Laclede Lofts, a 1940s foot-cream factory redone as apartments, has a rooftop solar array said to provide more than half the electricity needed by the building's common areas.
The 25-kilowatt solar system is part of the $10 million residential project by Universatile Development and Rothschild Development. The 50-apartment project at 3965 Laclede Avenue opened last year.
Jeff Winzerling, president of Universatile, estimates the solar panels produce 62 percent of the electricity used by the building's parking lot lights, lobby and hallway air-conditioning, elevator, gate opener and security system.
Microgrid Solar engineers worked with the developers to figure out how to use solar power at the building Pfeiffer Pharmaceutical Company constructed in 1946 for its offices, laboratories, factory and warehouse. The resulting solar array has 98 panels with microinverters connected to the building’s common-area meter.
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“It would have been really cool to have some solar-powered apartments but the complexity and expense would have been much greater, so we opted for a solar-powered building instead" Winzerling said in a statement.
Pfeiffer went out of business many years ago. A company that produced bumpers and other car parts occupied the former foot-mcream factory when Winzerling and Rothschild bought the structure in 2008.