Pillar homes has successfully certified their first 5 homes in Morningside Park, Montverde FL.

The homes in Morningside Park have curb appeal showcasing custom landscaping design, charming front porches with beautiful columns, stone and Hardie siding details included in every home. This quaint community is notably the first certified Florida Water Star homes in Montverde known for its water conservation and water efficiency programs. By including high efficiency toilets, faucets and showers, homeowners will save approximately 20 percent on indoor water use. Outside the landscape design incorporates site appropriate plant species and the irrigation system waters the lawn and landscaped beds separately and efficiently. These homes also feature landscape depression areas to minimize runoff thereby protecting local lakes and rivers.

900 Building in Jacksonville earns Existing Building Commercial Certification

A 43-year-old office building on University Boulevard North in Jacksonville has received an energy and water makeover received the first-ever Florida Water StarSM certification for existing commercial buildings within the St. Johns River Water Management District. Custom Builders overhauled the seven-story office building to significantly reduce water use. The new owners of the 900 Building, Daryl Grubbs and Dick Lundy, worked diligently to achieve the certification. Grubbs and Lundy focused on three main areas to reduce water use. Outdoors, the irrigation system is no longer being used and the existing, well-established plants and trees sustain on rainfall alone. Indoors, the bathrooms have been updated with high-efficiency toilets, urinals and faucets. In addition, they upgraded the HVAC/air-conditioning system to use a lower quality water source.

Dwell at Lake Nona earns certification

Dwell at Lake Nona is a 274-apartment community in south Orlando that was recently certified by the South Florida Water Management District. It will conserve water indoors with WaterSense toilets, faucets and showerheads. The builder also installed low-flow kitchen faucets. The majority of the landscape is site-appropriate, drought-tolerant landscape plants with limited irrigated turf grass. The irrigation system is controlled with a smart controller using evapotranspiration (ET) to regulate use.

Tampa development earns Florida Water Star certification

The Southwest Florida Water Management District’s latest certification is the Encore!, a mixed-use redevelopment complex in downtown Tampa. The Reed is the third building in the complex to receive the certification for meeting specific requirements of the Florida Water Star program. Because the Encore! also installed drought-tolerant plants and uses only micro-irrigation, the community’s Trio, Ella and Reed buildings use 40 percent less water than SWFWMD’s irrigation allotment calculation, a reduction of approximately 320,000 gallons of water per year.

Lexington Court is certified as a Florida Water Star Community

The St. Johns River Water Management District certified Lexington Court as a Florida Water Star Community. The 108-unit apartment complex was constructed by Atlantic Housing Partners, LLC, and is located on West Concord in downtown Orlando. The affordable housing community features water-efficient faucets, showers, dishwashers and clothes washers. The landscaping is drought-tolerant and suited to the area. The landscape uses micro-irrigation to minimize water use outdoors. The certifier, Lisa Pearcy, from All Elements Mechanical, worked closely with Atlantic Housing Partners to maximize opportunities for water efficiency.

Max Planck Florida Institute for Neuroscience

Using practices and hardware that conserve water at its Jupiter headquarters, the Max Planck Florida Institute for Neuroscience has earned a Florida Water Star Commercial retrofit certification from the South Florida Water Management District.

To earn the certification under the program’s new criteria for existing buildings, the Max Planck Florida Institute for Neuroscience implemented water-saving features in four categories:

• Landscape and irrigation
• Heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC)
• Indoor such as water-saving faucets, toilets and showerheads
• Process water use such as the amount used to make a product

A trained certifier verified the work was completed at the 100,000-square-foot research facility located on 6 acres at Florida Atlantic University.

Friendship Village Apartments, Tampa

Florida Home Partnership has been building sustainable homes for low- and moderate-income homebuyers in Florida since 1993 and continues to grow and thrive. The Partnership’s nine-unit Friendship Village Apartment complex in Tampa is the first community in Hillsborough County to achieve the Florida Water Star community certification. All apartment units include high-efficiency fixtures and ENERGY STAR^®-certified dishwashers. Florida Home Partnership is also constructing an 80-unit apartment complex in Plant City, which is also being built to Florida Water Star community standards.

Mainsail Solutions Inc., Lady Lake

Mainsail Solutions is developing a green community called Green Key in Lady Lake, in central Florida. These Net Zero homes have achieved Florida Water Star certification. Indoors they feature manifold plumbing systems that allow a hot water supply line to every outlet so there is no waste while waiting for hot water. Bathrooms have WaterSense^® showers, faucets and toilets. ENERGY STAR^® dishwashers contribute to reduced water use in the kitchen. Outdoors, the landscape has been carefully designed to allow only site-appropriate species and an irrigation system that minimizes waste yet allows sufficient water where needed.

Dahl Builders, New Smyrna Beach

Dahl homes feature beach-style living with efficiency. Carefully designed landscapes include preservation of natural landscape, rainfall harvesting for hand watering and Florida-friendly landscape beds. There is no in-ground irrigation system. Indoors, the homes feature high-efficiency toilets, showers and faucets. A manifold plumbing system allows for faster hot water delivery to all end points.

Champions Gate, Lennar Homes

This master planned community will include 2,500 homes that are being built to meet Florida Water Star criteria. The homes feature three to six bedrooms and include a carefully designed landscape to ensure water savings for the homeowner, and the homes feature water efficient toilets, faucets and showers as well as various energy-saving features. Toho Water staff have certified 200 homes.

GATE convenience store, St. Johns Town Center

Gate Petroleum Co. opened its third Florida Water Star-certified gas station in April 2014. The store is located at the St. Johns Town Center by St. Johns Bluff Road in Jacksonville.

This station features a water-efficient, Florida-Friendly landscape that is designed to use minimal irrigation. Indoors the bathrooms feature water-efficient fixtures. Gate is also constructing two additional gas stations that it plans to build to meet Florida Water Star criteria.

A GATE convenience store on Hendricks Avenue in Jacksonville was the St. Johns River Water Management District’s first commercial designation in 2010.