Connection Quarterly - Summer 2022

QUARTERLY SUMMER 2022

HEALTHY HOMES INSIDE & OUT

OUR LANDSCAPE PLEDGE HELPS TO CREATE HEALTHY HOMES FROM THE GROUND UP

CELEBRATING OUR TALENT

TWO TEAM MEMBERS LEVEL UP WITH NATIONAL RECOGNITION AND NEW RESPONSIBILITIES

LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR

A BELOVED MURAL DESIGN GETS A NEW LIFE

A NEWSLETTER FOR MEMBERS OF SPECIALIZED REAL ESTATE GROUP COMMUNITIES

FROM THE GROUND UP

OUR COMMITMENT TO HEALTHY HOMES STARTS WITH THE SOIL We’re stepping outside for summer! Over the past decade, we’ve learned a lot about creating healthy homes. Evidence-based standards like Fitwel and LEED have guided us to consider the role that landscape plays in shaping health – not just for building occupants, but also for the larger community.

Just as our Indoor Air Quality Pledge specifies best practices in building construction and operation, our Landscape Pledge is a straightforward guide to designing and maintaining healthy landscapes. We distilled the guidance of scientists, landscape architects, horticulturists, watershed stewards, and maintenance professionals into a standard that is both practical and customized to our region. While the pledge itself is concise, we’ve backed it up with a resource library that gets into the nitty-gritty details.

DID YOU KNOW? Community gardens provide our residents hyper-local food and the chance to take part in growing it. When South Yard Lofts opens later this year, it will feature our sixth community garden. Community gardens are just one way that we cultivate healthy homes from the ground up.

Photo by Ashley Kelsey

This issue explores the Landscape Pledge and highlights healthy landscapes across our portfolio. We also celebrate our team members’ achievements and introduce you to a sweet new shop at Uptown Fayetteville.

Be well!

— Specialized Real Estate Group

6 community gardens and counting On the cover: Kelsey Power, Heather Verkler, Melanie Dunbar share a spring harvest in the Eco Modern Flats community garden in Fayetteville. Photo by Ashley Kelsey

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On this page: A three-toed box turtle examines his home on Fayetteville’s Markham Hill. Photo by Zac Trout

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HEALTHY HOMES Inside + Out

THE LANDSCAPE PLEDGE The Landscape Pledge, adopted in 2020, spells out our standards in seven key areas spanning from project conception to maintenance. The Pledge is supplemented with detailed guides to local native and invasive plants.

PRESERVE & PROTECT

START WITH TREES

In the pre-development phase, we consider existing and historical natural and cultural uses and preserve and protect native trees and tree canopy as much as possible. When natural materials must be removed from development sites, we seek ways to responsibly reuse them.

Trees are large and live a long time, so our choice of trees will make a big impact for generations. We will plant only trees native to the Ozarks.

MINIMIZE LAWN

GROW FOOD FOR SHARING

In terms of ecological services, lawn performs only slightly better than pavement, and it requires chemical inputs, labor, fossil fuels, and noise to keep it maintained. We will not use lawn as a default, but only sparingly where it serves a clear function.

Where practical, our properties will include edible plants in dedicated vegetable gardens and as part of the ornamental landscape. In addition to edible native plants, non-invasive food plants of all sorts are welcome.

THWART INVASIVE SPECIES

CONSERVE & PROTECT WATER

We will not plant species known to be invasive. Where practical, we will employ best management practices to minimize invasive species on the properties we manage. In Northwest Arkansas, the worst offenders are Bush Honeysuckle, Bradford (Callery) Pear Trees, Privet, and Euonymus.

CHOOSE LANDSCAPE MATERIALS WISELY

Use locally and regionally sourced compost and mulch to contribute to the local economy, reduce packaging, and reduce emissions in transport. Avoid landscape materials that degrade another landscape by their extraction, such as cypress mulch or irresponsibly harvested river gravel. Choose recycled materials or by-products when possible.

With a preference for Ozark native plants, we will select drought-tolerant plants that minimize the need for irrigation after establishment. We will be mindful of erosion and sedimentation into our watershed, including ensuring that leaves and garden waste are prevented from washing into streets and streams.

LEARN MORE AT specializedreg.com/ landscape-pledge

Thanks to Jennifer Ogle of UA Herbarium, Tanner Weeks and Jenny Burbidge of Ecological Design Group, Allison Quinlan of Flintlock Architecture & Landscape, Isaac Ogle of Comprehensive Botanical Solutions, Lissa Morrison of NWA Wild Ones, Colin Massey and Jane Maginot of University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service, Lee Porter of Ozark Green Roofs, and Jack and Pam Stewart of Audubon Arkansas for their guidance in drafting this pledge. Photo by Ashley Kelsey.

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LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR

SAUERWEIN NAMED TO 20 IN THEIR TWENTIES

The National Apartment Association named General Manager Paige Sauerwein as a member of 20 in their Twenties, “the best and brightest in the rental housing industry.” The elite designation recognizes individuals who are 29 or younger who have made great professional achievements in their career and have the potential to go far.

Paige receives a scholarship to the NAA’s annual conference in San Diego, where the 20 in their Twenties class will be celebrated at a reception. She will also be paired with a veteran industry mentor.

FONDANO PROMOTED TO DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR

Kaitlyn Fondano, who has served as Development Manager since 2019, has been promoted to Development Director. She is responsible for leading feasibility analysis, design, entitlement, financing, and construction of our development projects. Kaitlyn holds a BS in Construction Management and Masters in Real Estate Development from Arizona State University. Her experience includes projects within the technology, corporate office, healthcare, higher education and life sciences industries as well as historic properties, adaptive reuse projects, and ground up commercial and residential developments.

CURATED TO A TEE

A new women’s boutique has opened at Uptown Fayetteville Shops. Owner Megan Welch describes the mix of clothing and accessories as feminine, boho, eclectic, and fun. Stop by the shop at 3959 N. Steele Blvd. Suite 103 in Fayetteville or visit shopatcurated.com

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In the troubled summer of 2020, we commissioned South Fayetteville artist Olivia Trimble to paint the words “LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR” on one of the industrial buildings that would soon be reinvented as South Yard, a mixed use neighborhood. The mural and the message struck a chord with Fayetteville, and now the design is popping up around the community in the form of yard signs. Pick one up at Sleet City Art & Supplies, Trimble’s new shop at 914 N. College in Fayetteville.

Building healthy places and connecting neighbors means that we consider not just the qualities of buildings, but the connectedness of the neighborhood surrounding them. A walkable neighborhood with a unique sense of place just feels better. It’s this feeling that we aim to capture in each of our projects.

BUILDING BETTER

EMBRACING NATURE

MOVING TOGETHER

SHARING FOOD

We consider efficiency, beauty and health in every decision we make.

We build and conserve places that connect people with nature.

We create opportunities to move—through design, events and service.

We see growing and sharing food as a vital part of every community we build.

A publication of Specialized Real Estate Group, Inc.

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200 WEST CENTER STREET, SUITE B1 FAYETTEVILLE, AR 72701

ECO MODERN FLATS @afsanehroe

ECO MODERN FLATS

ELXR YOGA LOUNGE @elxryogalounge

HEALTHY PLACES, SMILING FACES. We love being part of your story.

BRICK AVE LOFTS @sarahbrice

BRICK AVENUE LOFTS @marvel.goldenpaw