Denver recently ranked as the fifth “Greenest” city in North America by Siemens. With B-cycle programs, amazing walk scores, and LEED buildings (like the SPIRE), we knew we’d stand out. “”We see a lot of exemplary things that are happening in Denver,” said Alison Taylor, Siemens’ vice-president for sustainability. “The city has very clean and efficient energy policies and a robust environmental governance performance — it’s not just having plans on paper, but also plans that have teeth; plans that are effective with enforcement behind them.”

The study was conducted by Siemens and the Economist Intelligence Unit. They rated 27 cities throughout American based on environmental criteria in nine areas ranging from land use to buildings.  Denver finished first in energy consumption and governance. This is great news because more and more people are moving from the suburbs and into cities. Urbanization is not a trend, it’s the future. A more sustainable, greener future.

Denver Urban Gardens—a.k.a. “DUG”—is an urban gardens initiative 25 years in the making, whose solve vision is to develop a thriving and connected network of deeply-rooted community gardens, conceived of, cultivated and supported by local residents and institutions throughout the urban neighborhoods of Metro Denver. In 2010, DUG broke ground on its 100th community garden, and in its 25 years DUG has become a community focus for producing food, fostering neighborhood activities and hosting education programs for over 32,000 individuals annually. Visit the DUG website today for any number of resources on how to get involved, and click HERE to find the nearest community garden to you and see where you can start getting your hands dirty!

An event worth mentioning is DUG’s upcoming GreenShots2, an evening celebrating urban agriculture, gardening, and community on Wednesday, June 22. In addition providing a chance to meet others with a passion for gardening and urban agriculture, this year’s GreenShoots event will feature documentary film screenings with appetizers and drinks at Root Down in Denver, a fantastic restaurant and supporter of community agriculture!

Re:Farm Denver is a non-profit initiative aimed at educating families in underserved areas on the process of urban farming. The initiative is expected to reach 80 families in west Denver this year, up from 38 last year. Read more on the topic in this interview from Matthew Rodriguez at YourHub.com: http://ow.ly/4WL7U

Perhaps the initiative that gets today’s reward for most interesting and innovative is the Denver Urban Truck Farm. Inspired by a similar project in Brooklyn, the Denver Urban Truck Farm was started in 2010 by two Landscape Architecture graduate students and highlights the growing trend of urban agriculture in a unique and mobile form. The Farm is constructed in the bed of a 1966 Ford F-250 pickup truck and provides approximately 40 square feet of growing space. Food crops for 2011 will include tomatoes, peppers, broccoli, lettuces, radishes, leafy greens, and a variety of herbs. The Farm will include two crops, a spring cool season crop of lettuces, greens, radishes, and broccoli, and a summer warm season crop of tomatoes, peppers, and other hardy vegetables and herbs. All crops will be grown organically from seed. The Denver Urban Truck Farm will be participating in several local events in 2011, including the Old South Pearl Street farmer’s market on Sundays, and the Civic Center Eats Lunchtime Market on Tuesdays and Thursdays throughout the summer.

Which brings us to our final point. If the concept of urban gardens is something that you want to support, but you don’t necessarily have the green-thumb gene, might we suggest heading to one of the various farmers markets that bear the fruit of these urban gardens’ labor. Here is a great list of farmers markets opening in the spring/summer months, courtesy of Yelp, Denver: http://ow.ly/4WN8E

Can’t make tomorrow’s swap? No need to worry, next up is the Colorado Spring’s Bike Swap running April 25 – April 29. May’s line-up inlcludes swaps in Boulder, Littleton and Wetminster. You can see the full schedule on Village Bicycles website at http://bicyclevillage.com/.

We thought we would share this article from The Atlantic titled “City Limits: A Conversation With Edward Glaeson” talking about how Skyscrapers and High Rises benefit cities. Here is a quick excerpt..

Edward Glaeser is high on cities. Very high, in fact. In “How Skyscrapers Can Save The City” (The Atlantic, February 2011) the Harvard economist puts the high-rise at the heart of a newly accessible, affordable, vital and sustainable metropolis. The city that doesn’t build up must build out, Glaeser points out, sucking up resources, lengthening commutes and putting pressure on undeveloped land. He sees densely populated, vertical cities not only as environmentally responsible, but as engines of innovation and prosperity — and the best hope for developing nations. Yet in cities around the world, Glaser’s lofty vision has bumped up against height limits and restrictive permitting. He spoke with The Atlantic from his home outside Boston about how measures aimed at saving cities may actually threaten their survival.

