SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Village at Market Creek, one of San Diego’s most innovative redevelopment efforts, has just earned a Silver designation under the LEED Neighborhood Development (LEED-ND) rating system – becoming the third project in the country to receive LEED-ND approval.
“LEED for Neighborhood Development certification provides independent, third party verification that a development's location and design meet high standards of environmentally responsible, sustainable development,” said Scot Horst, Senior Vice President of LEED at the United States Green Building Council. “It is my sincere hope that this project serves as a model for sustainable design in communities across the country.”
USGBC, in partnership with the Bank of America, provided a grant to fund the LEED-ND application process for The Village.
The Village plan is to transform up to 84 contiguous acres of blighted properties into a vibrant cultural “village” that includes residential, commercial, and recreational spaces integrated around the Euclid transit hub. The plan includes the creation of 1,000 quality affordable homes, 2,000 jobs and 250 new businesses, 5,500 linear feet of restored wetlands and 1.6 million square feet of new construction.
However, as a place-making redevelopment approach, The Village takes sustainability a step further. The Village’s development – the plans, processes, and assets of community change – have been owned and led by the residents of this southeastern San Diego community. Building the capacity of the community to lead and sustain neighborhood-level change characterizes every step of this project, which focuses on ownership, partnership, innovation, and learning. The Village has become a national demonstration project for community involvement in neighborhood revitalization with hundreds of visitors coming each year to share in what’s been learned in this groundbreaking effort.
The Village at Market Creek has already been recognized by the state for its innovative and sustainable approach to redevelopment. In 2010, The Village was named as one of only five “Gold” Catalyst Projects by the California Sustainable Strategies Pilot Program and has received area-wide cleanup grants from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Since 1997, teams of more than 5,000 residents have worked in partnership with the Jacobs Center for Neighborhood Innovation to transform widespread blight in this historically under-invested community into an economically vibrant “village” that offers the goods, services, homes, and spaces the community needs. Though not yet complete, The Village generated $92.7 million in annual economic activity in 2010, recapturing dollars that would otherwise flow out into other areas.
The LEED-ND Silver designation is a significant indicator of the incredible work the residents of this community have been able to accomplish together,” said Roque Barros, chief programs officer and interim president of the Jacobs Center for Neighborhood Innovation. “These committed resident teams have united across cultural, age, economic, and other differences to create a common vision of the future for themselves and their children.”
Global Green USA, a national non-profit leader in green building and sustainable neighborhood design, assisted the Jacobs Center in obtaining the LEED-ND certification. Global Green helped the Jacobs Center turn the community’s vision for comprehensive and sustainable neighborhood revitalization into a set of design standards will guide all future development on land assembled by the Jacobs Center for Village redevelopment.
“It is all too rare to find an organization as focused as the Jacobs Center is on achieving such broad environmental, social, economic and health benefits in its community,” said Ted Bardacke, Senior Associate in the Green Urbanism Program at Global Green. “The commitments it made as part of the LEED-ND certification process will help ensure those benefits are realized.”
The Jacobs Center for Neighborhood Innovation is a non-profit foundation committed to resident ownership of the plans, process, and assets of neighborhood change. JCNI is serving as the developer for The Village at Market Creek in southeastern San Diego.
Global Green USA is the American affiliate of Green Cross International, founded by President Gorbachev, to foster a global value shift toward a sustainable and secure future. For 15 years, Global Green USA has been a national leader in advocating for smart solutions to global warming including green building for affordable housing, schools and communities that save money, improve health and create green jobs. Global Green USA staff has led the certification effort on five LEED-ND projects, representing more than 800 acres of infill development, and almost 1200 LEED-Homes certified affordable housing units. It has also influenced more than $20 billion dollars for green building projects through policy and regulatory efforts.
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