Kutzky Flats Condominiums
2011 Environmental Initiative Awards
Kutzky Flats Condominiums
The Imagine Process in Kutzky Park Neighborhood represents a successful model for a comprehensive, community-derived revitalization strategy. While a single project does not make for revitalized neighborhood, and a single neighborhood does not make for a revitalized core, the sum of all of these projects, if well planned for maximum leverage, can create significant, permanent change. The Kutzky Flats project is an element of such a plan. This project creates four new homes; brings four new families of various incomes into the neighborhood; leverages and preserves one-time Federal funds; demonstrates a new housing concept; removes a blighted, foreclosed property; creates and preserves local construction jobs; removes an impediment to further investment; preserves the unique urban character of the neighborhood; minimizes the environmental impact of this new construction; minimizes the energy usage of these new homes; maximizes the indoor environmental quality for its residents; increases the number of employees within walking distance of downtown jobs; increases the number of consumers within walking distance of downtown businesses; and ultimately empowers neighborhood residents with real input into site selection and project design, and further community-generated goals for revitalization.
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About You
First Name
Adam
Last Name
Ferrari
Organization
First Homes Properties
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Project Name
Kutzky Flats Condominiums
Date of Project Completion
February 2011
Category
Sustainable Communities
Project Summary
The Imagine Process in Kutzky Park Neighborhood represents a successful model for a comprehensive, community-derived revitalization strategy. While a single project does not make for revitalized neighborhood, and a single neighborhood does not make for a revitalized core, the sum of all of these projects, if well planned for maximum leverage, can create significant, permanent change. The Kutzky Flats project is an element of such a plan. This project creates four new homes; brings four new families of various incomes into the neighborhood; leverages and preserves one-time Federal funds; demonstrates a new housing concept; removes a blighted, foreclosed property; creates and preserves local construction jobs; removes an impediment to further investment; preserves the unique urban character of the neighborhood; minimizes the environmental impact of this new construction; minimizes the energy usage of these new homes; maximizes the indoor environmental quality for its residents; increases the number of employees within walking distance of downtown jobs; increases the number of consumers within walking distance of downtown businesses; and ultimately empowers neighborhood residents with real input into site selection and project design, and further community-generated goals for revitalization.
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Partners
Who were the project partners? What role did each play in the partnership, and how did the partnership operate?
The project partners range from macro to micro scale. At their most granular level, the residents of the Kutzky Park Neighborhood are partners in achieving their vision for transformative change. They were organized through a long range planning process called "Imagine Kutzky." From that process, an Imagine Kutzky Citizen Council emerged to champion the Vision Plan that was produced. Imagine Kutzky, in conjunction with the Kuztky Park Neighborhood Association (KPNA), selected the site for redevelopment; a blighted, foreclosed single family home that had been converted into a 3-unit rental. With the help of First Homes, a local non-profit housing organization, they worked with a local architecture firm, CRW Architecture + Design to design a new building intended for higher density to fit the context of their traditional urban neighborhood thereby replacing the dilapidated structure with a new 4-unit condominium building. The contextually sensitive design featured brick, large window openings and direct walk-up access. Folded into the project was a new initiative of First Homes, to create the first LEED for Homes Certified multi-family building in Southeeast Minnesota. With the help of Building Knowledge Inc. from the twin cities, the project was designed and submitted for bids with Weis Builders acting as Construction Manager. First Homes was able to bring grant funds from the Neighborhood Stabilization Program (a federal HUD grant administered by Minnesota Housing Finance Agency (MHFA), and allocated to the City of Rochester) along with the Rochester Area Foundation (RAF) and Greater Minnesota Housing Fund (GMHF). All of these partners: GMHF, RAF, MHFA, HUD, City of Rochester, First Homes, Weis Builders, Building Knowledge CRW, KPNA, Imagine Kutzky Citizen Council and the residents of the Kutzky Park Neighborhood, were instrumental in developing this model of sustainable neighborhood enhancement.
Innovation
How is the partnership and/or project goals, outcomes and process innovative or groundbreaking?