Read more…

We have blogged about how SPIRE is a LEED® certified residential project, and of course we love to share all the great details about how SPIRE is a sustainable project such as…

LEED metrics are focused on energy savings, water efficiency, CO2 emissions reduction, improved indoor environmental quality and stewardship of resources and sensitivity to their impacts. Some of SPIRE’s sustainable features include:

• Over 90% of all regularly occupied spaces provide direct line of sight views and access to daylight
• 100% Green Power, renewable energy contract to provide renewable electricity for the building
• 61.4% reduction in potable water consumption from a calculated baseline by using native plants, drip irrigation and moisture sensors
• 26.5% reduction in potable water use due to utilization of reduced-flow lavatory, kitchen sink faucets, shower heads, dual flush toilets, and waterless urinals
• Improved Indoor Environmental Quality through enhanced air filtration, low-emitting materials for paint, coatings and carpets
• Commitment to recycling with a dedicated single stream recycling chute located on all occupied floors
• Transportation options that augment a 97/100 walk score (one of the highest scores in Denver) include 180+ bike racks, motor scooter and motorcycle parking, discounts on Low Emission Vehicle Parking spaces, Connect by Hertz car sharing service located in the ground and adjacency to RTD light rail and the city’s B-Cycle program

But we also wanted to share with our new SPIRE homeowners, neighbors and friends some of the great sustainable living options you can enjoy as well. And since air quality is one of the LEED® criteria,  it seems only appropriate that we look at one great way to improve the air quality within your home… a natural mattress. It just so happens that one of the best known distributors of natural sleep mattresses is based right here in Denver. The Natural Sleep Store offers organic mattresses, pillows, and linens along with a whole list of reasons why sustainable beds are a great choice.

Move into your sustainable building with a sustainable bed and enjoy a great night’s sleep at SPIRE.

To learn more about SPIRE and our LEED® certified building please contact our sales center at 720-457-7550.

As we mentioned in our earlier post, this past weekend SPIRE was flooded with folks who wanted to learn more about our amazing residences in the heart of Denver.

What is it about living downtown that attracts so many people?  It’s many things, but this article from the Wall Street Journal takes a closer look at the home preferences of Generation Y.

SPIRE offers the best of both worlds.  Our homeowners get to have all the great features of a larger home including…

• Swimming pools
• Spas
• Movie theater room
• Guest Suites
• Sports zone
• Lounge areas
• Outdoor gas ranges
• Fire pit

Plus of course the location gives SPIRE homeowners all the benefits of living downtown including a lifestyle of walking, biking, or taking public transportation to enjoy Denver’s many restaurants, shops, and amenities.

Here is an excerpt from the Wall Street Journal Article “No McMansions for Millennials“.

Gen Y housing preferences are the subject of at least two panels at this week’s convention. A key finding: They want to walk everywhere. Surveys show that 13% carpool to work, while 7% walk, said Melina Duggal, a principal with Orlando-based real estate adviser RCLCO. A whopping 88% want to be in an urban setting, but since cities themselves can be so expensive, places with shopping, dining and transit such as Bethesda and Arlington in the Washington suburbs will do just fine.

“One-third are willing to pay for the ability to walk,” Ms. Duggal said. “They don’t want to be in a cookie-cutter type of development. …The suburbs will need to evolve to be attractive to Gen Y.”

Learn more about SPIRE or schedule your own private tour by contacting our sales center at 720-457-7550.

B-cycle finished its first year in the Denver area with great results. Colorado Public Radio had a great segment discussing the performance this year with the folks at B-cycle and they shared some thoughts on how the new bike sharing system performed.

One thing was clear… Denver residents love to bike. While B-cycle reported fewer full time commuting memberships than they were expecting,  the most popular usage turned out to be the occasional bike traveler. Whether that was a simple night out on the town commuting from one downtown Denver activity to another or just a trip out to dinner,  the single day usage statistics were the highest. With locations across Denver at prime spots the choices were many. For SPIRE residents this convenience was clear as we partnered with B-cycle from the beginning,  working with their team to ensure that a B-cycle station was located right next to SPIRE and exhibiting their first bike models in our original sales center (yes, the bike itself was always evolving for optimal design).

SPIRE, a LEED® certified car optional building, was planned to offer sustainable living options throughout its design. One of those factors included transportation,  and the location at 14th and Champa offers quick and easy access to the light rail station, the 16th Street shuttle, the Cherry Creek Trails, Connect By Hertz car share program in the building, and one of the first B-cycle stations.

