Passive House Design is Coming to Chicago’s Multifamily Housing Industry

A German-born energy efficiency standard is catching fire in the multifamily housing development industry in Chicago, bringing reduced carbon footprints, improved air quality and lower costs for tenants.

The Passive House standard combines technology for ventilation, insulation and airtightness with design solutions that help retain heat in the winter and keep it out in the summer, with a 40%-60% reduction in energy usage for multifamily and single-family properties, according to Phius, a Chicago-based nonprofit that certifies Passive House buildings.

Multifamily developers, particularly those building affordable housing, in Chicago have begun to embrace Passive House design in the last few years thanks to local industry professionals advocating for changes in the city and state building energy codes, as well as buy-in from ComEd, the primary energy provider in the state.

A.J. Patton, CEO and managing partner of 548 Enterprise in Chicago, said he started his company in 2016 to lower people’s costs and build sustainably. Building to the Passive House standard is one way to do this, he said. Patton has two multifamily affordable housing projects in the pipeline incorporating Passive House design, and he said he thinks more developers would use the standard if they saw it being done to scale.

He hopes his projects will inspire others to construct sustainable buildings.

“It’s a follower’s market,” Patton said. “Leadership matters, precedent matters, experiences matter. And so that’s part of what we’re going to do here with our developments.”

Passive House design focuses on making a building tightly sealed by including features such as triple-paned windows and wraparound insulation to keep outside temperatures from creeping in (and noise too), as well as ventilation systems to keep air quality fresh. These features drive down utility bills for residents and make the building more environmentally friendly. And the standard is tailored to the range of climates in the United States.

Founded in 2007, Phius certified its first property in 2010, according to the company. The nonprofit’s co-founder, Katrin Klingenberg, built the first residential Passive House project, a single-family home, in the U.S. in Urbana in the early aughts.

Single-family Passive House homes were built years prior to the multifamily projects, as the standard was originally geared toward single-family homes, according to Isaac Elnecave, policy specialist at Phius. Illinois has 20 Passive House single-family homes underway or completed, 13 of which are in the Chicago area, according to Phius’ certified project database.

The database shows seven Phius-certified multifamily developments underway or completed in the Chicago area, with an additional development outside of Chicagoland. One of Patton’s projects, Humboldt Park Passive Housing, has not been officially certified yet, according to Phius’ database.

In 2023, around 275 Passive House multifamily projects, or about 16,000 units, are being constructed or have been built nationwide, representing less than 1% of all multifamily housing construction, according to a recent study from the Passive House Network, an education- and policy-oriented organization. Most of these projects have been constructed or designed since 2018, according to the study. Phius’ database has the total number of multifamily construction projects in the pipeline or already built at 398.

The Passive House Network study finds that multifamily building costs for this standard are around 1%-4% higher compared with other buildings, but that is before monetary incentives are taken into account. The study said in order to speed up the pace of Passive House development, local, state and federal policymakers should finance incentive programs, offer professional training, increase provisions in state affordable housing programs and amend compliance rules in energy codes.

Chicago and the state of Illinois have taken some of these steps in recent years.

Chicago’s Department of Planning and Development’s Sustainable Development Policy requires developers receiving city funds to include sustainable elements in their projects. In 2017, the policy was amended to include the Passive House principle as one of the elements to help projects qualify.

Chicago’s building code was changed to accommodate the Passive House standard in 2022 with the adoption of the Chicago Energy Transformation Code, which allows Phius-certified buildings as an alternative method of compliance with building energy codes. A statewide building energy code will be implemented soon, Elnecave said.

Starting in the 2022-23 fiscal year, the Illinois Housing Development Authority began scoring developers applying for low-income housing tax credits — the main source of federal financing behind affordable housing developments across the country — higher if their projects would be built to the Passive House standard.

ComEd has monetary incentives for developers. In 2021, the company launched a pilot program for new affordable housing projects to encourage developers to build to Passive House design and boost energy savings, according to ComEd. The company told the Tribune in a statement that there are five projects participating in the program, with each project estimated to receive between $241,000 and $326,000 in incentives.

