Ceiba Groupe Goes Green
Stephen Evanko
As a real estate development firm that prides itself on building legacy commercial and residential projects, Ceiba Groupe is always working hard to protect and preserve the identity and environment of long-established communities. Building green projects is one of the company’s top priorities because buildings in the US account for 72% of electricity consumption and 38% of all carbon dioxide (CO2). We sat down with Dominion Due Diligence Group’s Stephen Evanko, who is consulting with us on ID Flagler Village, to learn more about what it means to go green and how he helps companies such as Ceiba Groupe, reduce their environmental footprint.
What role does Dominion Due Diligence Group play in helping developers go green?
Our firm guides lenders, borrowers, general contractors, design professionals and equity partners through HUD’s green financing programs. We also help multi-family developers, such as Ceiba Groupe, through the process of becoming in compliance with the National Green Building Standard. The standard provides independent, third-party verification that a home, apartment building, or land development is designed and built to achieve high performance in six key areas. These areas include site design, resource efficiency, water efficiency, energy efficiency, indoor environmental quality, and building operation & maintenance.
What is the motivation for a developer to implement green initiatives? What’s the payoff for every stakeholder?
It’s a triple win for every stakeholder. It puts more quality control in the building process and ensures you’ll have a better building that will last longer. For tenants, they will pay less in utility bills and live in a building with better air quality. It’s also a win for the environment and the community. The National Green Building certification is really a seal stating that it’s a great building.
How are you working with Ceiba Groupe?
Ceiba wants to deliver a high-quality and environmentally friendly project for their tenants and the community. We are consulting with them to ensure their project, ID Flagler Village, is in compliance with the National Green Building Standard. It begins with site considerations and how the developer plans to excavate the site, including implementing storm water pollution prevention plans. It also involves protecting the trees on the site, minimizing the time that soil is exposed, taking care of the neighboring sites around you, and recycling your construction waste. Additionally, we inspect the building as it’s being built and engage Ceiba as an architect would throughout the entire process. There are two main inspection points. One before the drywall is installed to make sure that the air ducts and building shell are properly sealed. The other point of inspection is to make sure green practices are in place. For example, Ceiba’s ID Flagler Village has highly efficient heating and cooling systems, high efficiency lighting packages, ENERGY STAR certified appliances, low-flow water fixtures, and high-quality insulation in the walls. We then have a final inspection and verification on the property.
Our role also involves tenant education which includees putting together literature to educate them on the taking care of their unit from replacing filters in heating and cooling systems, as well as educating them on how to use programmable thermostats.
As a real estate development firm that prides itself on building legacy commercial and residential projects, Ceiba Groupe is always working hard to protect and preserve the identity and environment of long-established communities. Building green projects is one of the company’s top priorities because buildings in the US account for 72% of electricity consumption and 38% of all carbon dioxide (CO2). We sat down with Dominion Due Diligence Group’s Stephen Evanko, who is consulting with us on ID Flagler Village, to learn more about what it means to go green and how he helps companies such as Ceiba Groupe, reduce their environmental footprint.
What role does Dominion Due Diligence Group play in helping developers go green?
Our firm guides lenders, borrowers, general contractors, design professionals and equity partners through HUD’s green financing programs. We also help multi-family developers, such as Ceiba Groupe, through the process of becoming in compliance with the National Green Building Standard. The standard provides independent, third-party verification that a home, apartment building, or land development is designed and built to achieve high performance in six key areas. These areas include site design, resource efficiency, water efficiency, energy efficiency, indoor environmental quality, and building operation & maintenance.
What is the motivation for a developer to implement green initiatives? What’s the payoff for every stakeholder?
It’s a triple win for every stakeholder. It puts more quality control in the building process and ensures you’ll have a better building that will last longer. For tenants, they will pay less in utility bills and live in a building with better air quality. It’s also a win for the environment and the community. The National Green Building certification is really a seal stating that it’s a great building.
How are you working with Ceiba Groupe?
Ceiba wants to deliver a high-quality and environmentally friendly project for their tenants and the community. We are consulting with them to ensure their project, ID Flagler Village, is in compliance with the National Green Building Standard. It begins with site considerations and how the developer plans to excavate the site, including implementing storm water pollution prevention plans. It also involves protecting the trees on the site, minimizing the time that soil is exposed, taking care of the neighboring sites around you, and recycling your construction waste. Additionally, we inspect the building as it’s being built and engage Ceiba as an architect would throughout the entire process. There are two main inspection points. One before the drywall is installed to make sure that the air ducts and building shell are properly sealed. The other point of inspection is to make sure green practices are in place. For example, Ceiba’s ID Flagler Village has highly efficient heating and cooling systems, high efficiency lighting packages, ENERGY STAR certified appliances, low-flow water fixtures, and high-quality insulation in the walls. We then have a final inspection and verification on the property.
Our role also involves tenant education which includees putting together literature to educate them on the taking care of their unit from replacing filters in heating and cooling systems, as well as educating them on how to use programmable thermostats.
