Dear Reader,

It is with great pride and excitement that Green Street Properties, the company I helped found after leaving Southface in 2001, was given the opportunity to build the first “green” Idea House for Southern Living Magazine at our Glenwood Park development near downtown Atlanta.  Opening to the public in June, this 1920’s style home is being built to the highest EarthCraft House and ENERGY STAR standards. The project is included in the Department of Energy’s Building America program, under contract to IBACOS and Southface, because of its projected 40% reduction in energy use and solar power.  Earth Share of Georgia will manage the home during the run of the show—June 18 - October 2—and proceeds from the sale of tour tickets will benefit Earth Share’s environmental initiatives around Georgia.  My goal at Green Street Properties is to use this unique opportunity to showcase the very best green building practices, for millions of Southern Living Magazine readers and the 30,000 people who will tour the home. 

Glenwood Park has been getting as much recognition for its walkable community design as for its sustainable land planning and green building features.  Credit for the green building aspects of our development goes exclusively to Southface for two reasons. First, Southface is where I became inspired to think green and second, because it is through Southface that Glenwood Park receives its EarthCraft House, EarthCraft Community and EarthCraft Multi-family technical expertise and certification assistance.  The working relationship between Southface and Green Street Properties has been ongoing, and special thanks goes to the hands-on staff at Southface , including Gray Kelly, Rob Johnson, Parker Snyder and Laura Uhde. Their hours of dedication and detail-oriented approach have truly made this process both fun and informative for us and our construction partners, while making the EarthCraft certification process meaningful for us and our buyers.

Fortunately for Green Street Properties, experienced EarthCraft builders like Hedgewood Homes, Capstone Partners and Whitehall Homes, as well as many great local architects have chosen to work with us to make Glenwood Park a triumphant revitalization for both in-town Atlanta and our regional environment. Glenwood Park started humbly as 28-acre industrial wasteland and is fast becoming a great place to live.  Please enjoy reading more about the Southern Living Idea House in this issue of the Journal, take the opportunity to tour Glenwood Park this summer and thank Southface for the things they do every day to improve the way we live now and in the future. 

Walter Brown, Vice President, Green Street Properties