Post Provides NYC Green Residential Building Overview

2007

Mar

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Last Thursday’s edition of the New York Post offered an excellent overview of some of New York City’s green apartment buildings in its real estate insert that’s definitely worth a look. While Josh Dorfman’s February 22nd gbNYC guest post contains links to many of the buildings that the article describes, I did want to point out a few items that The Post noted, including some quotes from various local green developers.

First, Joe Sbiroli, principal of Ventura Land Corporation, which developed The Modern, an eight unit luxury rental building in the Meatpacking District that has a geothermal heating system, told The Post that “[s]trictly from a business point of view, it’s a better bottom line. . . . We’re probably saving $50,000 to $60,000 per year [thanks to the building’s green design elements].” Carlton Brown, COO of Full Spectrum, developer of the 250 unit, mixed-income condo Kalahari in Harlem (image above), predicts that “[o]ver the next five years, there will be more green buildings in Harlem than in Battery Park City.” Full Spectrum expects Kalahari’s heating and cooling systems to reduce energy use by thirty to thirty-two percent below code. The Post also notes that the Harsen House is aiming to become the first LEED Certified condo on the Upper West Side (at 120 West 72nd Street), scheduled to open in 2008 and designed by BKSK Architects and Andres Escobar. (BKSK also designed the Queens Botanical Garden's Visitor's Center, aiming for LEED Platinum.)

There is certainly no shortage of green housing options on the horizon throughout the Five Boroughs. Developers are recognizing that green design provides them with potential financial advantages both in terms of operating costs and marketing opportunities. New York's green construction boom will undoubtedly continue - provided that developers actually realize the cost savings that they're anticipating from their green projects.