一个Texas-based real estate developer hopes to break ground late next year on a 4,500-unit net-zero-ready community in Fort Collins, Colorado. It would be the largest development of its kind in the U.S.

Every house in the development would be built to meet certification requirements of the U.S. Department of Energy’s零能源准备住房program. Houses will have to satisfy许多水和能源效率基准and indoor air quality standards.

该项目的开发商称为Montava，是HF2M，这是一家位于德克萨斯州Round Rock的私有房地产开发公司。蒙塔瓦（Montava）将建于860英亩的未开发土地上，距离柯林斯堡市中心仅几英里。

HF2M科罗拉多州总裁马克斯·莫斯（Max Moss）在电话中说，蒙塔瓦（Montava）最多可能需要25年才能完成。完成后，该开发项目将包括一个占地40英亩的有机农场，其自己的学校系统，与柯林斯堡（Fort Collins）一起开发的区域公园以及零售店和餐馆。

“Everything we’re doing is being done somewhere well, but it’s not being done in one place,” Moss said. “And that’s what’s unique about this project. It’s pretty exciting.”

该项目的关键是一种称为“新城市主义”的社区规划方法，旨在最大程度地减少郊区的蔓延并减轻发展的环境影响。为此，蒙塔瓦（Montava）将借鉴DPZ的经验，DPZ是一家计划公司数十个大型项目值得称赞。

莫斯说，该项目不会像典型的郊区住房发展一样。

“It’s going to be a very craftsman-feel community that is really focused and oriented toward pedestrians and people and not cars,” he said. “We’re pulling houses closer to the street, [there will be] sidewalks, front porches and a wide variety of housing types — like we used to build into communities 50 years ago.”

If all goes well — and there are still significant hurdles to clear — HF2 M could start building by the third quarter of 2019.

Two builders will be involved

开发人员将利用两家公司的建设经验，曼德勒房屋andThrive Home Builders，这两者都集中在节能设计上。

该公司的首席技术官杰夫·费雷尔（Geoff Ferrell）表示，曼德勒仅建造零能源现成的房屋。这家总部位于亚利桑那州的公司去年生产了208家，并且在工程中拥有相当大的零能源准备开发 - 一个2900个单位的项目，名为Jasper，在亚利桑那州普雷斯科特谷地。

费雷尔说，莫斯（Moss）由于参与了零能源准备房屋计划而与该公司联系，并询问是否可以为整个社区扩大其建筑房屋的方法。

“可以应用于商业建筑，农场或社区中心吗？”费雷尔说。“您如何采用该概念并将其超越地段，并将其带到社区的各个方面？”

Ferrell表示，HF2M的提议相当于从头开始建立一个可持续的社区，这将证明在这种规模的发展中，环境足迹有多大的光线。

曼德勒的房屋开始转换为零能量准备就绪的商业模式，此前凤凰城要求其所有者戴夫·埃弗森（Dave Everson）完成了一些废弃的住宅项目，而费雷尔（Ferrell）称之为“僵尸社区”。随着时间的流逝，该公司完全进入了高效建筑领域。

一个t first, it cost the company $4.50 to $6 per square foot more to build a house that would earn a HERS rating of 50 when compared to a house that simply met current codes. Today, Ferrell said, Mandalay can build a house with a HERS rating of 46 or 47 for almost the same cost as a house built to the Energy Star standard.

“We don’t do anything exotic,” he said. “We’re not reinventing wheels here. We’re taking products off the shelf — better insulation, better HVAC equipment, better ventilation equipment.”

He said the company’s marketing strategy is to emphasize the money that prospective owners will be able to save every month, which translates into more money to spend on amenities.

“When you don’t make people choose between granite [counters] and energy efficiency, that’s a really powerful proposition,” he said. “Our goal has been to drive the cost of our houses down to the point where we can just offer [a low HERS score] as standard. We don’t offer optional energy anything. Our home comes the way it comes.”

拥抱社区价值观

莫斯说，蒙塔瓦社区背后的思想发生了部分发展，部分原因是该市据说在能源和水效的物业上开发住房，并融入了某种类型的农业。

一个主要计划submitted to the city late last year cited the developer’s “early engagement” with city officials, local utility, and adjacent landowners and noted a week-long design charette had covered a variety of issues.

他说：“城市关心的许多价值观我们已经找到了要完成的机制。”“我们有很棒的农业伙伴，建造零就绪的房屋的建筑商以及DPZ制定的一项伟大计划。许多事情以一种真正整洁的方式融合在一起，可以使该国其他任何地方都没有做任何事情。”

他说侯Montava将包括一个广泛的范围sing types and price ranges, from “tiny homes” all the way to large, custom-built houses. “But the bulk of what you have to deliver is what the market is crying out for,” he added. “Our challenge is not to build something and hope people buy. It’s to build what the market wants.”

一个t least one big roadblock remains

对该项目的一个潜在严重威胁是，柯林斯堡市议会延迟批准一种资金机制，该机制将帮助开发商支付街道和水线的费用。

根据科罗拉多州的一篇文章, the council earlier this month decided to delay a decision on sending a measure creating a metro district in the area to voters. Some councilors were concerned about how a metro district would affect plans for affordable housing.

Once metro districts are created, residents pay higher taxes until public improvements are paid off. HF2M has asked that the metro district pay $203 million out of an estimated $325 million needed for infrastructure construction, the newspaper said, which would increase property taxes by an estimated $2,000 for a median-priced house until the debt is paid off.

If the council’s delay pushes a city vote to November 2019, the project “absolutely” would be in trouble, Moss said.

“Every substantial development in Colorado has a metro district for a reason,” he told the newspaper. “It’s not because of greedy developers. It’s because of the risk of residential development and the way they’re financed. They can’t be done without them. It’s just that simple.”

The council is scheduled to take up the issue again later this month.