction to take place in the space that will house the Ale House on Winslow in the Island Gateway development on Bainbridge Island.

Travis Samson, one of four partners in the venture, said the Ale House will be outfitted with 16 taps and a wide variety of bottled beer and wine. They plan to stock a large number of local brews, alongside a sampling of domestic brands and a few imports.

“I’d like to make Bainbridge more of a destination for beer geeks,” Samson said. “Our overall goal is to have a beer there for everyone,”

Samson, 27, worked at Silver City Brewery before deciding to go into business with a group of college friends. They still have ambitions to start a microbrewery in Seattle, but Samson said the chance to create a tavern in the Island Gateway was too good to pass up.

Photo by Meegan M. Reid, Kitsap Sun

The Ale House on Winslow sign Thursday adorns one of the windows of the Island Gateway development at Winslow Way and Highway 305.

“It’s literally the first thing you’ll see coming off the ferry,” he said.

The Gateway project rapidly transformed the island’s main entry over the past five years, filling the 5-acre corner with a cluster of distinctly modern structures.

The final building in the development was constructed on the site of the Eagle Harbor Market, a small grocery opened by the Nakata family in the 1940s. The new Gateway building now bears the same name.

“It’s a little historical gesture,” Lonseth said.

Read the article here: http://www.kitsapsun.com/news/2014/apr/20/bainbridges-gateway-development-ready-to-welcome/#ixzz2zg20panI