Natural Home magazine named Chapel Hill North Carolina’s  Greenbridge project as one of the country’s 10 most green housing developments.

The development, which includes mostly vacant office and retail space, has 97 condominium units ranging from $250,000 to more than $1 million for penthouses atop its two towers, the second of which is seven-stories. Recycled products  were used throughout the building, and more than 50 solar thermal panels on the roof of its 10-story tower will provide over 15 percent of its hot water demand.

However, the project, which broke ground in 2008 is now in foreclosure.

 

If such a building can’t succeed in progressive Chapel Hill, home to the University of North Carolina and part of a regional economy driven by high-tech research, can large-scale green designs succeed anywhere?

“I would be afraid that the broader market, regional or national, would think this project is in foreclosure because it’s green. That would be a mistake,” said Chris Wedding, who teaches about green building at the university’s Kenan-Flagler Business School.

Wedding, who attended Greenbridge’s groundbreaking and has followed its financial troubles, said the project faces foreclosure mainly because it went up during a recession and developers made costly design and construction decisions.