by Osman Parvez

Welcome to the future of real estate.

The Rocky Mountain News is reporting on a possible $2 billion dollar green project in Aurora. It’s in early stages, but this massive project could one day encompass nearly 3,000 housing units, 1.7 million SQFT of retail, and 2.8 million SQFT of office space.

With Renewable Choice handling wind power deals for companies like Whole Foods and Vail Resorts, plus many small and growing local firms focusing on solar and alternative energy products and services, our region seems focused on becoming a player renewable energy.

From the article,
The company plans to pull out all the stops to make it an economically and environmentally sustainable community, said Michael Bellamen, CEO of Chicago-based Lend Lease Retail & Communities, the parent of Lend Lease Communities. Lend Lease Retail, in turn, is part of Sydney, Australia-based Lend Lease Corp., which manages more than $6.4 billion in real estate worldwide.

“Imagine houses that put electricity back into the grid, instead of taking it out,” Bellamen said Wednesday in Denver.

The details of the environmental measures will be worked out as the company hammers out a “vision” for Horizon City (a name that could be changed), but Bellamen said the company is well-versed in cutting-edge methods of conserving energy.

“We’re already doing the world’s largest solar-powered community,” a $1.7 billion, 8,000-home Army base in Oahu, Hawaii, he said. The company also built the energy-efficient Olympic Village in Sydney, he said.

“Sustainability is not only the socially right thing to do, but it is the economically right thing to do,” Bellamen said.

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