We’ve been a bit quiet lately so I wanted to update you all on one thing we are working on behind the scenes before the holiday weekend. Most of you understand that a big part of our model is keeping our base finishes and designs simple in order to keep the base price a bit lower than market rate. We can then allow you to choose your exact finishes and control the finish levels and final price of your very own Postgreen Home.

This is all well and good and everyone seems to enjoy it, but we have been longing to do some custom houses for quite a while where we get to have some of the fun of picking the finishes and design ourselves. That’s right, we want to have some fun spec’ing out a custom Postgreen Home. Why should the buyers get all the fun?

Anyways, we’re working on a few units now. One is most likely going to be a duplex unit allowing more affordable loft style units in the same building, while the other will be a more typical infill rowhome. We are giving the architects a bit more leeway during the design process to end up with one of a kind units that will not be had by anyone else. Once the design is done, we get to jump in and pick finishes. Most will be from our standard repertoire, but we may sneak a few new ones in there as well.

We haven’t decided exactly how we will market these, but we are leaning towards keeping the design and build process relatively secretive and announcing these for sale once they are complete or mostly complete. The price tags will be a bit higher than our normal units as we will have built upgrades into them, but still within the Postgreen Home realm of affordability. In other words, not trust fund or doctorate degree needed, just good old fashion hard work and a bit of savings.

Let us know your thoughts. Should we focus more budget on interior or exterior finishes, landscaping, home automation, more energy efficiency (is that possible?) or unique design of the structure itself? Is this a dumb idea altogether? You know us. We like to vet an idea by actually building something and seeing how it goes. It’s a lot more fun than spreadsheets and polls anyways…

BTW, this pic to the right is nothing from us, but just one of my favorite custom townhome interiors I’ve seen in the past few years. Have a great holiday weekend and keep it up!

Another Avant Garage home has gone under contract! We are very excited about the new buyers and are looking forward to adding them to the Postgreen Homeowners Club. For the rest of you, that means there is only one home remaining in this awesome project. No time left to dilly dally!

In case you have forgotten, let’s go over the specifics. Located at 401-407 Memphis Street in the Fishtown section of the city, The Avant Garage Project is situated less than a block from the Frankford Ave Arts Corridor, three blocks from the El, 1/2 block from Palmer Park, and walking distance to the Piazza, Frankford Hall, Johnny Brenda’s, Kraftwork, and Superfresh. These homes feature 2 car garage parking, split level living floor plan with 13 foot ceilings in the living room, 3 bedrooms, 2 full baths, roof deck with amazing views of the city, green roof, back yard, as well as all of the sustainable and green features you have come to expect in our homes. There is still time to customize, although we are starting drywall this week so that time is running out. The final phase will be ready to move in by the beginning of July. Take a look at some of the pictures below of our finished product.

Exterior of the Avant Garage Project by Postgreen Homes

Avant Garage Stadium Stair and Kitchen

Avant Garage Living Room & Kitchen

Avant Garage View from the Roof Deck

If you are interested in customizing the final home for yourself, head over to postgreenhomes.com/avantgarage.

Hi Everyone! For those of you who don’t know me, my name is Courtney Ludeman and I am Chad’s wife and partner here at Postgreen Homes. I am also a mother of two young boys – Teague who is 2.5 and Ryker who will be 1 in a few weeks. Since moving to our new home in South Kensington last year, I have done a lot of research into raising children in this neighborhood (and Philly in general).

A little background info – South Kensington is the rapidly developing neighborhood located just to the west of Fishtown and to the north of Northern Liberties.  Nestled in between these two popular neighborhoods, South Kensington is naturally becoming the next place for home buyers to search. And happily the Postgreen Homes latest project, First Steel, is proud to be a part of this transforming community.

