When BKV Group was engaged to reimagine a former lumber processing site as a residential campus for active older adults, the objectives were clear but lofty.

“The specific goals were, first and foremost, to be affordable and to start to heal the urban fabric. Effectively, to re-establish urban residential blocks within this larger parcel that had been industrial for at least 100 years,” said Aron Thomas, a senior project architect at BKV.

The project was the Legends at Berry active adult housing complex in St. Paul, Minnesota. The client was Dominium, one of the nation’s largest developers, owners and managers of affordable housing. The challenge for BKV would be managing the transformation of this forgotten industrial site into a welcoming residential campus while keeping an extra keen eye on costs.

A critical part of the solution on both counts came in the form of a single, simple choice: MagicPak All-in-One® HVAC systems.

Meet High Performance Standards, Simply

Not only would the complex need to be cost-effective to build, but the solutions would need to keep rent and utilities within reach—even through brutal Minnesota winters.

Navigating a labyrinth of regulations and stakeholders is nothing new for urban multifamily projects. Local funding incentives were available through the City of St. Paul and HUD, but to qualify, they needed to prove the building would meet Minnesota’s B3 energy standard.

Alex Sawka, Director of Mechanical Engineering and Associate Partner at BKV, and the project’s Engineer of Record, turned to a familiar solution—the MagicPak All-in-One HVAC system.

“There’s a lot of benefits to a MagicPak unit,” said Sawka. “The design is really flexible. There’s a top supply and a bottom return configuration, which helps our architects with where they can place the unit in the apartment. There are options with standard and high efficiency gas and electric, so we’re able to choose which is best for the project.”

Senior project architect Aron Thomas points out that having MagicPak® as a standardized solution helps streamline the design process. “We always know where duct work needs to go. We always know how they’re going to operate. We know that we usually use them in three different sizes based on our bedroom counts and our unit square footages. It is very convenient for us to be able to design around a product that delivers consistent value that way.”

For the Legends at Berry, having a MagicPak high-efficiency gas heat option was critical. Specifying the MagicPak V-Series high-efficiency heating and cooling units enabled the project to meet Minnesota’s B3 energy standard. As a result, the project not only received critical financial support, but the building owners and residents will reap the ongoing benefits of smarter energy use and reduced operating costs.

Residents will benefit from the way high-efficiency MagicPak units help make Minnesota’s harsh winters and hot summers more comfortable and less costly. Meanwhile, building owners appreciate that the system makes maintenance more manageable with easy access to serviceable parts.

An access panel within each apartment houses the MagicPak unit away from extreme Minneapolis weather and simplifies maintenance.

“In Minnesota it’s negative 15 degrees. They don’t have to go up there [on the roof] and do service on a unit. All the components are accessible through somebody’s apartment, which is a huge plus,” said Sawka.

There’s also less centralized equipment and pipes, noted Sawka, which makes his job significantly easier. “We don’t have to locate a chiller. There’s no cooling tower, there’s no central core water loop piping to deal with. It’s all self-contained in the unit. And that’s a huge, huge advantage.”

An Inviting Residential Aesthetic

In addition to its many pragmatic benefits for developers, owners and residents, a MagicPak system offers architects numerous advantages in achieving their aesthetic vision for the project. Most notably, there’s no need for a condenser farm on the roof or in the yard. Instead, the MagicPak All-in-One units are housed discreetly within each living space.

At the Legends at Berry, a pattern of regular bump-outs along the exterior accommodates the mechanical closets for each unit without inching into living space, while also creating a homier-looking façade.

“The MagicPak on the outside of the building also allows us to establish a rhythm that calls a spade a spade. This is multi-family housing. When you look at the outside of the building, you can see how it’s laid out in that regard and that becomes sort of a driving factor in the aesthetics of the building,” said Thomas.

Thomas appreciates that with MagicPak, a building’s HVAC components “can be sort of seamless with the architecture.” The louvers can be color-matched to blend with nearly any exterior color or cladding.

MagicPak enables architects to achieve their vision with discreet color-matched louvers and no unsightly condenser farms.

“I appreciate that it doesn’t look like a hotel. We don’t have a large grille underneath an oversized window. There’s not a big clunky unit on the inside that someone has to look at all the time. It doesn’t require the same kind of wall opening. So, I think it does free up our exteriors by using this product.”

