Casa Indiana

Overview

Casa Indiana is a four-story apartment building, located in Philadelphia, PA, that offers both supportive and affordable housing to the neighborhood’s residents. Located on a former abandoned industrial site, and assembled using locally sourced materials, the building’s construction is part of a significant reclamation effort on behalf of HACE (the Hispanic Association of Contractors and Enterprises) to promote equitable and sustainable community development. Tailored to meet the meticulous standards of both ENERGY STAR and National Green Building Standard (NGBS) certifications, Casa Indiana is a mixed-use project that will provide the neighborhood with 50 new 1 bedroom apartments — many of which are handicap-accessible, and all of which are specifically designed to cater to senior members of the community by including features such as adaptable bathrooms and proximity to centralized amenities.

The property facilitates residents’ easy access to laundry services, as well as offers an on-site medical services office, community garden, and library. Additionally, the exterior design of this project was crafted to take into account, and remain coherent with, the existing neighborhood context — through use of materials that complement the surrounding row-house landscape. As a result of its extraordinary conservation and humanitarian efforts, Casa Indiana has received a COTE (Committee on the Environment) Architectural Excellence Award from AIA Pennsylvania, been dubbed Best Affordable Design of 2020 by Senior Housing News Awards, as well as won the Green Building United 2020 Groundbreaker Project Award.   

ReVireo’s involvement in this project consisted of working closely with HACE to deliver the precise testing and environmental performance consulting necessary for Casa Indiana to meet the rigorous requirements of both ENERGY STAR and NGBS Silver certifications. ReVireo’s engineers conducted extensive evaluations of each unit to ensure that the building met or exceeded all requisite high-efficiency and sustainability standards. This process included review, inspection, and testing of construction materials, installed appliances, and mechanical equipment. As this dynamic project was an understandably significant undertaking, its construction required the involvement of many and diverse expert teams. In addition to performing on-site testing, ReVireo acted as an essential intermediary between all parties involved in development, coordinating communication and facilitating Q&A sessions with the contractor and subcontractors to provide a baseline understanding of measures and requirements, and accordingly, ensure the building would pass inspections and qualify for LIHTC (Low-income Housing Tax Credit).

As a direct result of the work done by ReVireo, HACE was able to acquire the affordable housing funding needed for construction of Casa Indiana, meet PHFA’s (Pennsylvania Housing and Finance Agency) extensive sustainability requirements, achieve ENERGY STAR and NGBS Silver certifications, and earn $27,500 in energy rebates from PECO.