Glenwood Park

Glenwood Park is a 28-acre infill neighborhood near downtown Atlanta. Winner of a 2003 Congress for New Urbanism “Charter Award,” in addition to several other local and national honors, the project sits on the former site of a polluting concrete plant. Glenwood Park has cleaned up the pollution, and in its place now sits a mixed-use community that exemplifies green urban development. Urban infill projects like Glenwood Park can help slow suburban sprawl and revitalize the city.

Glenwood Park currently features 64 single-family detached homes, some with detached “granny flats” for homeowners to rent. There are also 50 townhouses and 74 condominiums (with approximately 134 more homes of different types to be added), all designed using time honored architectural techniques. By situating these units on only 24 acres, Glenwood Park achieves a density that enables neighbors to walk, bicycle, or even use a light rail station that may be built near the project. Residents are able to walk to some 60,000 square feet of new retail space, 75,000 square feet of office space, and recreational facilities. Glenwood park is a 100% Earthcraft community, , with every home build to or beyond Earthcraft House standards, ensuring that the buildings are energy- and resource-efficient and affordable to operate.

Two parks provide ample greenspace for such an urban location. In addition to functioning as a gathering place, these parks also play a role in stormwater management. Excess stormwater infiltrate into the ground at the parks, recharging groundwater and allowing the soil to naturally filter out pollutants. To conserve water, stormwater that does not go to the parks are captured in a retention pond and used for irrigation in the common areas of Glenwood Park. Moreover, these common areas are landscaped to be drought-resistant, significantly reducing the need for irrigation.

The design of Glenwood Park helps to build a sense of community. Wide sidewalks and street trees encourage walking around the neighborhood, and buildings are placed close to the street, creating an intimate environment reminiscent of traditional neighborhoods from the first quarter of the twentieth century..

Green Building Factoids about Glenwood Park

1	Glenwood Park recycled the following:
	259,200,000 lbs of concrete (60,000 Cubic Yards), an amount equal to an acre of concrete at 36 feet deep. 800,000 lbs of granite ruble blocks (enough material to build all of the walls in the central park out of granite) 250,000 lbs of metals removed from the site 30,000,000 lbs (or 41,5000 Cubic Yards, equal to 1 football field 30 feet deep) of wood chips, which were converted into energy in a waste-to-energy plant. This produced enough electrical energy (assumes 66% transmission loss factor) to power 900 average size homes for an entire year (or over 1800 smaller apartments or condos)!
2	Glenwood Park harvests approximately 35,000 gallons of water per week using a combination of storm water and well water thus avoiding any use of potable water from the City of Atlanta for its drought resistant landscaping.
3	Glenwood Park reduces the amount of stormwater runoff from its site by two thirds and will treat approximately 61,000 cubic feet of water (426,000 gallons of water) for every 1.2" rainfall event in compliance with Atlanta Regional Commission stormwater quality standards (first flush rain events).
4	Glenwood Park has planted over 1000 trees and thousands of other plants, flowers, and shrubs creating shade , comfort, and beauty for its residents while also absorbing thousands of gallons of stormwater and significantly reducing heat island effects.
5	Glenwood Park saves approximately 100 acres of land in an un-built part of the region by having a density that is 4 times greater than normal sub-division utilization.
6	Through its pedestrian friendly design, proximity to downtown Atlanta, use of bike lanes, and direct access to MARTA, Glenwood Park should reduce the amount of miles driven by its residents when compared to normal driving patterns in other parts of the region by 1,627,500 miles per year! This is the equivalent of removing over 100 cars from the roads of Atlanta! This will also have the effect of saving over 54,250 human hours per year or 27 human work years per annum! That’s a whole lot of living, volunteering, and being more productive than sitting behind the wheel of a car.
7	Through its energy efficient design, Glenwood Park homes will save at least 1.3 Megawatts of energy per year based on the EarthCraftTM House construction of its 372 residences. That is enough energy to run another 81 households for a year and is the equivalent of removing 243 cars off the roads of Atlanta in terms of air pollution every year!
8	Through EarthCraft House standards for waste management during construction, each home at Glenwood Park sent about 30 CY less waste to area landfills and instead recycling metals and cardboard, or grinding wood and drywall waste into useable erosion control and landscape materials. This is the equivalent of approximately one year's worth of trash for each home built at Glenwood Park!