New life infused with green

COSTA MESA — Jeff Bowers spent the last few months converting a 1920s Eastside house into a modern, eco-friendly complex. As far as he’s concerned, though, the project’s biggest boon to the environment was that the crew didn’t need a wrecking ball.

The house at 2674 Elden Ave. had decayed so much over the years, according to Bowers, that squatters were breaking the windows and sleeping inside. The front deck had nearly fallen over.

Still, Bowers, a project manager for Bowers Perez Associates in Newport Beach, saw potential in the rickety structure — and today, he’ll show off the fruits of his labor when the Elden Dwellings rental complex opens for its first public tours.

“Really, the biggest green thing is that we saved this place,” Bowers said Friday as construction workers continued to touch up the property.

Elden Dwellings will be open for public tours from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. today and Sunday. The five detached units, which include the 1920s property in front and four others in back dating from the 1950s and 1970s, are set to go on the market next month, with rent between $1,995 and $2,500 a month.

The complex is the latest green project in a city that’s grown increasingly environmentally savvy in recent years. Costa Mesa recently renewed its Build Green Incentive Program, which waives planning and permit fees for builders who use sustainable materials, and the city has approved a number of applications for green roofs — roofs covered in vegetation — this year.

In designing Elden Dwellings, Bowers didn’t use green roofs or solar paneling, but almost every other feature of the two-bedroom units is sustainable: bamboo floors, outside decks made of recycled wood, low-flush toilets, low-flow shower heads and more. Each of the units has a small planter where, Bowers hopes, occupants will create their own fruit and vegetable gardens.

To publicize his project, Bowers enlisted Evan Little, a Realtor and EcoBroker who specializes in selling sustainable properties.

Little, a Newport Beach resident, said he plans to distribute fliers advertising the units at Mother’s Market, the Lab and the Camp, and other environmentally minded businesses around town.

“It’s going to be a little bit of guerrilla marketing,” he said.

Ultimately, Bowers said, he and Little are looking for residents who share their goal of beautifying the property.

“The last thing I want to see is people moving in and not even touching the garden,” he said. “I don’t want it to just sit there.”

MICHAEL MILLER may be reached at (714) 966-4617 or at michael.miller@latimes.com.