Las Vegas has long been known as a world leader in entertainment, recreation, and hospitality. Now a local developer is bringing that spirit of industry leadership to the realm of multifamily by focusing on reducing housing’s carbon footprint while providing a top-notch resident experience. And they’re hoping others in the industry catch on.

Ovation Development is building a 302-unit multifamily project in the Las Vegas area that will be a leader in solar power generation, Internet of Things (IoT) features, and tracking housing’s carbon footprint, all of which the company hopes will help lead the way in climate-friendly housing and serve as a model for other developers, says Jess Molasky, a principal at the company.

To take advantage of the plentiful sunshine in Las Vegas and allow renters to tap into the solar market, which home owners have long been able to do, the development will use on-site solar panels to generate 70% of the building’s electricity needs, Molasky says. Residents won’t pay for electricity, in addition to electrical vehicle charging stations being available.

Molasky says that even though this project is a prime candidate for solar power because of its location, it can be a model for developers in locales that aren’t as sunny because solar works well in a lot of different parts of the world, especially with how much solar technology has improved over the years. “We definitely want to demonstrate for other multifamily developers that this is a path that they should be taking,” he says.

The second major component of the development relies on IoT technology to not just provide convenient features like remote access and interconnectivity in the apartment but to actually help the building and its residents be more environmentally friendly.

“It’s exciting to see a premium in the market for people who want to live green,” Molasky says. And IoT can help with that by allowing management and residents to track their power usage. They can then act on this information to lower their consumption by scheduling when lights and electronics should be on, turning them off when needed, and reducing waste — all through the convenience of apps and connected personal devices that are already part of residents’ daily lives.

But for this development and Ovation’s future projects, using technology to reduce housing’s climate impact starts way before residents move in. Ovation has partnered with start-up Gravity Climate to carefully track the environmental impact of this multifamily project and future projects from inception through all aspects of construction and well beyond resident move-in so the company can have robust data to keep lowering its carbon footprint.

Molasky says there wasn’t really a model for what his company wanted to do, so they worked with Gravity Climate to make one. “We’re building the template ourselves,” he says. And he hopes others in the housing industry take note and start to track their carbon footprint for everyone’s benefit.

Of course, building and managing such a tech-centered multifamily project wouldn’t be possible without a trusted technology partner. For Ovation, that partner is Cox, which has been working with Molasky family businesses for three generations now. Cox will be the exclusive partner for the development’s internet connectivity, enabling residents to be connected right at move-in and giving them plenty of upgrade options. And Cox will be the backbone of the building’s innovative IoT infrastructure.

“Cox is really leading this charge in trying to develop creative ways for multifamily communities to provide this experience,” Molasky says. “Cox is definitely the leader.”

Learn more about Cox Communities’ services for multifamily properties.