Thank you to everyone at B-cycle for establishing this great bike sharing program! We also learned that plans are in the works to make B-cycle into a year round program.

To learn more about SPIRE or any of the LEED® certified benefits of SPIRE please contact our sales center at 720-457-7550.

Mmmmmmmmm… some nights nothing sounds better than a fresh delicious pizza.

It is truly one of the simplest pleasures.  Perhaps its the convenience of having a pizza delivered on a cold snowy night or the freedom to relax over dinner after a long day at work without the worry of cooking, or cleaning, or dressing up to go out.  Sometimes our best dinners are shared with friends while watching our favorite team in the big game or curling up on the couch with a great movie.

It’s for all of these reasons and more that we are excited to announce Organic Pizza Company will be one of our new SPIRE restaurants on the main level.   With delivery distances that can be completed with an elevator ride, we hope our homeowners will enjoy having pizza  delivered as fresh as if you were in the restaurant (or you can just take the elevator down and enjoy your slice at their location).

Organic Pizza  (as its name suggests) is focused on providing the best pizza around – by keeping everything they do “simple, eco-friendly, and customer focused”.  This includes the freshest ingredients and practices.

Organic Pizza fits in perfectly with SPIRE’s LEED® certified philosophy.  The Organic Pizza Company uses eco-friendly material in building their restaurants.   They focus on reducing packaging, purchase locally whenever possible, and are always looking for sustainable practices.

We like that.

Here is an excerpt from their website about Local Efforts

There is an amazing variety of organic and natural food grown close to home – so we work directly with local growers and suppliers to supply the meats, vegetables, fruits, cheese and other items we serve every day.

We feature Certified Organic ingredients – from independent farmers and growers within Colorado and around the United States. Getting foods close to home means fresher, better tasting meals while supporting the communities where we live and work.

We also work closely with businesses in our community that support sustainability and eco-friendly products and services.

We don’t want to forget to mention the most important part…. their pizzas are delicious!  Organic Pizza Company’s menu is full of many amazing Signature Pizzas and Salads.  There were too many that we loved at our tasting to pick just one. Here is a list of their signature pizzas:

http://organicpizzacompany.net/menu/#signature-pizzas

Organic Pizza Company, welcome to SPIRE and to the heart of Downtown Denver!

To learn more about the Organic Pizza Company read this great review in the Westword.   And to learn more about SPIRE, call 720.457.7550 or come by the sales office at 891 14th Street, Denver, CO 80202.

Whew, last weekend was busy.  With more than 300+ visitors to our SPIRE Summer Open House event it was an exciting weekend of building tours, free yoga classes, and free Jamba Juice.  Word of mouth about the many benefits of SPIRE must be spreading and we want to thank everyone who stopped by.  We also want to apologize.  It was such an incredible turnout that at about 3:00 pm we ran out of Jamba Juice.  We know some of you missed out on those delicious smoothies and we’d like to make it up to you. The first 100 people to stop by our Sales Center this weekend will receive a certificate for a free Classic Jamba Juice with a free boost.

Our team will also be available to take you on a tour of SPIRE and its many amenities that are part of focus on Healthy High Rise Living.  With two pools, two spas, fitness center, yoga floor and zen garden, SPIRE provides great facilities for our residents to enjoy.   With our great walkability (Walkscore of 100 out of 100) SPIRE is a “Walkers Paradise”.  The score is based upon SPIRE’s easy access to public transportation, shuttles, bike and walking paths, and the many entertainment and dining options within a few blocks.  In the heart of Downtown Denver and the Theater District our location offers residents the best of that our wonderful city of Denver has to offer.  So if you are out on a bike ride this weekend, checking out an exhibit or performance downtown, taking in an afternoon yoga class, or just window shopping downtown, please feel free to stop by our sales center at 891 14th street in the base of the building.  

Thank you and we wish everyone a wonderful weekend.  Here are some other weekend events you may want to check out while you are in the Neighborhood of SPIRE.

• Join the Denver Art Museum the final Friday of August for Untutled #32. With the King Tut exhibition in town, Untitled takes on ancient gold bling and all things Egyptian.
• Root Down Cooking Demos:  A journey into local cuisine at the Denver Public Library.
• Come join hundreds of your yogi friends every Sunday, 4 p.m. May 30 – Sep. 19 at Denver’s City Park for yoga, live music, socializing and FUN!)
• Comedy at the Bovine Metropolis at 8:00 pm Saturday with Left Right TIM.  Coming all the way from Boulder, Left Right TIM (LRT to those in the know) is made up entirely of University of Colorado students and alumni.

Cheers!