The Metropolitan Development and Housing Agency has been awarded nearly $6 million in competitive grants from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for sweeping, environmentally friendly upgrades to two of its high-rise properties for the elderly and disabled – Vine Hill Studio Apartments and Edgefield Manor. The grants were awarded to MDHA as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act).

            "These HUD funds will allow us to continue our decade of effort to reinvent community-owned housing," said MDHA Executive Director Phil Ryan. Agency endeavors have ranged from complete rebuilds of housing – most recently, J. Henry Hale Apartments on Charlotte Avenue – to environmentally friendly improvements for water and energy usage.

            More than $3.3 million was awarded for the installation of a variable refrigerant volume (VRV) heat pump system at Vine Hill Studio Apartments (left), a 10-story, 209-unit property located at 625 Benton Ave. VRV systems, which are very popular in Europe, utilize outside air to control indoor temperature. Funding at Vine Hill also will go toward window replacement at the 31-year-old building.

 
          MDHA will receive more than $2.6 million for a VRV installation at Edgefield Manor (right), a 44-year-old, nine-story building located at 525 Shelby Ave. The VRV technology will be used for heating and cooling each of the 113 high-rise apartments. MDHA is seeking additional funding for a geothermal installation for the 107 cottage-style apartments that are part of the Edgefield Manor development.

In addition, the Agency will install photo-voltaic solar panels on Edgefield Manor's roof. While the building will continue to utilize electrical power, the solar panels will generate electrical energy that will be returned to the TVA power grid to supplement the green power program. The generated power can then be utilized by homeowners and other electrical power consumers, and MDHA will be reimbursed by TVA for the power the solar panels generate.

"Our Board and staff are pleased to be 'outside the box' – that is, selling power to TVA!" added Ryan.

Once the VRV installations and other improvements at Edgefield Manor and Vine Hill Towers are complete, MDHA anticipates carbon emission reductions in excess of 603,000 pounds per year. The VRV systems are expected to lower heating costs by up to 60 percent and lower cooling costs by up to 30 percent.

With this award, MDHA has received more than $18 million for community-owned housing since this spring, including approximately $12.3 million in stimulus funding earlier this year for improvements to its high-rises. The loft concept that was introduced at Gernert Studio Apartments in 2008 is now being extended to other high-rises through the stimulus funding. The goal is to make the properties more appealing by utilizing ideas learned from downtown high-rise condominium developments that make small spaces as appealing and functional as possible. In addition, elevators at all MDHA high-rises are being refurbished or replaced.

 

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