GreenStaxx (GSX) is the innovator of a patented modular design system that can be deployed with ease to bring high-quality, sustainable, and affordable homes to the market. And the timing is right, as the U.S. faces an unprecedented housing crisis…
According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition, there is a shortage of more than seven million affordable homes across the United States, a dire situation that requires fast action with viable solutions. That’s where GreenStaxx comes in.
GreenStaxx’s intriguing building system creates efficiencies at every stage of development from concept to construction, and its sustainable and affordable multifamily solutions are exactly what the market needs, when it needs it the most. Right now, a comprehensive range of these fully developed, modular unit designs of various shapes and sizes is in the GreenStaxx Library, ready to go.
The concept
GreenStaxx is the brainchild of Founding Partner Arthur Klipfel—who also heads Oaktree Development—together with his partner Gwen Noyes, Chief Operating Officer.
Having spent years as an architect in New York, Klipfel recognized the potential of the modules that were being repeatedly deployed across multiple projects in the state. He identified a way to make the process more viable.
As he notes, “A one-bedroom was still a one-bedroom, a two-bedroom was a two-bedroom, and so on, and this led me as an architect to develop the idea of standardized unit designs. It was an effort on my part to have a standardized unit design library that you could use in multiple projects.” And it became the catalyst for growth and success.
Understanding that it was impossible to standardize an entire building due to zoning variables and other contingencies, Klipfel instead sought to standardize the component unit designs to be used project to project, refining the offering in the process. Now, the GreenStaxx Library holds 35 different units which have been meticulously designed to include various unit sizes, inside and outside corner units, shafts for stairwells and elevators, and ADA-designed units, all of which are designed to meet site-specific grid requirements and fit together like LEGO® bricks to produce buildings of various sizes and shapes.
The modules are designed to LEED standards as the benchmark, whether certification is the goal or not, and manufactured by partners off-site, a roster that Klipfel plans to continue to expand to sustain future demand, which will further contribute to the affordability of the modules.
Cost-effective solution
The approach taken by GreenStaxx facilitates efficiencies at every stage in addition to the typical advantages associated with modular construction. Certainly, standardization brings down costs, but not at the expense of quality or sustainability.
In addition to expediting the speed of the build thanks to off-site manufacturing, which mitigates the impacts of inclement weather and other related delays, the need for skilled labor is reduced, which is paramount at a time when labor is scarce and dear. GreenStaxx takes a lot of the cumbersome decision-making and to-and-fro-ing out of the equation for a more streamlined construction process that introduces efficiencies from initial consultation through design and assembly.
“All the units are predesigned, pre-engineered, specification-coordinated, et cetera,” explains Klipfel, “so you can see how that accelerates the process. It also gives developers access to all our research and development regarding sustainability and affordability, research of the project supply chain, and, of course, cost implications.”
Julia Hansen, Director of Business Development and Partnerships, agrees. “We provide sort of a turnkey design package; you can’t predesign everything about a building, but we have predesigned the units as well as the outlying specifications—all the things that fit out the unit, like the HVAC system—down to the faucets and the color of the walls.”
While the GreenStaxx offering is designed to empower developers to take control of modular projects, the modules can be customized to some degree and utilized for conventional construction projects as well.
“It was our concern to have a backup,” Klipfel says, “because sometimes modular doesn’t work, so we decided on its dimensions very carefully for modular construction. That means something that’s 62 feet by 13 feet by 11 feet that can go down an assembly line, go down a road, can be lifted into place by a crane, but is designed in a way that it can be converted for conventional construction as a backup to a developer,” he explains.
“In our lead-up process, we give a developer the cost as to the unconventional approach, so he or she knows that’s a backup. So we’re going to try to beat that with speed and better quality and lower cost but we’re setting up goalposts ourselves to aim for.”
Demonstrated results
The true strength of the GreenStaxx offering is that it’s a proven system ready to be deployed and brought to a successful completion at any time. With the backing of Oaktree Development, GreenStaxx has successfully developed a number of properties that are already fully occupied with waiting lists.
“When I went on my own as an architect, I kept with the modular idea and found that the best way to launch it was also to be the developer,” Klipfel shares. “Gwen and I shared some thoughts about building next to public transportation and this morphed into green, sustainable buildings.”
One such example, Brookside Square in Concord, Massachusetts, is a transit-oriented community with 74 one- and two-bedroom units on three floors, designed with GreenStaxx unit plans but built conventionally. Certified LEED Silver, it received the Multifamily Executive (MFE) 2016 Project of the Year Award in the Low-Rise Category.
Another project showing that good design can be affordable and perform to the highest standards is a building on Austin Street in Newton, Massachusetts, undertaken by Oaktree with Dinosaur Capital. This building has four floors comprising 102 modules combined to create 68 one- and two-bedroom units, in addition to commercial space. One-third of the units are considered affordable, and the building features solar-powered electric car charging stations, making the transit-oriented, mixed-use community a LEED-certifiable design.
With projects like these, GreenStaxx continuously improves the performance and function of its modules. More recently, the company completed a modular double triple-decker in Lowell, Massachusetts, a project that was possible thanks to its partners RCM, PBC, and NineZeroTwo Development.
In only two days, with a single crane, 12 boxes were assembled to form six units. Shortly thereafter, the electrical, plumbing, and HVAC connections and other finishing touches were completed, and the building achieved its certificate of occupancy.
“We took the standardized triple-decker unit design and doubled it, so two triple-deckers mirrored each other with a marriage wall connecting them,” explains Hansen. “The energy efficiency rating, which is known as the HERS rating, just came back with really, really good scores,” confirming the brilliance and sustainability of GreenStaxx’s specification.
“Even without going to the lengths of getting a Passive House build, we still achieved a highly efficient building just using our regular specification,” Hansen notes, a point reinforced by Noyes who adds, “We are within three points of having a score that qualifies it as a Passive House.” The goal is to provide a standardized premium product that incorporates quality, sustainability, and energy performance at affordable prices, which is what sets GreenStaxx apart in the market.
The time has come
For too long, GreenStaxx has watched the construction world pass a great opportunity by, but that is no longer the case; the future is now. The company’s patented system offers style, function, and the commitment to sustainability and affordability that the market demands.
“The building industry has been very slow to recognize that this is something that needs to happen if we’re going to have high-quality housing built affordably, and it feels like it’s only now beginning to dawn on them,” says Noyes of the viable alternative modular construction provides. “We’ve been committed to making the building and housing processes more rational, but it’s been a long uphill slog because the construction industry and unions have been so resistant, and towns have been so slow.”
However, many are now seeing and welcoming the future, and for those who would like more information, GreenStaxx can provide a cost-effective analysis comparing conventional construction costs to those of the GreenStaxx system, demonstrating cost savings and potential return on investment.
Naturally, the GreenStaxx team is pleased now that its system is proven, that its potential has been established, and that its value is ready to be leveraged, but Gwen Noyes addresses the subject with typical modesty. “The communities that people live in and the way people live has a huge impact on the quality of their environment and their life. That we can build higher quality housing that is more energy-efficient and beautiful is something that is not an impossibility,” she says.