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Contact information
Phone: 1-800-448-5872
Email: MagicPakMarketing@alliedair.com
Website: www.magicpak.com

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Tight space and time constraints are common for multifamily projects in high-density urban areas. To combat these challenges, Philadelphia-based VBC has made a name for itself by offering a modular solution. While designing Next LVL, a multifamily residence in the heart of the city, the VBC team discovered that MagicPak All-In-One HVAC Systems could help achieve each of the project’s major objectives, including more living space, faster occupancy and highly desirable rooftop gathering spaces.

Compared to traditional methods, using MagicPak® helped shave off two months of labor, while meeting the architect’s aesthetic vision for the building exterior. By eliminating outdoor equipment, Next LVL could offer more of the in-demand features that help attract and retain tenants, including an expansive rooftop lounge with greenspace and unobstructed views of the city.

With no HVAC equipment on the roof, Next LVL uses its rooftop to create outdoor gathering spaces that offer residents an enhanced living experience.

Optimized Space and Amenities

With space at a premium, VBC wanted to fit as many units as possible into the building footprint. MagicPak eliminated the need to run vertical line sets throughout the building, meaning square footage traditionally needed for chaseways could be used for hallways or living units. It also simplifies the overall design process.

“We don’t have to worry about line sets running into fire sprinkler lines and all of the other things that we have running through a complex system,” said Sara-Ann Logan, vice president of design at VBC.

Using the MagicPak system also had another major benefit: keeping 280 condensing units off the roof.

“When you’re in a city environment and every inch counts, you really don’t want to waste space by putting condensers in places that could otherwise be livable space or provide some sort of amenity to the tenants,” said Logan.

With no HVAC equipment on the roof, that space was now available for highly desirable (and potentially rent-boosting) amenities.

“In the city with very dense living, you always want to make sure that your tenants have the ability to connect to the outside,” Logan noted. “By choosing MagicPak, we unlocked the ability to use the space on the top floor and gave the tenants of this building a unique space that I think is one of the best in the city.”

As the project’s architect, Logan also pointed to the design flexibility afforded by MagicPak.

“I can align louvers with windows and really have the ability to design exterior features the way that I want to as an architect and the way honestly that the cities want us to,” said Logan. Working with MagicPak also allowed her to achieve the seamless aesthetic she was looking for by matching various exterior colors.

“In this particular project we have five to six exterior skin conditions,” said Logan. “Being able to match those and have those disappear with the exterior was critical, and it was really easy to do with the MagicPak system.”

Less on-site labor, easier maintenance

As a modular builder, VBC was already doing the bulk of its construction in the factory. With MagicPak, most of the HVAC work could also be done offsite under controlled conditions.

“It’s a really unique system and it’s very user-friendly for installation purposes,” said Robert Schmalbach, VBC vice president of construction.

The all-in-one units, duct work and thermostat were installed into each living unit in the factory, dramatically reducing the time needed for HVAC field teams onsite.

“When it comes to the site, all we need to do is commission that unit, turn it on and it works,” said Schmalbach. “By working with MagicPak on this project, we were able to basically limit the HVAC field teams, onsite component to roughly 30 days versus potentially 90 days if we had gone with a different type of system.”

The time-saving benefits extend beyond construction, making ongoing maintenance simpler and more convenient.

Tucked away inside each living unit, MagicPakAll-In-One HVAC Systems offer quiet operation and easy access for routine maintenance.

According to Schmalbach, MagicPak “extremely quiet and user-friendly.” And because it’s housed within an individual living unit, it’s protected from the elements and easy to service.

“The technician can simply go into that unit, observe what’s going on and be able to fix it without having to either chase down a leak or go to multiple different areas, which potentially could have multiple different problems. For the developer, this really simplifies their systems and their warranty work and what they need to be prepared for.”

“With MagicPak, everything’s in front of me, I can easily access it all. And if worst case, if I have to pull the whole unit out, it’s doable in a safe environment.”

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Contact information
Phone: 1-800-448-5872
Email: MagicPakMarketing@alliedair.com
Website: www.magicpak.com

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