Where
there was once lube and lingerie,
there are now solar panels and a "vampire
kill switch." Most (if not all) American cities have a smattering of sex shops--one-stop shops for lingerie, massage oils, dildos, and the occasional bondage restraint kit. In the early 2000s, at the corner of 44th Street and Van Buren, Phoenix, Arizona had the Castle Boutique. Then the megastore built a new location, walked away from its lease, and left the
building to sit for three years. When DPR Construction, a national sustainable
building company, came across the 16,533-square-foot building, they knew they had encountered something special. "When we first went to look at it, we went down with a broker in june. It was 105 or 110 degrees, but inside the
building was still in the low 80s, which told us that the
building was well-insulated and able to manage itself. We knew the
building could perform well given the right prescriptive changes," says Dave Elrod, regional manager at DPR Construction.Read Full Story