February 2015 | Business World 67 use some of the products that they make [in the Philippines] and ship them over, because it makes a lot of sense for our business.” DEVELOPMENTS In 2011, Ichijo USA took on their inaugural development. Spearheaded by the City of Issaquah with other partners, the zHome community was the first of its kind in the country. Using net-zero energy, the 10 townhomes were all equippedwith the latest stateof-the-art innovations in energy and green efficiency including geothermal, rainwater systems for recycling rainwater for flushing toilets and washing machines as well as solar and in-floor radiant heating to create a utopian way of living. As President of Ichijo USA, Akinobu Ohno sees the zHome project as just the beginning. “We’re now in the process of building some other projects around Issaquah, where there are 35 single family lots” Ohno said. “We’re going to start other projects in other cities; we anticipate completing 40-60 projects in 2015.” The ambitious and aggressive project plans set forth by Ichijo USA are already being put into place, with development already beginning on a community called Sun Ridge, located in the Issaquah Highlands. The 35 single-family detached homes being built will all have solar panels on them, a majority of them will also have Ichijo’s own in-floor radiant heating, a product that the company fabricates on its own; a unique selling point for the area and another step in the right di-
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTYzNTg=