VidaLuz Development LLC Enters Series A Fundraise, Charts Path to B Corp Certification
Visionary team sees responsible urban development as key to holistic wellness
Denver, CO—Today, a group of tenured farmers, hospitality professionals and hoteliers, residential and commercial developers, and wellness experts announced a visionary new company focused on providing holistic sustainability as a lifestyle choice to new communities in Colorado and around the world. VidaLuz Development LLC, led by co-founders Jessa Robuck and Tonya Sargent, entered Series A fundraising, laying the groundwork to achieve B Corp certification across a portfolio of innovative Earth-conscious projects. The company launches with a strategic approach to addressing big picture issues around climate change by finding long term, comprehensive, and replicable solutions in urban planning.
Agriculture is central to everything at VidaLuz. The name itself refers to the Spanish terms vida, or life, and luz, or light. Across the company’s portfolio of pending projects, planners apply the ethos inherent in sustainable agriculture - that healthy food is the light source of life. Robuck, Sargent, and the company’s leadership team have built a framework to construct contemporary new micro cities starting with multiple sites in suburban Denver; a template hospitality campus and boutique eco-agro hotel concept; and an impressive new system of net zero modular manufacturing. Focused on the seamless integration of comprehensive resource and waste management systems into the communities they build, VidaLuz hopes to begin creation of replicable, cost-efficient, and profitable mixed-use developments as early as 2021.
MICRO CITIES
Several micro city site plans are currently under review in municipalities outside of Denver, Colorado; places where suitable land is currently misused or underutilized, but that provide access to public transit and the convenience of contemporary urban life. Plans feature five-story vertical farm applications growing hyperlocal, nutrient rich food, consumed directly by the residents who live there. Farms of this scale simply do not exist in the current residential or mixed-use commercial real estate market and are foundational to the company’s proposed live / work / play environments.
VidaLuz micro cities blend sustainability practices in template plans appropriate for a range of size and scale applications
Rendering Credit: Matthew Otricelli
Central marketplaces create a commercial centerpiece where a complete food chain is realized and possible year-round. Programming around agriculture is rooted in proactive research done on-site, contributing to an intentional focus on biodiversity and technology, bringing native and small farming techniques to an urban environment. The platform for each micro city utilizes today’s best green technology, prepared for the innovation of tomorrow. The company’s development and agriculture teams combine sustainability practices, applying them together unlike anywhere else, including:
● Solar panels placed on most buildings, including residences;
● Passive renewable energy used for temperature control and charging stations (vehicle, drone, consumer electronics);
● Radiant heating and natural insulation;
● Shading techniques, natural ventilation, convective cooling and responsible material integration in the architecture itself;
● Mini vertical wind turbines;
● Energy redundancy systems;
● MicroMobility infrastructure (clean energy transport options);
● Waste sensor technology and a community bio-digester used to regulate the processing of organic waste;
● Hydrogen fuel cell applications woven into a micro-grid power framework;
● Water infrastructure planning to include rainwater collection; passive turbine systems, energy harvesting, conservation and collection, and pathways for responsible reuse and reapplication, and;
● 5G integration throughout.
The results mean a projected 90%+ reduction in water and soil usage, carbon neutrality or negative energy use, and total energy self-reliance.
GREEN HOSPITALITY
The brand’s approach to green hospitality involves relationship building among local growers and suppliers within native communities nearby. Its boutique hotels will offer exclusively locally sourced food among culinary programs, built around education and indigenous wellness practices. Seed banking and on-premise vertical growth structures will allow cross-seasonal planting and a yearlong growing season while simultaneously dramatically cutting water dependency. Site planning is currently underway in a short list of communities where ecological preservation is already a legislative priority, offering ease of access and far fewer regulatory burdens.
VidaLuz integrates green practices throughout its visionary boutique hotel concepts
Rendering Credit: Eric Bogantes, Alianz Estudio Arquitectura
SUSTAINABLE MANUFACTURING
Both initiatives are built - literally - via an innovative new approach to on-premise modular manufacturing. Chief Innovation Officer Dillon Morehead has laid out plans for the application of natural, renewable materials including hempcrete, cocoacrete, and other alternatives to traditional concrete. The company is developing capabilities to manufacture mycelium and sheep’s wool insulation in a master 15,000 sq ft space dedicated to on-site research and development, allowing staff to seamlessly interact with the native environment. The responsible sourcing and utilization of the building products is in lieu of traditional, wasteful, cumbersome, and often more expensive practices.
Additionally, VidaLuz manufacturing facilities will lack drainpipes, preventing waste from entering the local ecosystem, while utilizing cutting-edge robotics to increase efficiency and materials reuse potential. Each VidaLuz community, be it residential, mixed-use commercial, or a destination hospitality campus, will be built with sustainable living at its core, and infrastructures in place to maintain and thrive through future crises related to climate change.
Beyond immediate plans, VidaLuz hopes to inspire ripple effect change with its holistic approach to development. Robuck said, “Our mission drives us to think beyond the traditional approach to community planning; to create a scalable, adaptable footprint that makes green living obtainable and easy regardless of location. Our dream scenario is that developers worldwide approach the incorporation of sustainable lifestyle similarly, so it doesn’t even cross our mind about taking a secretive, proprietary stance – open source is the pathway to high impact and widespread application that translates to real change.”
This open and thoughtful approach to high-impact work is what the founders hope drives interest from socially responsible, mission-driven investors. “We are seeking the support of like-minded individuals, foundations, and organizations who recognize the immense potential for change and global impact that is inherent to our style of holistic, mission-driven, and big-picture thinking development. We want to join forces with forward thinking minds that can conceive of a future for our children that is cleaner and brighter because of our sustainable development efforts now.”
For more information about VidaLuz Development LLC, renderings of planned projects, or related imagery, visit www.vidaluzdevelopment.com or contact Anthony Hesselius at anthonyh@lindarothpr.com.
ABOUT VIDALUZ DEVELOPMENT
VidaLuz creates the greatest properties on the planet where truly sustainable coexistence is a reality. The company builds environments where residents live effortlessly, in harmony with their surroundings, and is committed to reframing “sustainable development” as a business – recognizing the need for viability and profitability in its investment approach. VidaLuz developments are grounded in long-term sourcing practices and new energy efficiency standards, guided by an urgent need to radically improve quality of life for residents and guests.
A group of influential, dynamic innovators, VidaLuz sees a unique opportunity to build a world with different results. Driven by data, financial and performance models, the team at VidaLuz exists to bridge commercial profits with designs that integrate conscious, holistic lifestyles. Its leaders have spent over 20 years contributing to the progressive transformation of hospitality companies, residential and commercial developments, and sustainable building materials. Together at VidaLuz, these industries are disrupted, actualizing substantial change while deriving unprecedented, long term profitability for investors.
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