"By choosing to develop a timber building, we hope to pave the way for a new method of urban construction that is ecologically conscious and supportive of rural economies. Rooted in the forests and erected in the city, this building is a celebration of habitats that are at once ancient and cutting edge, interconnected and individual, natural and technological."

Erica Spiritos - Sept 21, 2015 - 475 W 18th

The future must be sustainable. 40-50% of greenhouse gasses and global warming is said to come from buildings, the materials used to build them and their operation. We build buildings that last 50+ years and we can not afford for them to be built the old fashion way. We must turn away from building with carbon producing products, steel and concrete

Toward mass timber building, the Healthy Building System.

Our future will be building mass timber buildings. Our current activity:

ACME Timber [New Haven, CT]

ACME Timber Lofts is a preservation, restoration and vertical expansion of an existing 3.5-story, 150-year-old, unreinforced masonry structure, via a new mass timber stair and elevator core and two story cross laminated timber (CLT) extension, with exposed CLT interior and exterior walls and ceilings. The renovated building is also designed to Passive House standards. In combination, mass timber and passive house strategies are the most progressive ways to decarbonize our buildings – to make them environmentally responsible, healthy, natural and durable. The five-story project will contain 18 residential apartments, ground-floor retail, basement gym, bike room, and trash room, and rooftop tenant amenity space and solar panels. Located at 33 Crown Street in the downtown Ninth Square Historic District, the ACME building served as the headquarters for the multi-generational ACME Furniture business and is located close to New Haven’s train stations, the Yale New Haven medical complex, Yale University and the City’s growing biotech center.

340+ Dixwell Avenue [New Haven, CT]

340+ Dixwell represents our vision for high quality affordable housing, through mass timber and passive house systems. It is our answer to the millions of households around the world that occupy inadequate, sometimes unsafe housing, and who are financially stretched by the costs of housing. The development site is on approximately 41,000 sf, for an 87,000 sf building with ground floor commercial and 69 rental apartments in two four-story buildings at 316 and 340 Dixwell Avenue. 80% of the apartments are for families/couples at 60% or less of the area’s average median income (AMI). 340+ Dixwell is the East Coast’s first LIHTC project, funded through the Connecticut State Housing Finance Agency, Connecticut Department of Housing, Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development and the City of New Haven.

New Haven Independent Article

475 West 18TH [New York, NY]

Across the street from High Line Park in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan, 475 West 18th was selected as one of two winners of the 2015 USDA Tall Wood Building Competition. This 10-story, 15 unit project ultimately did not move forward, in large part, due to the discomfort of the NY City Fire Department to proceed. “By choosing to develop a timber building, we hope to pave the way for a new method of urban construction that is ecologically conscious and supportive of rural economies,” said Erica Spiritos of Spiritos Properties. “Rooted in the forests and erected in the city, this building is a celebration of habitats that are at once ancient and cutting edge, interconnected and individual, natural and technological.” Though ultimately not constructed, the Project served as the launching pad for our mass timber journey, starting in early 2015.