Connection Quarterly - Summer 2020

QUARTERLY SUMMER 2020

DAISIES, MARIGOLDS, AND BEES

JOLEEN JEWELL BRIGHTENS AN INDUSTRIAL LANDSCAPE

BREATHING EASY FOR FIVE YEARS

WE REFLECT ON OUR INDOOR AIR QUALITY PLEDGE

FRONT DOOR SESSIONS

BRICK AVENUE PORTRAITS CAPTURE A SENSE OF HOME

A NEWSLETTER FOR MEMBERS OF SPECIALIZED REAL ESTATE GROUP COMMUNITIES

CREATIVE CONNECTIONS

CONNECTING WITH NEIGHBORS AT A SAFE DISTANCE

On the cusp of summer, we celebrate the fifth birthday of our Indoor Air Quality Pledge —a standard of design, construction, and maintenance practices for all properties under our stewardship. In the era of COVID-19, indoor air quality is a trending topic in real estate, but it’s something that we’ve been passionate about for years. In this issue, we introduce a newly expanded IAQ Pledge, along with a guide for building occupants— that’s all of us—to improve the air we breathe.

Our summer issue usually highlights local community events, but this time we’re featuring sparks of creative expression in a socially-distant context. We introduce emerging Fayetteville artist Joleen Jewell and her new mural, the first of a series of murals on the industrial Farm Services Cooperative building. We also give you a peek at a beautiful series of front porch portraits at Brick Avenue Lofts.

On the back cover, we highlight a handful of photos taken in our communities by residents and customers. One of the images this month shows the bestselling novel Such a Fun Age atop a table at Arsaga’s at Church and Center. In the acknowledgements of that book, you’ll read that Kiley Reid wrote the early chapters of Such a Fun Age right there at our friendly corner Arsaga’s. We love knowing that what was once a dilapidated corner is now a center of community, a place where people connect with neighbors and nature, and where creativity takes flight.

While we may not be able to connect with you in person, our work to create and curate healthy spaces where people connect with neighbors and nature continues.

Be well!

— Specialized Real Estate Group

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ON THE COVER: Joleen Jewell working on a new mural at the Farmer’s Co-Op.

DID YOU KNOW? Our Indoor Air Quality Pledge means that we change the air filter in every home under our stewardship four times each year. Not only does a fresh filter help keep dust and allergens out of circulation, it means that HVAC equipment functions more efficiently, saving our tenants on utility bills.

Daniel Gatrcioaf our and the resreplaced team have filters 10, 284 air 5 years! in the past

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LOOKING BACK ON FIVE YEARS OF THE INDOOR AIR QUALITY PLEDGE Story by Sarah King

We spend more time at home than anywhere else, and the air inside our homes is closely tied to wellness. Our CEO Jeremy Hudson has a personal connection to indoor air quality: as a child, he suffered from asthma. As an adult, he learned about the link between indoor air quality and respiratory illness.

While he sought to improve his own family’s home, he felt a responsibility to apply those same standards to apartments under his stewardship.

In the spring of 2015, we formalized our Indoor Air Quality Pledge. From the very start, we knew that air quality was

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important and the Eco Modern Flats project, our first LEED project, helped us to think through all the ways that we could protect the air inside apartment homes. We took that knowledge and applied it to all the properties we develop and manage, including the properties we had no hand in designing or building. The result was the Indoor Air Quality Pledge.

Five years later, we reflect on the impact of the IAQ Pledge. Every apartment we’ve built has superior fresh air ventilation including exhaust fans that vent moisture and particulates from kitchens to the outdoors - a rare

feature in apartments. With air quality in mind, we have removed acres of carpet from older apartments, replacing it with hard-surface flooring less likely to retain moisture and allergens. We’ve used no-VOC paint in new construction and in existing buildings. While reducing volatile organic compounds (more commonly known as VOCs) in paint is beneficial to building occupants, our use of no-VOC paint over the past five years has spared painters untold hours of cumulative exposure to chemicals linked to negative health effects.

BY THE NUMBERS More than

paint applied home interiors 5000 GALLONS ofto no-VOC

15smoke ACRES free, indoors and out

10,284 air filters changed

806 HOMES with superior fresh air ventilation

We’re proud of this performance, but the numbers we feel best about are the numbers we’ll never know. Poor indoor air quality is associated with a host of health problems, including eye irritation, allergies, headaches, and respiratory problems. Of the people who live in apartments under our stewardship, how many asthma attacks never happened? How many colds were a day or two shorter? How many allergic reactions were avoided? We’ll never know, but what we do know is our commitment to maintaining healthy indoor air quality is even stronger than it was five years ago.

