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Cabinet Members Tour Legends Park

April 25, 2014 | McCormack Baron Salazar

On Friday, April 25, 2014, EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy and Department of Transportation (DOT) Secretary Anthony Foxx joined Memphis Mayor A C Wharton, U.S. Rep. Steven Cohen, HUD officials and other dignitaries for a tour of McCormack Baron Salazar’s Legend Park community in Memphis.

The Cabinet-level officials were on a tour of Memphis projects funded through the federal Partnership for Sustainable Communities.  The Partnership, a collaboration between the Department of Housing and Urban Development, DOT and the EPA, aims to find triple bottom line solutions for housing, transportation and economic development.

Legends Park West was built through a 2010 HUD Capital Fund Recovery Competition (CFRC) Green Communities Grant, one of HUD’s programs in the partnership.  The CFRC grant supported extraordinary performance in new, green construction.  At Legends Park West, the development team followed the Enterprise Green Communities Criteria and Energy Star for Homes to create a healthy, sustainable, energy-efficient and cost-saving community that fully integrates sustainable and energy efficient features into the master plan, building materials, equipment, components, construction methods, and operations.

Major achievements at Legends Park include:

  • Energy use reductions of 30-40+% over ASHRAE 90.1-2004;

  • Improved indoor air and climate;

  • Improved overall resident comfort, health and well-being;

  • Savings for residents, management and public partners; and

  • Increased training and job opportunities. 

As the Cabinet members witnessed, the result of these efforts is not only efficient, healthful structures, but also a repopulated urban neighborhood with a practical and environmentally respectful approach to revitalization.  As Gina McCarthy stated, Legends is “cool.” “This is what you call sustainability.”

Read more about the visit here.