Norris Square Civic Association Children's Center

As our children are getting older, I have been researching the school options more closely whenever we are looking for a new location to live (Chad and I tend to move A LOT). I was very pleased with the options available in South Kensington – so much so that I could see us maintaining residence here for a long time. For pre-school, we are looking into the Norris Square Civic Association Children’s Center. This preschool program features Spanish immersion, where three days a week only Spanish is spoken (English is spoken the other two days) and the children are taught according to a pre-set curriculum. The kids get 45 minutes of outdoor play each day – either at the local Norris Square Park or at the covered playground on-site. Structured nap and meal times each day include homemade, nutritious meals provided by onsite chefs. There is a wait-list, but priority is given to those families who live in the neighborhood. I have taken a tour of the property and was very impressed with what I saw – the teachers seemed very loving and attentive, the children were well behaved, and everyone seemed to be learning and having a lot of fun! Additionally I have spoken to other mothers who have sent their children to Norris Square and have been extremely pleased with the results!

John Moffet Elementary School received a facelift, thanks to the new exterior mural and playground.

Elementary School is another thing that we moms and dads tend to stress about when deciding where to live. In Philly there are several options, including public schools, private schools and charter schools. We are lucky that across the street from First Steel is a good public elementary school option – John Moffet Elementary School. I found info about this school on GreatSchools.com. The reviews from parents are almost completely positive, and the test scores are decent. I personally know a wonderful teacher that works there, as well as several local families who have sent their children and have been very happy. The school’s exterior recently received a facelift, thanks to a Mural Arts Program and The Philadelphia Eagles, who installed a brand new playground as part of their community service project. I have not yet visited the school, but am looking forward to doing so once Teague get’s closer to Kindergarden age. This is a public school, so there is obviously no cost to attend, but you do have to live in the catchment area to enroll (Front St to 4th, Girard to Diamond).

Obviously there are so many options for our children in the city, but these are just two good ones I found during my research. Has anyone out there had experience with either of these schools? Any other suggestions for local moms?

Last week, the Philadelphia Real Estate chapter of BISNOW feature a few of our projects in an article about four real estate development projects in the North Broad area of Philadelphia. Dan Eldridge attended our open house at First Steel and snapped a couple photos after interviewing us. Check out his article, “Four North Broad Projects to Watch” and subscribe to their Philly RE newsletter while you’re at it.

Dan covered four of our projects – First Steel in Kensington South (under construction), K’House cohousing next door to First Steel (in planning), reNEWBOLD in South Philly (Pre-selling now) and Awesometown in Fishtown (Coming Soon). Thanks for the press Dan!

The metal cladding that gives First Steel it’s name is complete! Well, almost complete. At least it looks done from the front. The crew from Olde Glory is working away at the back now. We took this opportunity to snap a few pics and update our photos online.

This next one below was taken from the same angle as the original rendering by ISA. We changed the door colors a bit, but it’s looking pretty close!

My attempt at some artsier photos below. The closeup showing the two metal accents contrasting against the door color and the galvanized pipe for the electric service is my favorite. The tripod has gone missing or these would be a bit better.

We’re really happy with the steel cladding. It is finishing really well and has a very solid and reassuringly durable feel to it. It also comes with the color baked on, so no need to worry about painting afterwards. I think you’ll be seeing more of this from us in the future…

We’ve been inspired to test a new double stud wall assembly on First Steel that may be used in future projects like reNEWBOLD. There is a 2.5 minute video below walking through the basics of the wall assembly. You will find more details below the video to feed your inner building science geek’s thirst for knowledge and discussion.

If you’d like to see this wall in person before we close it up, please attend our mid construction event tomorrow evening between 4PM and 8PM. Use the Facebook Event to RSVP and find out more details. We hope to see you there. As a side note, anyone interested in the reNEWBOLD project should strongly consider attending as one of the homes is a beta model for the homes in South Philly.

New Double Stud Wall Details

• Double 2×4 wall on 24″ centers
• 2″ gap between studs with no staggering of studs
• ZIP sheathing on exterior
• R15 Roxul ComfortBatt Rock Wool Insulation for 24″ center wood 2×4 framing
• 2″ AFB Roxul Rock Wool Insulation in 2″ gap between walls
• Certainteed MemBrain Smart Vapor Retarder on outside of interior stud wall
• R15 HD Ecobatt unfaced insulation on 24″ centers in interior stud wall
• All electric and utilities on interior wall inside of the vapor retarder
• 5/8″ Type X Drywall

That’s it for the assembly. I’ll try to address some additional detail I didn’t have time for in the video.

