– Kenny Fallon Jr., Canal Commons Project Manager
This spring houses have been sprouting up along with the globemallow and penstemons at Canal Commons! These first five homes are being built in staggered stages, but should all be completed and available to rent close to the end of this year.
After a ceremonial groundbreaking last year and a few unexpected delays, we started construction in January 2025. Our builder, JCM Construction and Concrete, has worked through a bit of winter rain, the spring and summer winds, and the summer heat to keep these homes on track. The homes that are the furthest along have fresh metal roofs, crisp housewrap, finely-tuned electrical, plumbing, and HVAC systems roughed-in, a cozy blanket of cellulose wall insulation, and are in the process of getting LP Smartside installed.
Our area’s clay-rich soils require pretty robust concrete foundations to avoid uneven settling over time. The footers are similar to Epicenter’s Frontier House prototype down the street. Canal Commons is adjacent to Epicenter’s other major project, Pearl Baker Park, which is centered on an old grove of spindly cottonwood trees. The sentinels seen through this window may be old enough to remember when Green River Avenue (the road our new houses are on) was the original main street through town prior to the 1960s.
Each house is framed with 2×6 wood studs spaced 24 inches apart in the exterior walls for an efficient and strong structure. The floors, due to be finished with LVT later this year, are built on a platform over a short crawlspace or “root cellar”.
The first phase of Canal Commons consists of two different home designs, more distinct here as the trusses go up, that have either two or three bedrooms inside. The window placement and siting of each house are designed to balance privacy with a closer community feel.
Just across the train tracks from Canal Commons, Monument Hill offers a raven’s eye view of Canal Commons’ progress and placement on the edge of the verdant and irrigated Green River Valley. The spacing between houses shifts to accommodate a couple future paths to the central common area.
Siding installation is progressing from west to east, as each home takes on more of its final small yet generous form.
Whether you want to rent or own a house at Canal Commons, or if you just want to stay in touch, sign up here. If you’re able, we’d appreciate it if you could donate and help us keep working in Green River!
Canal Commons wouldn’t be possible without direct funding from the State of Utah’s Olene Walker Housing Loan Fund, Rural Community Assistance Corporation (RCAC), Federal Home Loan Bank of Des Moines in partnership with Zions Bank, Emery County – Community Reinvestment Agency, and Clark and Christine Ivory Foundation. Pre-development and community engagement efforts were made possible by Enterprise Community Partners, American Express National Bank, Rocky Mountain Community Reinvestment Corporation, ASSIST Inc, AARP, State Farm, National Endowment for the Arts, Union Pacific Foundation, Wells Fargo Foundation, Rocky Mountain Power Foundation, UServeUtah, AmeriCorps, and many individual private donors.