What would a truly green community, designed from the ground up, look like? It is something that many urbanists and architects have dreamed about and a few have tried. Now Matt Grocoff and the THRIVE Collaborative are having a shot at it with the Veridian at County Farm in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
PRESS RELEASE: One of the World’s First Climate Resilient Net Zero Energy Neighborhoods
Press Release: January 2020
Matthew Grocoff
THRIVE Collaborative
matt@thrive-collaborative.com
Site of Former Youth Prison Transformed into Sustainable Neighborhood of the Future
Aims to Be One of the World’s First Climate Resilient Net Zero Energy Neighborhoods
Living Community Challenge - Net Zero Energy
THRIVE Collaborative is transforming the site of a former youth prison in Ann Arbor, Michigan into one of the world’s first Living Community Challenge neighborhoods. The Living Community Challenge is an expansion of the Living Building Challenge, the world’s most rigorous green building standard.
Veridian at County Farm is targeted to be a mixed-income net zero energy communities: 100% all-electric, powered by solar, with resilient energy storage and no gas lines or combustion appliances of any kind. It is located in Ann Arbor, Michigan, adjacent to a 130 acre park with miles of forested trails, community gardens and play spaces. Front porches face a greenway guiding residents into miles of trillium-lined pathways. Landscaping is viewed as a means of reviving ecosystems and food production will be integral to the neighborhood with food-producing native species, like hazelnuts and paw paws, in addition to lanes lined with fruit trees and community gardens.
THRIVE Collaborative founder Matthew Grocoff said “we will not be defined by the unsparing consequences of climate crisis, but by how we respond as the window of opportunity for action closes. Veridian at County Farm creates the inspiring vision of a fossil fuel free future in which neighborhoods operate as elegantly as forested ecosystems.” Construction is expected to begin in 2020.
The neighborhood will include a multifunctional community barn (salvaged and restored from a nearby 1840s farm), a garden tool share-shed and retail center with coffee shop and a Farm Stop grocery where customers can purchase 100% local produce, meats and dairy exclusively from local farmers and producers year-round.
Research shows that living close to people from a variety of incomes and backgrounds leads to substantially better lives, measured by real economic gains, greater educational attainment, and improved health. At Veridian, two thirds of the homes (99 units) are being developed for sale at market rate and the neighboring parcel with one third of the homes (50 units) will be developed by a local non-profit for low-income tenants including some who have formerly experienced homelessness. To encourage human powered living, the neighborhood will have abundant bike storage, a bike maintenance shed, EV Bike share, EV Car Share, and more.
United Nations Sustainable Development Goals - Honor
Veridian at County Farm is being honored in the United Nations gallery for Accelerating the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The Earth Institute at Columbia University selected Veridian at County Farm to be included in their Local Projects Challenge in collaboration with the UN. It is among fewer than 100 exemplary projects from around the globe that are being highlighted to demonstrate how we can meet the UN Sustainable Development Goals. These projects will be featured at the 2020 World Urban Forum in Abu Dhabi. Download the UN SDG Veridian at County Farm project 2 page PDF
Allowing Public to Invest in Equity Raise for Site Development
THRIVE Collaborative is proud to offer a unique impact investment opportunity in the construction of Veridian at County Farm. THRIVE Collaborative is working with Localstake to help accelerate sustainable real estate investment and give access to historically underrepresented investors.
https://localstake.com/businesses/veridian-at-county-farm
About THRIVE Collaborative
THRIVE Collaborative is an Ann Arbor and Detroit, Michigan-based building, real estate development, design, and consulting firm dedicated to creating the life enhancing communities needed for the 22nd Century. THRIVE’s mission is to accelerate the shift towards beautiful, healthy, and environmentally responsive design and lead the transformation to a truly sustainable human-built environment that is nature rich and ecologically restorative. We use intellectual rigor combined with expert collaborations to create transformative solutions. We take a holistic approach to addressing critical community needs and fostering connectivity by using the framework of the seven performance categories of the Living Building Challenge and the Living Community Challenge: Place, Water, Energy, Health & Happiness, Materials, Equity and Beauty. THRIVE’s work has been featured in seven books on urban planning, net zero energy and sustainable design and building. www.Thrive-Collaborative.com
1840s local barn to be salvaged and restored as a multi-functional community gathering place, including a weekly indoor / outdoor farmers market.
