Triple bottom line for crowdsourced building
The Bearden Arts Building, a crowdsourced development (restored building in front, new building in back) in the once bustling/now revitalizing H Street/Atlas District of Washington DC, has released the following triple bottom line goals, co-developed by its beta community, as a causal benchmark for any development:
Financial/Economic
The Bearden Arts Building will meet required member rates of return, serve as an appreciating investment for its homeowners, and provide a revenue source for strategic environmental organization partners. The project will demonstrate that urban-infill ‘green’ residential condominiums can be attainably priced and profitable with or without the use of government subsidy, serving as a model suitable to be widely replicated in other locations.
Social
The Bearden Arts Building will deliver attainably-priced contemporary residential condominiums to the H Street, NE corridor, contributing to the ongoing neighborhood revitalization while acknowledging its culture, heritage and history. The project will be crowdsourced, allowing future owners to participate in the design and development process from the beginning. The retail tenant will be a locally-owned, independent business, with attainably-priced coworking office space for start-ups and growing small businesses above.
Environmental
The Bearden Arts Building will be built using sustainable design and construction practices based on the Green Communities Criteria, specifically created for attainably-priced developments. As a model of elegant and practical green living, the residences will be efficiency style units with low carbon footprints. Parking spaces will be reduced compared to new housing developments, resulting in more residents that walk, ride bicycles, take the bus or metro, and use short-term rentals (Smartbike, Zipcar).
Btw, when they say ‘attainably-priced’, they mean it. In a city where any new housing unit starts at $300K, the objective here is to provide homes beginning at under $200K, partly inspired by Cubix Yerba Buena in San Francisco.
Follow this project’s story here when the developer was first introduced to the idea of crowdsourcing and here when they assigned that process to a project.
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