Just a block away from the Whittier Elementary School in Minneapolis sits a building that stands out among the rest of the block. It touts a metallic siding along with a more cube-like, three-story structure. And, unlike the homes around it, the property has no driveway.
That’s because this property, dubbed the Firefly Apartments, was built not to stand out necessarily but with sustainability in mind. The property developers hope that the project will serve as proof that sustainable and dense apartment buildings are viable projects.
Firefly Apartments, located at 2716 Grand Ave., boasts 12 units in a neighborhood dominated by single-family homes. The 2040 Plan was anticipated but had yet to be codified when developers Jay Rajaratnam and Adam Bradley Jonas took the project to the city of Minneapolis for approval, so they had to get the property rezoned. The property also required a variance to account for the fact that the width of the lot was a foot shorter than regulation size.
“The one thing that we struggled with was the flooring,” Rajaratnam said. “But for most everything else we were able to get away from fossil fuels, tried to look at sustainable products and this being a net-zero ready product, we had certain requirements around what we could and couldn’t use.”
The building was built to be all electric utilizing no natural gas and minimal fossil fuel products and is equipped with solar panels on the top to provide renewable energy to its tenants.
The apartment’s metal siding serves as a way to consume energy more efficiently than something like vinyl. Rajaratnam joked the metal siding is so reflective and bright in the sun, it can give you a suntan.
The property spreads four units on each floor. It has four two-bedroom units, two one-bedroom units and six studios. The rent for a unit will range between $1,245 and $2,395. Kaleidoscope, which was founded by Rajaratnam and Jonas, is the development company.
Construction on Firefly has been going on since last July, and Rajaratnam said he anticipates receiving a certificate of occupancy soon and to start moving in tenants soon.
Wayne Whited, the supervisor for the site’s construction, said the project has been a learning experience but is going well.
“We’re switching over and making that transition because everything’s going to be low [volatile organic compounds] and different heating systems because they’re not running off of fuel, it’s all electric now,” Whited said. “It’s different but it’s going pretty good.”
Joshua Houdek, a Land Use and Transportation Manager for the Sierra Club North Star Chapter, said at a tour of the apartment that the building was an accomplishment.
“It’s important to build better in our cities and this was an opportunity to showcase sustainable development so we can provide more housing for more people and address energy and environmental concerns,” Houdek said.
Jonas and Rajaratnam are not only the developers of Firefly, but also the owners of the property, and Jonas additionally serves as the architect. Jonas said the two will stay on and be the building managers for the property to keep an eye on how to best maintain an all-electric property.
“It’s important to us that we’re helping educate the people that live here and also help promote these new technologies,” he said. “If something’s not working well, we want to know right away and figure out what we can do better.”
Rajaratnam said that constructing a property that runs solely on electricity had a “pretty steep learning curve” so he and Jonas turned to other developers in the industry who were attempting similar projects to learn from them. Along with two other developers, Jonas and Rajaratnam formed the Sustainable Developer Collaborative, or SDC, a group of developers who are attempting to make more sustainable housing options
“It’s also really nice to have people you can bounce ideas off of and get re-energized,” Jonas said. “A lot of what the SDC does is recharge and inspire things because it’s hard to do stuff that’s not been done yet.”
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