SEATTLE–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Sustainable Living Innovations (SLI) joined Downtown Emergency Service Center (DESC) today in announcing the groundbreaking of DESC Green Lake, a five-story, 124-unit apartment building at 8610 Aurora Avenue North in Seattle.
DESC released a “virtual groundbreaking” video that is viewable by clicking here.
SLI is serving as the design-build partner to DESC, a national leader in implementing innovative and cost-effective strategies that end homelessness. DESC and SLI won a competitive bidding process from the Seattle Office of Housing for the DESC Green Lake project.
DESC Green Lake is SLI’s first building constructed using the company’s low-rise technology, which eliminates the need for external structural steel for the support of the structure, and instead uses the strength of its premanufactured load-bearing panels to support the building.
When complete, the building will feature 24/7 supportive services and indoor/outdoor community spaces for the tenants, all single adults who are disabled and who have experienced long-term homelessness. DESC will continue to own and operate the building after completion.
SLI’s low-rise technology enables projects like DESC Green Lake to go up faster than conventionally built buildings and to operate with more energy efficiency as well. The building will include many aspects of SLI’s technology-enabled systems including roof top solar, greywater plumbing, waste heat recovery, ultra-efficient air conditioning and other “smart home” features. SLI is using similar technologies in its current construction of 303 Battery in Seattle’s Belltown neighborhood.
“We are honored to partner with DESC on this project and appreciate the faith both DESC and the Seattle Office of Housing have put in our innovative building system. Homelessness in Seattle is a crisis and Daniel Malone, Sondra Nielsen and their team at DESC is at the forefront of solving the problem, in partnership with the team at Seattle Office of Housing,” said Arlan Collins, CEO of SLI. “Using our building technology to serve some of our most vulnerable community members allows SLI the opportunity to help make our great city a better place. The faster we can build this type of housing, the quicker we can help to provide a pathway out of homelessness.”
Absher Construction and SLI have formed a joint venture to handle the general contracting responsibilities.
“This innovative building from SLI will become DESC’s 17th supportive housing project providing comprehensive wrap-around services to help our tenants stabilize and begin to live fuller lives,” said DESC Executive Director Daniel Malone. “DESC is proud to have continued working throughout the chaos of the pandemic to build more supportive housing and help calm the chaos in the lives of those who are experiencing homelessness.”
“DESC is excited about partnering with SLI on this inventive new building type that will work to serve our goals of ending homelessness while providing high-quality energy-efficient housing,” said DESC Director of Facilities and Asset Management Sondra Nielsen. “We continue to pioneer Housing First and what that means, especially from a building technologies standpoint.”
About Sustainable Living Innovations
Sustainable Living Innovations (SLI) is a building technology and product development company that is disrupting the world’s largest addressable market by reimagining how buildings are designed, built, and operated. The company is revolutionizing the built environment by producing technology-enabled finished buildings that exceed the world’s most stringent sustainability standards and also help solve the affordable housing crisis. SLI designs, develops, and manufactures complete technology-enabled buildings using proprietary, high-performance building panels complete with integrated mechanical, electrical, plumbing, fire safety and network systems infrastructure. SLI’s finished buildings are more sustainable, as well as faster to design and complete versus conventional buildings. The company employs more than 80 people with offices in Seattle and Denver and operates a showroom in Seattle and a manufacturing facility in Tacoma, Washington.
303 Battery
In addition to DESC Green Lake, SLI is currently building the world’s most sustainable high-rise apartment building. 303 Battery, located in downtown Seattle’s Belltown neighborhood, will be the world’s first multifamily tower to meet the stringent net zero energy requirements set by the International Living Future Institute’s Living Building Challenge program, the same organization that certified Seattle’s Bullitt Center. Features include solar on the building’s roof, exterior walls and balconies in each unit, greywater and waste heat recovery systems, ultra-efficient hydronic heating and cooling systems, regenerative elevator motors, distributed DC power systems, and SLI’s advanced network systems and data management platform to ensure optimal building operations.
303 Battery will be complete this fall and has been pre-sold to Equity Residential (NYSE: EQR). Equity Residential is an S&P 500 company focused on the acquisition, development and management of rental apartment properties located in urban and high-density suburban markets.
Contacts
Suzette Riley, sriley@cplusc.com; 206-409-1960
