FXFOWLE

The long-anticipated but delayed expansion of the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center on the far West Side is finally moving forward after approval last week from the Public Authorities Control Board. Designed by a joint effort of FXFOWLE and Chicago-based architects A. Epstein & Sons International, the 100,000-square-foot project will add 40,000 square feet of exhibition space at a modest $387 per square foot price tag, as well as completely replace the building's leaky roof. In tune with the dicey economy, the project is a scaled-down version of a 2004 plan that would have added 1.35 million square feet of space at a cost of $4.4 billion (or $2850 per square foot).

The American Cancer Society of New York and New Jersey announced earlier this week that its Hope Lodge New York City, Jerome L. Greene Family Center has earned LEED Gold certification from USGBC.  Located at 132 West 32nd Street adjacent to Penn Station, the project was part of the much larger, 459-unit Epic rental apartment building, co-developed by the Durst Organization and Franciscan friars of the adjacent Holy Name parish on West 31st Street. The Hope Lodge was designed by New Haven-based CAMA, Inc.; SLCE Architects and FXFOWLE were architects for the building superstructure. (Note that The Epic was seeking a LEED Silver rating from USGBC, but it's unclear whether the project actually earned formal certification).

Fresh off of its efforts to create a LEED for Commercial Interiors Platinum space for the National Audobon Society at 225 Varick Street, mechanical and electrical engineers WSP Flack + Kurtz are pursuing a LEED-CI Gold rating for the firm’s new headquarters space at 512 Seventh Avenue in Midtown (between West 37th and 38th Streets).

Designed by FXFOWLE and recently completed by general contractor Citadel Construction (noteworthy because this is the same team that executed the Audobon Society headquarters project) the 40,000-square-foot space includes cork flooring and organic carpeting; FXFOWLE only specified rapidly renewable materials for the project. A specialty recycling subcontractor diverted three quarters of all construction debris for recycling, while Citadel also implemented an internal air quality plan that segregated construction work areas with plastic shields in order to minimize dust diffusion.

A few weeks ago, Real Estate Weekly reported that SJP Properties was close to securing the French bank Natixis as an anchor tenant for its 40-story, 1.1 million-square-foot speculative 11 Times Square project at the corner of 42nd Street and 8th Avenue, which will seek a LEED Gold rating from USGBC. Yesterday, the developer announced (with some degree of fanfare) that it has started erection of the $1.1 billion building's 7,000 tons of structural steel. In a prepared statement, SJP CFO David Welch said that "[t]he arrival and implementation of the steel phase will allow interior core and floor framing for the structure to take shape.