Despite tremendous growth in the City of Rochester, Minnesota as a whole over the last forty years, the city’s core neighborhoods—its oldest, most affordable, and most walkable neighborhoods—have experienced significant decline. Recognizing this decline, First Homes (FH) is leading comprehensive neighborhood-scale planning and design to leverage its affordable housing production with other community resources as an integral part of a comprehensive revitalization strategy in the core neighborhoods around downtown Rochester. FH is adding sustainable building practices that maximize the synergy between efficient affordable housing and livable communities. It is First Homes’ intention that targeted investment projects such as this will continue to not simply provide affordable homes, but also strengthen the core neighborhoods, promote personal wellness, minimize impact on the natural environment, and provide a successful model for others to emulate in the future.
The Imagine Kutzky Vision Plan that the neighborhood residents developed outlines a vision for a diversity of housing, a mixed of neighborhood scale uses, the introduction of desired amenities, and the preservation of public green space. The Vision Plan aims to improve the desirability of Kutzky Park by encouraging redevelopment in targeted areas, building density as redevelopment occurs to recover population losses, and addressing urban design principles that maximize the walkable, mixed-use urban character already established in Kutzky Park.
The neighborhood and FH agreed that redevelopment projects should serve the neighborhood’s goals and objectives as outlined in the Vision Plan. One strategy neighborhood leaders wanted to pursue was the removal of blighted properties that served as barriers to reinvestment.
FH developed a tool to help neighborhood residents identify potential redevelopment properties called the Property Inventory Evaluation (PIE). The PIE evaluates each property for both current condition and preservation value. The preservation value and condition are evaluated as Standard, Above Standard, and Below Standard. As a result, properties that are Below Standard condition & Below Standard preservation value are recognized as blighted and in need of replacement.
Goals
Describe the project goals
Beyond our immediate goals of removing blight and creating more affordable and market rate housing opportunities in response to the neighborhood'd desires, we have endeavored to raise the standard of design for new structures built within older neighborhoods and incenting for-profit developers to invest in these areas to further revitalize the entire downtown core.
This project is the second iteration of a redevelopment model. The first project--demolishing a dilapidated single family rental conversion and replacing it with four condo units--was considered a success as it sold out within a single weekend. This new project makes another evolution and uses the LEED for Homes building criteria to produce not only an initially affordable home, but ensure long-term affordability with lower water, energy and natural gas utility costs. Thus one of our tangible goals is to produce the first LEED for Homes Certified multi-family building in Southeast Minnesota.
As opposed to quantitative goals, the qualitative goals are harder to measure because they are more complex and unique. However, if the neighborhood feels served by our involvement in spurring redevelopment and increased vitality, then in many ways it is a much more lasting goal than simply the production of four housing units. One project does not make for a revitalized core, but a series coordinated and strategic efforts for all of the Rochester core neighborhoods can begin to move the needle toward progress and sustainable growth.
Outcomes
What were the outcomes of the project (if completed)? What have been the outcomes so far, and what are the anticipated future outcomes (if ongoing)?
The most immediate outcome for the Kutzky Flats Condominium redevelopment project is the creation much needed housing close to downtown Rochester. The project will contain four ownership units, two affordable with income restrictions that limit the residents to 80% of the Area Median Income, and two market rate. In addition, it is attempting to curb neighborhood migration and population losses by building density through redevelopment.
In addition to the desired mixed-income housing options, the Kutzky Flats project is the next evolution of a five-year long community engagement process aimed at identifying solutions to recurring problems within the Kutzky Park Neighborhood. Through proactive, inclusive and long-range planning, a mission, goals, objectives and recommendations for neighborhood improvement was developed in the form of the Imagine Kutzky Vision Plan.
What sets this project apart from similar endeavors by First Homes is that it takes the next logical step in neighborhood preservation by building more sustainably. The attainable target for the building is LEED for Homes Silver. This quantifiable green building rating system will evaluate and verify the steps taken during design and construction to improve the health and environment for the occupants. The integrated design team can work together to optimize the performance of building systems to reduce immediate operating costs including water and energy bills, while offsetting replacement and maintenance expenses to reduce the life-cycle cost. Through this process, the project can promote the responsible stewardship of our environmental resources and preserve the financial investments.
Through these steps, we believe that this project can serve as a template for other mixed use developments in the City of Rochester to revitalize and grow our urban fabric in a healthy and sustainable way for generations. Current local capacity for LEED certified design and construction are limited as no LEED Certified multi-family residential projects have been built in southern Minnesota. The development of this first project will demonstrate the market demand for healthy, sustainably built, energy efficient homes and develop capacity to design and build LEED projects in the local market. This project will be a model not just for future subsidized projects but for market based projects as well.
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