Rooftop Gardens Coming Near You?

At Milhaus it is our business to provide indoor space to buyers or renters. However, what we do with the outdoor space is just as important to interior finishes. The downtown lifestyle doesn’t always provide for personal outdoor space, but they can be spectacular amenities if designed and built correctly. The most elusive of outdoor spaces is the rooftop garden. Since we built our initial rooftop on our home in 2000, it has now become a necessity of almost all new construction condominium buildings in downtown Indianapolis. However, even with this open space on the roof, there is still not often an option for a garden. Most rooftops are hard surface, with potted plants at best, without the opportunity to really cultivate such a space.

However, requests are increasing in our market for implementation of rooftop garden plots in addition to just providing rooftop access. However, a lot of issues arise very quickly, specifically the ability to meet the code restrictions, as well as providing for the weight of soil, the vertical transportation of materials, irrigation, tool storage, and the overall aesthetics. Our biggest dilemma is trying to figure out a program for approaching the management and the ownership/rental valuation of these implementations. Internally we still debate the true viability and efficiency of these gardens, however when customers are demanding this as part of their organic and desired attempts at self-sustainability, the market must respond. In the bigger picture, we will be delivering a minimum of 600 new units within urban areas in the next 12-24 months. We’re thinking about how we can provide functional outdoor space accessible to each one of them, with the potential for gardening.

Photo from Care2