Inside Third & Bond: Week 17

Today’s guest post from the Hudson Companies bloggers turns the attention from plans for the kitchen to the great outdoors.

Now that our building design is nearly complete, we’ve turned our attention to what surrounds the buildings: the outdoors. Third & Bond has 38 private outdoor spaces (enough for 85% of buyers to have their own) as well as 7 front yards and a courtyard. We want these spaces to look great, be easy to maintain, and meet our green goals. In short, we needed a green landscaping genius. Fortunately, one of our brokers, Leslie Marshall, had been contacted recently by The Organic Gardener about potential work and she passed on the suggestion.

When we called up The Organic Gardener (aka Timothy Osborne), we found out that not only does he use only organic materials, making him a great LEED-friendly fit for our building, but he also does really beautiful work as shown in the above before and after of a rear yard in Brooklyn.

More photos and discussion on the jump…

This yard is spectacular but we also wanted to know if he could do something a little less formal and less expensive. This backyard looks great for a social couple who entertain frequently, but what about a yard built with the flexibility needed for kids and a dog? No problem. Here’s an example:

Convinced that his work has a pretty wide range as exemplified by these photos, we came up with two categories of design projects for him to take on.

First, a design for the outdoor spaces that we’ll install as the developer and will likely be maintained in the future by the condo association: the front yards and the courtyard. It needs to be easy to care for and fit the design vision for the building. Second, a design for the outdoor spaces accompanying our model residences during the sales and marketing phase: a duplex’s rear yard and a private roof terrace. We love the idea of showing the potential of these green spaces in a similar manner to staging the interior model with furniture.

The Organic Gardener came into the office last week to toss around a few ideas for Third & Bond. Stay tuned for the actual designs in the coming weeks, but for now here’s a sneak peak on some of the ideas and materials he’s pitched to us so far.

Dutch Gardens

Drawing on the area’s Dutch history, he showed us some Dutch-inspired gardens. We liked the playful shapes of the formally planned gardens and the espaliered trees. (Both shown here.) Another bonus: Dutch gardens are designed with plant materials that are colorful in the summer and winter.

Grass-Less

This is important as grass is a LEED no-no. Lawn grasses like crab grass and Kentucky blue grass are not native to North America and require a tremendous amount of watering compared with native coastal grasses. Typically, we would deliver rear yards with either sod (i.e., grass) or plain, boring dirt but The Organic Gardener inspired us to consider something new for our model yard. He had a number of ideas on how to make more sustainable yards using elements ranging from pea gravel to artfully placed concrete blocks and stone pavers. For the parts of the garden where we want a little more green he suggested grouping native coastal grasses (shown here) that consume less water than your typical backyard variety.

Native Plants and Local Materials

The Organic Gardener’s plant suggestions were almost all native including lavender and dogwood. The lavender is especially neat because it comes in a mind-blowing variation of purples and smells amazing (shown here but, sadly, not smell-able here). He also has local wood and stone sources for any elements we might have to build up in the backyard

Butterflies

Everyone knows that real estate developers love butterflies, so it’s probably no surprise that satisfying the local butterfly population is pretty much our #1 priority at Third & Bond. But seriously, another benefit to choosing local plants is that they are more attractive to birds and butterflies native to the area. We’re hoping our plant materials will be especially attractive to winged wildlife.

Inside Third & Bond: Week 16 [Brownstoner]
Inside Third & Bond: Week 15 [Brownstoner]
Inside Third & Bond: Week 14 [Brownstoner]
Inside Third & Bond: Week 13 [Brownstoner]
Inside Third & Bond: Week 12 [Brownstoner]
Inside Third & Bond: Week 11 [Brownstoner]
Inside Third & Bond: Week 10 [Brownstoner]
Inside Third & Bond: Week 9 [Brownstoner]
From our lawyers: This is not an offering. No offering can be made until an offering plan is filed with the Department of Law of the State of New York.”