After decades of disinvestment, the Forest Park Southeast neighborhood has newfound renewal as evident in the burgeoning commercial district. Many housing options – both renovation and new construction – have filled the once-neglected urban fabric. Much of the investment has been along Manchester Avenue and north, codified as owner-occupied and market rate rental units, leading to a loss of affordable and moderate housing opportunities. Meanwhile, parcels south of Manchester continued to show decline with higher vacancy, less robust historic building stock, and consequently, less promise of a future rebound.
Washington University, committed to ensure affordable, modern housing, had a place in the renaissance of Forest Park Southeast awarded development rights of their properties to RISE Development in a competitive RFP process. Trivers, familiar with the neighborhood after the 2001 Adams School Revitalization, was eager to help Washington University realize the vision, set forth and implemented by RISE.
The outcome is contextual, modern, and affordable, 1, 2, and 3 bedroom garden-style residences to 3 and 4 bedroom townhomes. The scale, proportion, and design cues all derive from the eclectic range of surrounding historic single and multi-family housing stock. The material palette, unit combinations, and quality of interior and exterior spaces do not merely replicate neighborhood precedents, but rather elevate the living experience of not only the future tenants, but that of the neighborhood.
To ensure that the housing is environmentally and economically sustainable, the buildings have been designed to the Enterprise Green Communities standard to ensure they are energy efficient and ensure that less is spent on utilities by those with limited resources.
