Plaza Feliz LEED for Homes

The Greater Albuquerque Hosuing Partnership’s (GHAP) Plaza Feliz Development in Albuquerque’s International District is a 66 unit Multi-Family devvelopment with two (2) and three (3) bedroom apartment units, a four thousand (4,000) square foot day care center, and a fifteen (1,500) square foot leasing office.  The development was funded by the City of Albuquerque, New Mexico Mortgage Finance Authority, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and PNC Real Estate Investments.

Project Planning:

From the conception of Plaza Feliz the GAHP has worked with an integrated design team and professionals credentialed with respect to LEED for Homes to incorporate green features into Plaza Feliz.  Those features include:

 

Location:

Plaza Feliz is constructed on a previously developed infill site.  As an infill development on a previously developed site, Plaza Feliz was able to take advantage of the existing infrastruture and the basic community resources already available to the site without having to extend or newly construct infrastructure or services saving valuable resources.  The existing infra-structure available to Plaza Feliz include water and sewer lines as well as gas, electric, telephone, and cable lines.  Existing community resources in walking distance to Plaza Feliz include transit services, recreational facilities, parks, and an elementary and mid-school.

To minimize the use of natural resources in the operation and maintenance of Plaza Feliz, Plaza Feliz design also incorporates:

Construction Techniques:

To increase framing efficiency, Plaza Feliz utilized off site fabrication of panels to reduce on-site construction and product waste.  It also used in its framing Forrest Stewardship Counsel certified products.

Photo Voltaic Cells:

To minimize its energy consumption, Plaza Feliz has installed a twenty-four (24) Kilowatt (KW) photo voltaic system on its day care and leasing office.  The 24 KW system will supply enough electricity to supply all the electrical needs of the day care center, leasing office, and outside lighting at Plaza Feliz.

Landscaping, Irrigation, and Surface Water Management:

During construction Plaza Feliz incorporated erosion control methods to prevent run off into the existing storm water system which empties into the Rio Grande.

Plaza Feliz’s landscape design incorporates drought tolerant plants, limits grass areas, and has a high efficiency drip irrigation system to reduce overall irrigation demand.  It also limits run off from the roofs of building into the storm water system.

 

Project Design:

Plaza Feliz was designed as a high density development providing sixty-six (66) multi-family uniots on three and one half plus (3.6) acre or a gross density of 18.6 dwelling units per acre.

Interior Water Use:

Each of Plaza Feliz’s apartments are equiped with very high efficiency plumbing fixtures and features.  They have instant on tankless hot water heaters, and very low rate flow faucet ( <1,5gpm), shower (<1.75gpm), and toilet fixtures (<1.1gpf).

Heating and Cooling System:

Each of Plaza Feliz’s apartments are equiped with very high efficiency furnaces and air conditioners which have a ninety percent plus (90%+) efficiency rating and each system reaches a HERS Index below 60.  The furnaces also have MERV filters for better filtering of the indoor and outdoor air .

Local Exhaust:

Exhaust fans in the bathrrom are Eneregry Star and bathroom and kitchen fans all meet ASHRAE Standard 62.2 airflow requirements and all fans and duct systems are in-stalled to that same standard.  There are occupancy sensors in the bathrooms, and all air exhausts, exhaust directly to the outdoors.

Appliances:

The washer, dryer, dishwasher,  and refrigerator are all Eneregry Star appliances reducing the energy needs of each apartment unit.