Every year, NAIOP hosts the Night of Excellence in Commercial Real Estate Awards to celebrate exemplary development projects. In the category of sustainability, the winning project needed to assert not only its environmentally efficiency but also its economic success. We are proud to announce that Hassalo on Eighth does just that—bringing home the award for Sustainable Development of the Year!

The development of Hassalo on Eighth has fundamentally transformed a neighborhood of primarily commercial office and retail into a vibrant place for people to live, work, and play. The numbers are impressive: over a million square feet of new construction spread over three buildings, on three city blocks, 657 apartments, 1,200 below-grade parking stalls, an outdoor urban plaza, and North America’s largest bike hub (Lloyd Cycle Station) with space for 900 bicycles. Each new building has received USGBC’s LEED for Homes highest certification of Platinum, and the neighborhood is pursuing LEED-ND Platinum.

One of the most groundbreaking design solutions is NORM: A Natural Organic Recycling Machine that treats 100% of the residential wastewater through a constructed wetland on site. This process keeps 45,000 gallons of greywater out of the district infrastructure each day and reduces potable water demand by 50%.  What was once an asphalt parking lot that washed heavy rainfall into a combination sewer has been transformed into a net positive stormwater solution through the addition of NORM, greenroofs, and surface bio-swales. The development unburdens the city’s combination system by keeping sanitary loads out of public infrastructure, reducing the potential of overflow into our Willamette River. 

Our team worked collaboratively to build a case for the development by gathering the data necessary to analyze the costs of systems, conveyance infrastructure, testing, permits, ongoing operations and maintenance, and equipment replacement. A 60% negotiated discount in hookup fees (amounting to $1.43 million) from the City helped offset these costs. Through analysis, we found that reduced sewer bills and water bills resulting from on-site water reclamation further bolstered the cost savings. When all totaled, the system demonstrated a return on investment in less than three years! This made for a sound business decision, which was unprecedented at this scale.

Beyond proving itself as a solid financial decision, the EcoDistrict at Hassalo on Eighth, located within the larger Lloyd EcoDistrict, created a unique opportunity to brand the project around sustainability—a viable, economic and social response to challenging infrastructure. This has not only driven the rapid lease-up of the residential buildings (over 90% of the units were leased within 12 months of completion), but it has also driven worldwide interest to study and replicate the successes of the development.

To learn more about Hassalo on Eighth, go here.

If you’re curious, check out the Lloyd EcoDistrict here.