Concept sketch of The Farmhouse at Veridian. It will house the Honey Locust Farm Stop. Helping local farms succeed, the Farm Stop is a full service grocery selling only 100% local produce, meats & dairy - a next generation of the traditional farmer’s market model.
Veridian at County Farm is adjacent to a 130 acre park with miles of forested trails, community gardens and play spaces.
LINK TO Urban Institute Report: Transforming Closed Youth Prisons. The Paper highlights Veridian at County Farm plans as exemplary land use, sustainability and affordable housing.
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NPR - Michigan Radio: Ann Arbor development aims to be model for climate-friendly neighborhoods of the future
For a few years now, a group of people have been working to get a net-zero community up and running in Ann Arbor. That hasn’t always been easy. The proposed development challenges a lot of government’s rules and regulations about buildings and neighborhoods. It’s called Veridian at County Farm. The project is the brainchild of Matthew Grocoff, founder of the green building company THRIVE collaborative. He discussed the vision behind Veridian at County Farm, and how the development would eliminate greenhouse gas emissions and conserve resources like water.
Issues Of The Environment: Veridian At County Farm Project Moving Closer To Reality
MLive: See the latest plans for mixed-income, solar-powered Ann Arbor development
The Living Community Challenge
A new model is emerging for restorative neighborhoods, campuses, and districts. There are currently over twenty Living Community Challenge projects that have engaged with the program during the Pilot stage (Exploratory), and/or have become Registered since full certification became available. Veridian at County Farm in Ann Arbor, Michigan is located next to an expansive county park with trails that wind through re-naturalized agricultural fields, woodlands, and gardens.
Matt Grocoff on Good Morning Croatia - Dobro Jutro, Zagreb, Croatia
On the occasion of his three-day stay in Croatia, one of America's most famous advocates in the field of environmental protection, green and sustainable construction, renowned writer, speaker and founder of THRIVE Collaborative, Matt Grocoff, along with Petar Skevin, Chair of the HSZG Board of Directors, appeared on Good morning Croatia, 18.03.2019. As part of the guest appearance, a conference was announced: "nZEB and BIM - A New Reality!", Held on Tuesday, March 19 at the Academia Hotel in Zagreb, with Matt Grocoff as the keynote speaker.
Mr. Matt Grocoff was initiated by the Croatian Engineering Association, under the special auspices of the US Embassy.
WMUK-NPR: The "Net Zero" Home of the Future
Matt Grocoff of Ann Arbor promotes the practice of building or converting homes so that they generate as much energy as they use, something he says does more than lower utility bills.
"We're going to have to see a lot more 'net-zero' buildings going forward in the future if we're going to manage the quickly changing energy fields and climate change."
Podcast: Electrify Everything
Non-Toxic Environments Host Andy Pace Interviews Matt Grocoff:
“Excellent discussion today with Matt Grocoff, an American environmentalist and sustainability advocate, writer, speaker and founder of the THRIVE Collaborative. He is known for his work on net zero energy and net zero water buildings and for the rehabilitation of the oldest home in North America to achieve net zero energy. Matt shares his own personal story about his home, along with the massive development projects he's undertaking in Michigan and elsewhere. “
dBusiness: Washtenaw County Approves Proposal for Net-Zero Energy Home Community in Ann Arbor
Washtenaw County has approved Veridian at County Farm, an environmentally sustainable community on vacant, county owned land. The community will be powered by solar and is exploring an energy microgrid. Additionally, 20 percent of the community will be edible landscape, and no fossil fuels or combustion appliances will be used.
WEMU-NPR Exploring The Proposed 'Veridian At County Farm' Development With Matt Grocoff
A forward-thinking housing project in Ann Arbor is closer to reality. The Board of Commissioners this week agreed, in principle, to sell a county-owned parcel of land on Platt Rd. for a development to be known as, "Verdian at County Farm." WEMU's David Fair delves inside the project with the the driving force behind the project, Matt Grocoff, principal at Thrive Collaborative.
WEMU-NPR: Urban Living Density—A Negative Or A Positive?
City living is back in vogue. From millennial's to retirees, many are looking to move to cities, to get to work and enjoy city amenities, without a long commute. But for those already there, new, potentially taller buildings, or losing open space, can be bones of contention. In this installment of WEMU’s “The Green Room,” Barbara Lucas looks at two parcels in Ann Arbor where new developments are proposed, and those disparate points of view are highlighted.
