A new apartment complex in Iowa City is making sustainable practices a priority.

Riverside West, a 96-unit apartment complex, is currently under construction near the intersection of Riverside Drive and Benton Street. The $16.1 million project, scheduled to be completed in August, will be equipped with rooftop solar panels and include recycling for tenants.

Kevin Hanick, a real-estate agent for Urban Acres who also owns the complex, said a lot of thought went into the sustainability of the building.

“When we were planning the construction, we were thinking of what kind of ways we could make it more environmentally friendly,” Hanick said. “We worked with the city on this; they’re very supportive of new construction.”

Riverside West will consist of mostly two-bedroom, two-bathroom apartments, with some studio and three-bedroom apartments. Hanick said the rent for each unit has not been determined yet.

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He also said he anticipates the use of solar panels will grow substantially over the next few years, because of a bill passed in Congress in December 2015 that offers increased tax incentives for solar users.

Plus, solar power would provide most of the energy for the building, meaning savings on energy bills.

“The cost of the whole system is significant up front, but these systems usually pay for themselves over time, in seven or eight years,” Hanick said.
“The typical equipment for solar panels has a 25-year warranty, so you have this incentive to do it, and it pays for itself in a short amount of time, I would think everyone would want to do it.”

Iowa City sustainability coordinator Brenda Nations said she does not know of any other apartment complexes that use solar panels and knows of very few other places around the city that do.
She said she hopes this project will spur the growth of solar panels in the city.

“We’re excited about it being on an apartment complex,” Nations said. “Anything that isn’t using fossil fuels will help us, so this is a really good thing.”

Recycling services are also a way Hanick is making Riverside West more sustainable. Apartment landlords are currently not required to provide recycling services to their tenants, but Hanick will make sure his tenants have that option.

“Apartment dwellers usually just put everything in the Dumpster, and that’s really bad for the environment, so we’re going to have an option for recyclables and we’ll try to motivate our tenants to use those,” he said.

City staff members are drafting a recycling ordinance.
Iowa City Development Services Coordinator John Yapp said the ordinance would require multifamily buildings to provide recycling services, and the city would check to make sure recycling is being provided during regular