To celebrate the fifth birthday of our Indoor Air Quality Pledge, we have expanded it to account for design and construction practices that set us apart. Though there are places in common areas that call for use of carpet, we design living units with hard surface floors that give moisture and irritants no place to hide. We’ve also maximized fresh air ventilation, ensuring that new buildings have operable windows, and vented kitchen exhaust.

SREG INDOOR AIR QUALITY PLEDGE — 2020

We strive to support the health of our team and the people who live in our communities by doing our part to protect indoor air quality. By choosing milder products and intentional practices, we all breathe a little easier. We have adopted the following standards for all properties under our development or management.

NON-TOXIC INTERIOR PAINT

NON-SMOKING COMMUNITIES

The walls make up the largest surface area in our homes, so we use only paints containing no VOCs — volatile organic compounds that make up that “new paint” smell. VOCs pose health risks for people and pets, so we choose VOC-free alternatives.

Smoking is not permitted indoors in any of our communities.

Modern Flats, Wilson Park Apartments, Uptown Shops, and Brick Avenue Lofts are smoke-free, indoors and out.)

NON-TOXIC BUILDING MATERIALS

When pest control is required, we choose the least toxic, mildest approach possible.

In new construction, we choose products that minimize VOCs, and our maintenance team uses only low-VOC and no-VOC adhesives and caulk for repairs.

FULL-SERVICE AIR FILTER REPLACEMENT

Air filters in your heating and air conditioning system can catch airborne particles that can contribute to asthma and allergies. To keep your system working its best, our maintenance team will change your air filter quarterly.

NON-TOXIC CLEANING SOLUTIONS

Our maintenance team uses the gentlest cleaning solutions possible to get the job done. When strong chemicals are occasionally required, we take the highest precautions to ensure that we protect our team and your indoor air quality.

GENTLE PEST MANAGEMENT

HARD SURFACE FLOORS

To minimize accumulation of moisture and allergens, we choose hard surface floors for living areas in new construction, and when flooring in existing properties must be replaced, we replace it with hard surface flooring.

FRESH AIR VENTILATION

In new construction, we prioritize fresh-air ventilation including operable windows, sensor-controlled bathroom exhaust fans, and ducted kitchen exhaust to dissipate indoor air pollutants.

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IT’S UP TO YOU! Buildings make a big difference in the air we breathe. We’ve taken care to protect indoor air quality — now it’s up to you to protect the air you breathe.

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Use your exhaust fan while bathing, showering, or cooking. This removes moisture and indoor air pollutants and brings in fresh air.

Mind your VOCs. Many of the products that we bring into our homes contain VOCs —Volatile Organic Compounds—that have been linked with . Things like detergents, dryer sheets, scented candles, air fresheners, and cosmetics can all be sources of VOCs in your home. Don’t store materials like paints or other harsh products inside. (Search for your county’s household hazardous waste center for safe disposal or for someone else to use.)

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Shop like your lungs depend on it.

Look for cleaning products that meet Green Seal or Environmental Choice standards. We like the Think Dirty app for a quick reference.

Open the windows in good weather to allow accumulated indoor air pollutants to dissipate.

FRONT DOOR SESSIONS

In May, Brick Avenue Lofts enlisted neighborhood photographer Caroline Stelte for a series of Front Door Sessions, socially-distant portraits of neighbors during this strange COVID era. The images are beautiful glimpses into the lives of our neighbors, and their personalities shine through each one.

Marya & Ducky

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Carmen

the Dwibhasis

Photos by Caroline Stelte

MURALS BRIGHTEN INDUSTRIAL LANDSCAPE IN SOUTH FAYETTEVILLE Construction will begin later this year on the first phase of our mixed-use development at Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd and South School Avenue in Fayetteville. It will be a little while before we’re ready to meet up with friends at the new beer garden or pavilion overlooking Town Branch in the new streamside park. Until then, a series of bright murals is bringing joy to the exterior of the Farm Service Cooperative buildings, which originally opened in 1950.

We’re working with artists to create colorful scenes on the industrial buildings, which will soon become a new neighborhood center with places to gather, eat, drink, shop, and work. The first artist to create a mural is Joleen Jewell, who just completed a 27 foot long mural featuring a vibrant flower meadow and five abstract bees—one bee for each member of her family.

Joleen is a Navy veteran. While she was enlisted she worked in IT, but her artistic skill set her apart, and she was recruited to create murals of naval history and a giant depiction of Oscar the Octopus, the emblem for her command. Joleen and family have settled down in Fayetteville, where she is studying sculpture at the University of Arkansas School of Art. Joleen’s mural “Daisies, Marigolds, and Busy Bees” is the first of many— watch as more murals appear this summer and fall.

Photo by Zac Trout

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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