ML: 303 East 33rd Street- Sales Begin at Murray Hill’s First Green Condos

Developed by Toll Brothers and The Kibel Companies, sales have opened at 303 East 33rd Street, which is touting itself as Murray Hill’s first green residential project. The 12-story tower will feature 128 units and seek an unspecified level of LEED certification. Perkins Eastman is the architect; studios to three-bedrooms range from 500 to 3000 square feet and from $635,000 to $4.5 million. LEED-standard green design features will include bamboo flooring and cabinetry, EnergyStar appliances and efficient water fixtures, while residents with hybrid cars will receive a parking discount. Demolition materials were recycled into the project’s structural components and low-VOC paints and carpets will be installed throughout. The tower will also bicycle storage place and a 5000-square-foot terrace with a pool and green roof.

As a brief, but important, aside, it doesn’t appear that the project is even registered with USGBC at this point, and from a legal perspective, note this quote in MHN from Kibel Companies’ principal Peter Levensen: “[w]e thought our customers would probably be concerned with [green] issues and feel better about buying in a LEED-rated building.” After this assurance that the project will, in fact, earn a LEED rating from USGBC, what happens if the project fails to achieve any level of LEED certification? While these types of statements might be considered advertising puffery, they’re a good example of how owners need to be careful in representing green projects to potential residential purchasers or commercial tenants, both in these types of press releases and printed marketing materials.

• Sales Begin at Murray Hill’s First Green Building (MHN)
• 303 East 33rd Revealed (Curbed)
• 303 East 33rd Street

ML is short for our weekly Monday LEEDoff™ column, which typically profiles a different LEED project generally in (but not limited to) the New York City area. You can access an archive of profiled projects via this link.