Currently under development by Tishman Speyer, the $316 million Gotham Center will be a 662,000-square-foot, 21-story Class A office building at the corner of Queens Plaza and 28th Street in Long Island City. Mayor Bloomberg and other officials announced the project’s groundbreaking last Friday, noting that it will join a number of other green projects in the neighborhood, including the LEED Gold-certified, KPF-designed Court Square Two. The tower was designed by architects Moed De Armas & Shannon and is pursuing a LEED Certified rating under the Core and Shell system. The tower is rising out of the former site of the Queens Plaza Municipal Parking Garage; the project team also includes construction manager Bovis Lend Lease and architect of record Gensler.
October 21st, 2008 | Stephen Del Percio | 0 comments | ContinuedGensler
Hedge Fund Dabroes Management Inks 5-Year Lease at 1095 Sixth Avenue
We’ve written about 1095 Sixth Avenue previously; the tower, owned by the Blackstone Group, sits across 42nd Street from LEED Platinum hopeful Bank of America Tower and is undergoing a two-year, $408.9 million renovation. Designed by Moed de Armas & Shannon Architects and Gensler, the entire shell of what was once the Verizon Building is being replaced, effectively creating an entirely new structure; the tower’s marble exterior is being replaced with an energy-efficient glass curtain wall. Unlike the Bank of America project, and despite its green features, 1095 Sixth Avenue is not seeking a LEED rating. Tishman Construction is the construction manager on the project. While it’s hard to draw any real conclusions from the deal, it’s notable that Dabroes Management, a hedge fund, just signed a five-year lease for 12,200 square feet on 1095 Sixth Avenue’s 24th floor. Asking rents for the prebuilt space were $135 per square foot.
September 23rd, 2008 | Stephen Del Percio | 0 comments | Continued
JetBlue’s Terminal 5 at Kennedy Airport: Green But No LEED
Despite its green design features, JetBlue’s new $743 million Terminal 5 at Kennedy Airport will not be seeking a LEED rating. The project’s planning and design management firm Arup has deemed certification “not possible because of the airport’s existing energy infrastructure.” Architect Gensler’s design for T5 includes extensive daylighting and windows, and given JetBlue’s commitment at the corporate level to sustainability, it’s a bit curious that the project will not pursue certification from USGBC, though precise details about how JFK’s electrical grid precludes a LEED application are not available . T5 will give travelers the option of walking through Eero Saarinen’s TWA Terminal, a modernist landmark that has been incorporated into the T5 design program.
August 7th, 2008 | Stephen Del Percio | 0 comments | Continued
How Sweet It Is: Ogilvy, Gensler to Make Green at Auerbach Chocolate Factory on 11th Avenue
Hudson Yards won’t be the only development on the far West Side of Manhattan to incorporate sustainable design principles. After recently inking a long-term lease for the entire property, Ogilvy New York has retained Gensler to redesign the Hakimian Organization’s 11-story, 554,800-square foot 636 11th Avenue, which sits between 46th and 47th Streets, to LEED [...]
January 11th, 2008 | Stephen Del Percio | 0 comments | Continued
Monday LEEDoff: VillageGreen, Herman Miller’s International HQ in Chippenham, England
Designed by Gensler, furniture company Herman Miller’s new international headquarters was completed in February of 2006, but recently received its official LEED-NC Gold designation from USGBC. VillageGreen, as the 20,000-square-foot building is called, is located in Chippenham, England, and also earned a BREEAM Excellent rating (BREEAM is the UK’s green building assessment tool). Green features [...]
January 7th, 2008 | Stephen Del Percio | 1 comment | Continued
The Top 5 Green A/E/C Firms (by Number, Percentage of LEED-APs)
Coordination. Integration. Beyond the bells and whistles of sexy, but expensive, green design features such as green roofs or geothermal heating and cooling systems, sustainable construction is about a truly collaborative effort between owners, designers, and contractors. While the former are certainly more likely to earn a project on the local paper’s front page, educated [...]
December 18th, 2007 | Stephen Del Percio | 0 comments | Continued
Monday LEEDoff*: Gensler’s Silver Office at 1230 Avenue of the Americas
As we mentioned previously, Cook + Fox isn’t the only architectural firm that’s sought (and received) certification for New York City office space under the LEED for Commercial Interiors (“LEED-CI”) rating system. Back in September, USGBC awarded Gensler with New York’s third LEED-CI rating, dishing out Silver to the firm for its 66,000 square foot [...]
November 5th, 2007 | Stephen Del Percio | 0 comments | Continued