The rock wool insulation is very unique product that is used a lot in Europe and also in the US in commercial fire rated and sound proofing applications. What’s great about it is how well it completely fills the cavities. It does not droop or sag at all like typical fiberglass batts. It also does not absorb moisture and will not produce mold which makes it perfect for installing during construction and prior to being completely dried in.

In our first test houses, we found it was easiest to frame up the entire house with the exterior stud walls and treat the interior stud wall just like the other interior framing. That allowed us to get the house tight with the ZIP sheathing product and come back to insulate the exterior wall at a relaxed pace once the main framing of the house was completed.

I am still a bit torn on the effectiveness of the vapor retarder, especially when we have the ZIP sheathing and vented rainscreen on the exterior keeping us dry and a thick layer of drywall with multiple coats of paint on the interior. I know people will chime in saying I’m wrong not to have this interior vapor barrier and hopefully I will learn more from the comments in this post to help make a decision on future projects.

Special thanks to Greg La Vardera of Lami Design who has been inspirational in testing out this wall assembly. That’s all I’ve got for now. Let’s leave the rest to the comments.

The reNewbold project contains the first homes we’ve offered finished basements in to date. Rather than giving you one room with beige carpeting, we’ve divided the finished basement option into a small room in the rear of the basement that will contain the mechanicals and some handy storage racks for your sporting gear and holiday decorations. The main finished area that remains is about 18.5′ x 12′ in size. To illustrate some typical uses of a finished basement this size, ISA has generously created the illustrations below for us. Let us know what you’d use this finished basement for in the comments.

If you want to see the size of these basements and homes in person, come to our Mid Construction Event at First Steel in Kensington South next Thursday, April 5th from 4PM to 8PM to view the model home. The 2nd home in reNewbold and first 2 bedroom home was reserved this week. There are only four left in the first phase of pre-construction pricing, so customize yours today.

Media Room / Lounge

Home Office

Guest Bedroom

A couple less conventional uses that ISA mocked up for us:

Band Practice

Game Room

The First Steel project is chugging along with our partners, Olde Glory Builders at the helm. These guys love to frame just as much as we love to make corny construction videos. Due to their fast work and the early spring weather, we’ve decided to host a mid construction BBQ and open house (more details below) in the ample yards of these homes on Thursday, April 5th. That’s two weeks out, so no excuses on not being able to work it into your schedule. Check out the framing video below and watch out ladies for the sexy finale courtesy of the OGB crew. I think that’s the first time I’ve used the term ‘sexy’ to describe anyone working on our homes.

First Steel Framing Video

First Steel Mid Construction Event

Thursday, April 5th
4:00PM – 8:00PM
1703-05 N Howard St, 19122
Facebook Event (RSVP)

Details: Beer, Food, Fire, Music, and two cool modern and green homes that you can afford with their guts exposed for your viewing pleasure.

The city is not the suburbs. The suburbs probably shouldn’t be the suburbs either, but let’s leave that alone for the moment. The city, particularly when viewed from the neighborhood level, has starkly different needs than those of it’s less densely populated surroundings. Among the most important of these needs is a mixture of use.

Suburban development tends to create strict demarkations in use. Residential neighborhoods for houses, retail strips for stores, commercial parks for offices and industrial zones (where they still exist at all) for manufacturing. Blending of these uses is generally avoided and where it happens the resulting space is considered less desirable. We have all driven by the townhouse complex next to the strip mall, and I would imagine very few of us called our realtor to buy into that scene.