The pilot program will run until all the projects are completed, by 2025, and then ComEd will evaluate the final cost to determine if the program will continue or be expanded, the company said.

The first multifamily Passive House building completed was a six-flat constructed by Latin United Community Housing Association in 2018 in Humboldt Park. The developer built a nearly identical six-flat to federal Energy Star standards — another energy efficiency standard — and, according to a study prepared for ComEd, found that the Passive House property had much lower seasonal heating usage, around 65% less.

The next Passive House multifamily building expected to be completed, likely by the end of the year, is the 43-unit affordable and supportive care housing at the Conservatory Apartments in Garfield Park. Deborah’s Place, a nonprofit that helps women experiencing homelessness, will retain most of the units for its clients, with the rest set aside for the state’s list of people who have been housed in places like mental health institutions who don’t need that level of care, according to the development team.

The project, developed by Interfaith Housing Development Corp., is expected to cost about $13 million, with the development team estimating annual energy usage to be about 35%-40% less than a traditional building, translating into $15,000 to $20,000 in cost savings for the building owner. Residents will then also save on their rent, which includes utilities.

“I truly believe this is the way we’re going to build in the future,” said Susan King, principal with HED Architects and the architect for the project. “We have to be more conservative with our resources.”

A project that recently broke ground is Fifth City Commons, a $38 million, 43-unit affordable housing development in East Garfield Park being constructed by the Preservation of Affordable Housing, a national nonprofit development organization.

The group was chosen in an international competition designed to inspire highly energy-efficient buildings in cities, with the original goal of being net zero — a structure that produces as much energy as it uses in a year — turned into implementing Passive House design, according to Bill Eager, senior vice president of the Midwest branch of the Preservation of Affordable Housing. This will be the group’s first Passive House project in Chicago, with four other new construction projects in the works nationally.

Eager said he expects Fifth City Commons to be completed by fall 2024 and has a goal of up to 75% energy reduction, which will reduce residents’ and the building owner’s energy costs.

548 Enterprise’s two multifamily Passive House projects are expected to break ground either at the end of this year or early next year.

Galleria 89 is a $37 million, 58-unit affordable housing development project in South Chicago. The project is an Invest South/West development, the hallmark initiative by former Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s administration to revitalize the South and West sides of Chicago.

Humboldt Park Passive Living is a $40 million, 60-unit mixed-income project in West Humboldt Park in the Invest South/West corridor along Chicago Avenue. Based on the current listed projects on Phius’ database, this would be the largest Passive House affordable housing development in the city if the project receives Phius certification.

As for costs, Steve Gerson, chief financial officer of 548 Enterprise, said the company is seeing a 7% increase in items such as windows and insulation for its Passive House developments compared with the less energy-efficient items they use for non-Passive-House projects. But, utility costs will be lowered for residents, Patton of 548 Enterprise said.

All of the Chicago projects in the works included in this story will be subsidized by ComEd grants.

Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania and Connecticut lead the way in multifamily buildings being developed to meet the Passive House standard, with each state having more than 50 properties in the pipeline or already completed, according to Phius’ database.

Those states are ahead of Chicago and Illinois because of their earlier adoption of building code changes, earlier involvement from energy companies and aggressive carbon emissions reduction goals, according to Ken Levenson, executive director of the Passive House Network.

The Phius database shows Chicago is one of the national leaders in the Passive House commercial development space, with a handful of school and government buildings being designed or completed to meet the standard.

Elnecave of Phius said there has been a “fairly significant” acceleration in Passive House building over the last three years, which he attributes to more recognition of the standard through outreach efforts to the construction community.

Looking ahead, Elnecave said he wants to see more Passive House building by familiarizing more people in the industry with the standard, and for the standard to be used more as a way to reduce the load on energy grids.

“Our vision is to have a professional community to really be able to build so that as they build more Passive House, they happen more quickly, they happen at reduced costs and it becomes, ultimately, the basic standard for construction,” Elnecave said.

Source : Chicago Tribune