New Green Roof Planned for Red Hook Factory
Meredith Taylor
Soon the Red Hook waterfront will have a decidedly greener hue. U.S. Representative Nydia Velazquez recently announced that she has secured $250,000 in federal money for the construction of a green roof on top of the Linda Tool and Dye metal fabrication factory at the intersection of Dwight and Coffey Streets. The grant will be administered by the Southwest Brooklyn Industrial Development Corporation (”SWBIDC“) and the roof will be installed this year. Representative Velazquez said that the project is “aimed at promoting the use of green roof design as a cost effective and viable strategy for increasing energy efficiency and reducing heat reflection that contribute to the greenhouse effect.” It’s estimated that the factory’s green roof will soak up 500,000 gallons of water a year that would otherwise end up in Brooklyn’s sewers, which overflow about 50 times a year. This sewage runoff ends up pouring untreated into bodies of water like the Gowanus Canal. The funding for the green roof comes as part of a larger $3.2 million appropriation for community projects in Rep. Velazquez’s district in the 2008 Omnibus Appropriations bills. Factory owner Michael DiMarino and Chris Shepard of SWBIDC stand on the roof in the image above.
- Red Hook is Turning Green (Brooklyn Paper)
- SWBIDC
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Comment by anon on 14 January 2008:
It costs $250,000 to put a green roof on one building?! I used to wonder why more buildings don’t have them, but I guess that answers it.
Comment by Anon2 on 15 January 2008:
That number most likely includes the cost of a new waterproofing membrane as well. If the green roof is going on a retrofit, there’s all sorts of structural things that need to be tightened up before the plants actually get installed.
Comment by CMRC on 7 March 2008:
The price tag is significantly higher for this project because of the extensive monitoring system that is planned to collect information on stormwater runoff rates that nearly double the costs. The standard roof costs around $8-12 a square foot while green roofs are in the $15-20 sq/ft so for a project of this size (12,000 sq/ft if I remember correctly)you are looking at an incremental cost of ~60k. Check out www.thecmrc.org find out more.
JB
Comment by AE on 10 July 2008:
The Southwest Brooklyn Industrial Development Corporation website is linked incorrectly in the article above. You can find them at http://www.sbidc.org.