There are, of course exceptions to this. Some progressive mixed-use development has taken place, sub-divisions with stores and offices, but it always feels a little forced. Even in small towns, where sidewalks still hold strong, small stores and restaurants seem a little superfluous when Walmart and Applebees are just a five minute drive away. And that is the key word and key difference . . . “drive.”
Cities should be different. They shouldn’t be built around the car. The neighborhoods should, as a result of this pedestrian-centric mentality, be cut through with commercial spaces, retail, restaurants and even light industrial. People should live over laundry mats, next to bars and within shouting distance of a good accountant. Unfortunately, cheap fuel, the power of mega-retailers, the faltering of American industry and a hundred other factors have conspired to suburbanize many of our city neighborhoods, particularly here in Philadelphia.

In Philly, residential neighborhoods have become largely residential, and while that may sound like a foolish statement, a quick walk around Graduate Hospital or Fishtown will demonstrate my point. Corner commercial spaces are now corner residential spaces. Former industrial buildings are now condos. Even the corner bar, an enduring institution, has been chiseled out of many neighborhoods. The suburban mentality of divided use is like an infection, turning neighborhoods into tiny little commuter villages while expensive, intrusive highways and widened roads provide that easy access to Walmart and Applebees we all seem to want.

But why does it matter? Cities are growing again. People are moving back. Why should we care if neighborhoods are more homogeneously residential as long as people are buying houses again? Why should it bother use that former commercial spaces are being developed as residential homes as long as something is being built?

We should care because we are retroactively sprawling our cities and the result is generally ugly, wasteful and unscalable. As we push commercial out of our neighborhoods and then build the car-centric infrastructure to get to it we end up creating places like Philadelphia’s Columbus Blvd, a trash strewn strip of asphalt decorated with strip malls, strip clubs and big box shopping centers, each surrounded by seas of parking many times larger than the buildings themselves. If anyone thinks that is a great use of Philly’s waterfront, I would love to hear about it in the comments.

We also create a need for cars in neighborhoods that aren’t really designed to accommodate them. So, our sidewalks shrink to provide parking, eating up vital space for play and neighborhood interaction. Development and density, requirements for viable commercial activity, are stymied by parking requirements. We thin out our neighborhood with single family building and curb cuts because with any more people it would be impossible to park. And we need to park because we need to drive and we need to drive because there is nothing left in our neighborhood but other single family houses, and last I checked no one was selling toilet paper out of a row home (actually that’s probably not true but you get the point).

Of course, our neighborhoods are not dead yet. There are still coffee shops, bars, restaurants, corner stores and other ventures scattered throughout even the most residentially inclined hood, but there are far too few. Where there were once commercial spaces on each corner there are now only a handful throughout whole sections of the city. Worse, there are very few new spaces being built. Development, particularly in outlying neighborhoods has a decidedly residential bent. This is probably because residential development is easier, faster and more quickly turns a profit, but it isn’t responsible. It isn’t good for our neighborhoods.

Cities need to plan. They need to use that plan to zone for mixed uses in their neighborhoods. The need to create incentives for those who don’t own cars. Parking should be hard in a city. Driving should be expensive. But, most of that is pretty unappetizing politically. So, for now, we need at least a few of our developers to understand the value of commercial space and build it into their projects. We need people to mix people and the planet into their plans for profit. Cities should be providing our model for sustainable living with an abundance of shared resources and a reduction of personal impact, but without proper development they could swing all the way over into another model of waste and excess. Our urban neighborhoods could become just another form of suburb where perhaps we have a convenience store or bar, but no one really wants to live next to it.

Well, enough of my carrying on. What do you think? How do we incentivize the development of new commercial spaces or the recovery of existing ones? Is it important to reintroduce mixed-use to neighborhoods that have become, over the years, solely residential? Is it possible? Who do we need to look to for these changes? Can we expect anything from the city government? Can we expect anything from private developers?

Tell me in the comments.

Nic has been piecing together footage about the reNEWBOLD project over the past few months and today he put the finishing touches on it and shared it with all of us. Check it out below and let us know what you think.

We are moving closer to announcing a ground breaking date with our bank, so customize your now because the first phase units with intro pricing could go quickly.