Connection Quarterly - Winter 2022

QUARTERLY WINTER 2022

LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR

A NEW MURAL WELCOMES ALL AND SUPPORTS REFUGEES IN NWA

A DECADE OF ECO MODERN FLATS

TAKING STOCK OF OUR FLAGSHIP’S FIRST 10 YEARS

NETWORK IS LIVE

CELEBRATING ARKANSAS’ FIRST NET ZERO APARTMENTS

A NEWSLETTER FOR MEMBERS OF SPECIALIZED REAL ESTATE GROUP COMMUNITIES

A LIVING LABORATORY TEN YEARS OF DISCOVERY WITH ECO MODERN FLATS

Doesn’t 2011 seem like a lifetime ago? That year, we welcomed the first residents to the newly branded Eco Modern Flats. Today, the name may seem a little too on-thenose, but in 2011 we wanted to leave no doubt - the sustainable features and modern design were like nothing Northwest Arkansas had ever seen.

The process of turning a decrepit 1970 apartment complex into Arkansas’ first LEED Platinum apartments was full of discovery: Closed-cell insulation made with Arkansas soybeans! A green roof! Solar hot water! Rainwater cisterns fashioned from culverts!

A large-scale recycling system from scratch! Every element of the project challenged us to learn new things - often an exercise in humility. As we shaped Eco Modern Flats, it shaped us. We realized that our work is most meaningful when intentional design and programs intersect to create places that support healthful living.

This issue of Connection Quarterly explores the ways Eco Modern Flats shaped the DNA of our company. We also take a peek at a dazzling new mural at Brick Avenue Lofts whose beauty is more than meets the eye. And we introduce the new kid on the block - Arkansas’ first Net Zero apartments.

As the new year dawns, we wish you good health and good cheer!

— Specialized Real Estate Group PS: Scan the code to enjoy a song, some stats, and an interactive before-and-after!

2 • SPECIALIZED REAL ESTATE GROUP

ON THIS PAGE: A living green screen on a steel cable trellis provides passive cooling benefits at Eco Modern Flats. Photo by Tim Copeland, 2013 ON THE COVER: Niharika Gupta models the Love Your Neighbor tee at Brick Ave. Lofts. Photo by Madisyn Barnes

DID YOU KNOW? The community garden at Eco Modern Flats, first planted in 2012, was the first of six vegetable gardens we created at our properties — and another is on the way at South Yard Lofts!

2012

Garden favorites are okra, tomatoes, and herbs for cooking — or a cocktail!

Eco Modern Flats Garden, Summer 2011, by Timothy Hursley.

Fall 2021 photo by Meredith Mashburn.

CONNECTION QUARTERLY • WINTER 2022 • 3

SHAPING SP Just a few of the ways Eco Modern Flats has shaped us as a company and pointed us toward our purpose of creating healthy homes.

Interior design and styling by Hope Haynes. Photo by Ron Alwine.

BUILDING BETTER

EMBRACING NATURE

The lessons we learned from LEED guidance

Stuart Fulbright’s Ozark native landscape

for indoor environmental quality were the

plan taught us the value and beauty of

basis for our Indoor Air Quality Pledge, which

native plants, and was the genesis of our

applies to all homes under our stewardship.

Landscape Pledge adopted in 2020.

4 • SPECIALIZED REAL ESTATE GROUP

PECIALIZED FLASHBACK

The 2011 furnished unit featured a custom-made steel bar and coffee table. While the decor has changed, the TV turntable that reverses to a bookshelf, the functional floorplan, and energy performance endure.

Photo by Brandon Horner of Adaptive Creative, 2011.

MOVING TOGETHER

SHARING FOOD

Seeing the impact of active transportation options

Beyond the community vegetable garden, we saw that

at Eco, we made a commitment to build only within

spaces and programs that bring neighbors together

reach of trail networks and to increase bike and

around a table make a real neighborhood. We’ve

walking infrastructure within our developments.

carried that wisdom with us to each new project.

CONNECTION QUARTERLY • WINTER 2022 • 5

Greenhouse gas emissions reduced the equivalent of

ECO MODERN FLATS’ FIRST DECADE

9

BY THE NUMBERS

702

RAILCARS FULL OF COAL

PEOPLE

have lived in healthy homes at Eco Modern Flats Data sources 702 people: Estimate based on typical occupancy. 53 Tons of waste: Estimate based on the weight of materials delivered to the City of Fayetteville recycling facility over two years. GHG emissions: Extrapolated from actual 2017 utility records in EPA ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager, compared to the median multifamily property in the US. 22 Million gallons of water: As compared to actual usage the year before Specialized renovated the property.

53

22M

TONS OF WASTE

gallons of potable water saved

recycled that would have otherwise been landfilled

LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR Continuing our series of art featuring the Love Your Neighbor message, Benton County artist Graham Edwards created an eye-popping mural at Brick Avenue Lofts over the summer.

The design was more than one wall could contain, so we created shirts with the message and gifted them to our team and residents. With the help of TC Screenprinting, we made the shirts available for purchase to benefit Canopy NWA, the local refugee resettlement organization. So far, we’ve donated $1000 to the cause.

Canopy has already welcomed more than 100 new neighbors this year, and they are expecting several new arrivals over the next few weeks. Donations and volunteers are needed. If you would like to help roll out the welcome mat, you can find out more at canopynwa.org.

6 • SPECIALIZED REAL ESTATE GROUP

Yamilette, the niece of our team members Paige and Luis, shows off the LYN tee at Brick Avenue Lofts. Photo by Madisyn Barnes

NOTHING BUT NET

FAYETTEVILLE’S FIRST NET ZERO APARTMENTS Developed by Entegrity, NetWork contains 28 apartments managed by Specialized Real Estate Group and commercial space, including Entegrity’s Northwest Arkansas office. With a solar array and energy efficient construction, the building is on track to generate more energy than it uses!

Apartments at NetWork were fully leased within a couple of weeks, but if you’d like to join the waiting list, visit networkliving.net

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.

CONNECTION QUARTERLY • WINTER 2022 • 7

200 WEST CENTER STREET, SUITE B1 FAYETTEVILLE, AR 72701

BRICK AVENUE LOFTS @hannahn622

ECO MODERN FLATS @heyitsmaryb

SOUTH YARD @bigsisterstudio

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

SOUTH YARD Liz Lester

MARKHAM HILL TRAILS @sarahhegi