BOSTON: Green, the New Color Of Love
Oaktree Development's Gwen Noyes spotted partner Art Klipfel during her graduation from Vassar in the ‘60s. He was a friend of her classmate. Both attended architecture school—she at U of P; he at Yale. Their paths crossed again in Cambridge where in '73 she joined his company, Unihab, to develop environmentally sound residential communities. In '81, they became a couple and seven years later, they married; it was the second time for each, and it proved to be a charm. Gwen says he's brilliant, philosophical, trustworthy and likes to bike, hike, and sail. He says they share values and politics; he respects her sustainability work and admires her cooking and gregariousness.
Putting their love of green building to work, the pair hopes to break ground next week on $33M, 74-unit Brookside Square (above, with 36k SF of office/commercial) in West Concord. The Smart Growth-focused project will use Art’s Greenstaxx design/build system. The deets on the downtown development: solar panels, charging stations for electric cars, and underground parking. (That saves you from shoveling snow off your car.) For the public, there's a market space and access to the brook and bike trail that bounds the property. But this isn’t a new concept for these sweethearts and trendsetters: Years ago, Oaktree built one of the first apartment buildings at the now buzzworthy and TOD groundbreaking-filled Alewife T-stop.
