The apartments are handsome, with a high-end feel, and their conversion to “green” came a little bit late. But March 1, tenants will begin moving into Irvine’s 481-unit Main Street Village, Orange County’s first ready-to-rent, certifiably green apartment complex. 
At first glance, it’s hard to see much difference. Most of the green features – recycled building materials, energy and water-saving fixtures, subtly altered design – are almost invisible until someone points them out.
The complex’s most unusual feature might be a “community garden,” where tenants can stake out a plot and grow ornamental plants, food crops or whatever they like — possibly the state’s first.
“We’ve looked hard, and we can’t find another rental community with an on-site community garden,” said Todd Morefield, a senior investment manager with the builder, MetLife.
The builder is trying for a silver “LEED” certification (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design), but won’t receive the certificate until six months after all construction is completed in September.
Buying all the necessary “green” materials and consulting needed is so far costing MetLife just under $1 million, Morefield said. But he says it’s worth the price.
“Green-conscious buildings are part of a lifestyle we believe is definitely evolving and coming to the front,” Morefield said.
A tour of the brand-new building and grounds this week began with a restroom near the junior olympic-sized swimming pool: low-flush toilets and low-flow faucets to cut water use by 20 to 30 percent; “occupancy” sensors that switch off the lights if no one is in the room.
The same features are found in the apartment bathrooms as well. The apartments include a variety of hidden ‘green’ features, such as a fan built into the wall designed to pump in fresh air, and carpeting, paint and adhesives made from materials low in volatile organic compounds, a major pollutant.
“That’s to promote fresh air and healthy living,” Morefield said.
Metal, wood and plumbing are made of recycled materials.
“They aren’t manufactured from brand new materials,” Morefield said. “We’re using things that are left over; we’re not cutting down trees.”
Being LEED certified means not allowing smoke or odors to seep through walls; there is extra caulking and extra drywall to improve insulation, and “blower-door” tests to make sure nothing is transmitted between the units.
“Another added benefit is also noise reduction,” Morefield said.
The apartments are equipped with ”energy star” appliances so the complex can get a green building certification from the city of Irvine as well.
In a common room, floors are made of recycled hardwood. An internet lounge includes spare laptops and free wifi — not really a ‘green’ feature, but, like the large, well-equipped gym and small theater for watching DVDs, an extra meant to give the place a luxurious feel.
An indoor-outdoor fireplace is fueled by gas, not wood, to eliminate pollution from wood smoke.
Separate trash chutes keep landfill-bound waste and recyclables apart.
The parking garage is another point of pride for Morefield, though it, too, looks deceptively familiar at first. There are spaces set aside for hybrid cars, lighting aimed down, not up, to cut light pollution, and a simple change that could make a big difference: the lighting on the ceiling is moved away from the margins of the garage, which are open to natural light, and toward the center where it is darker.
That way, electric lighting is confined during the day to the part of the garage where it is most needed, increasing energy efficiency.
And light bulbs? Compact fluorescent, of course.
All that should save tenants 20 percent to 30 percent on utility bills, Morefield said.
One-bedroom units rent for $1,600, and the largest, three-bedroom units for $2,950.
Rent will be a bit higher than typical market value, he said, but little of that is a result of the green features. Instead, the amenities and quality of flooring, cabinets and other features will drive the rents a bit higher.
The builder is trying for the second tier of LEED — silver — because the decision to turn the complex green came after construction had started, preventing the company from including some advanced, architecture-related features, Morefield said. Starting a bit earlier might have earned it the next highest tier, gold.
The very highest level, platinum, was always out of reach for the large apartment complex, he said.
Other green apartments, including student housing at UC Irvine and some government subsidized housing, exist in Orange County. But canvassing by MetLife shows that Main Street Village will be the first complex in the county to be open to the general public and ready to rent.
