The building under consideration is a 6-story mid-rise apartment building that is a part of a larger redevelopment effort of a 1940s public housing complex. In addition to an administration and day care building, the complex originally consisted of twelve, three-story brick box-style buildings that contained 414 public housing units. These have all been demolished and are being replaced with twenty low- rise buildings and three mid-rise apartment buildings (including the mid-rise project for which we are seeking certification), for a total of 426 units with 400,000 sf of built space. Our project has a building/site density of approximately 110,000 sf/acre. Our building sits on the periphery of both the complex (which covers a 9-acre superblock), and a greater residential neighborhood that is composed primarily of 2- and 3- story single family dwellings. Because of the single family dwellings our overall building/site density hovers around 40,000 sf/acre. For the following reasons, we believe our project meets the intent of the credit: 1. Our project has a site density of 111,182 sf/acre, which is well above the density required and significantly increases the density of the entire neighborhood. 2. Per a previous CIR, existing single family residential buildings should not adversely effect the calculations for this credit. 3. When the final two phases of the redevelopment process are completed in the next two years, the building/site density will increase further.
Your assessment is correct: the project can meet the intent of the credit even though the area\'s density may be compromised by the single family houses nearby. With your LEED submittal, provide a narrative explaining the situation and include supplemental documentation that shows the project is located within an existing urban area or town center that generally meets the LEED criteria for 60,000 square feet per acre. Regarding the SSc2 Letter Template, include the development\'s final two phases in the density calculations.