Green Building

The Campbell Soup Company has been headquartered in Camden, New Jersey since 1869 and is in the midst of a $72 million upgrade to its corporate campus that is also part of an overall redevelopment of Camden’s Gateway District. Part of that effort includes a new 100,000-square-foot, employee services building designed by Philadelphia-based KlingStubbins. The project, which should break ground shortly, intends to seek an unspecified level of LEED certification and will serve as a gateway into the rest of the Campbell campus. A glass curtain wall allows natural light to flood the building’s lobby, as well as employee spaces on both the first and second floors. The remainder of the building is clad in brick with colored glass interspersed throughout. The building will also be connected to others in the campus, which allowed KlingStubbins to also include a landscaped courtyard as part of its design program.

The First Avenue District School in Newark, New Jersey recently earned an Award of Merit from New York Construction magazine in connection with its “Best of ‘08″ awards program. The elementary and middle school was designed by Paulus, Sokolowski & Sartor (”PS&S”) and includes green design features that would qualify it for 31 different LEED credits, though Newark chose not to pursue formal certification (citing cost considerations). Some of those green features include daylight and occupancy sensors, passive solar design, and efficient, full spectrum lighting. Locally sourced and recycled-content materials were used during construction, while other LEED-standard features include light pollution reduction, water-efficient landscaping, low-VOC paints and sealants, and a construction waste management program. The school’s common areas- including the theater, gym, and cafeteria- are heated and cooled by a 480-foot-deep geothermal system.

Chief District Judge Martha Vazquez of United States District Court for the District of New Mexico issued an order back on Friday granting a preliminary injunction in favor of the plaintiffs in AHRI et al. v. City of Albuquerque. The injunction bars the enforcement of the city’s Energy Conservation Code, which the plaintiffs claim is preempted by federal regulation, pending the outcome of the lawsuit. I thought a portion of Vazquez’ 24-page written opinion was particularly interesting in light of much of our commentary on state- and local-level green building legislation here at gbNYC. “The city’s goals [in enacting the disputed code] are laudable,” Vazaquez wrote, “[u]nfortunately, the drafters of the code were unaware of the long-standing federal statutes governing the energy efficiency of certain HVAC and water heating products.”

I’ll be participating on a panel discussion at this year’s Greenbuild in Boston called “Blogging the Built Environment” along with folks from Jetson Green, Treehugger, Building Green TV, and the Green Workplace. The panel will be at 10AM on Thursday, November 20, so if you’ll be at Greenbuild, please plan on joining us. Even if you won’t be attending, if you’d be so kind as to take a few minutes to fill out the following survey about your interaction and attitudes towards green building and blogging (one lucky reader will win some sort of prize package) it will go a long way towards our discussion on the panel. Thank you in advance and I hope to meet many of you next month in Boston! A link to the survey is live after the jump.

A proposed Best Western hotel in East Elmhurst could become the first green hotel in Queens. The project, to be located at 112th Place and Astoria Boulevard, adjacent to the Grand Central Parkway, LaGuardia Airport, and the Mets’ new CitiField, will pursue an unspecified level of LEED certification, according to architect Gerald Caliendo (though note Mr. Caliendo’s quote about “bronze” certification in the context of recent posts here at gbNYC regarding the importance of accurately describing green projects and qualifications from a legal perspective). Community Board 3 granted the six-story, 100-unit project a zoning waiver at a recent meeting, despite local residents’ concerns about increased traffic. Details on specific green features are not available yet.

The Principal Financial Group recently earned an unspecified level of LEED for Commercial Interiors (”LEED-CI”) certification for its corporate headquarters space on the 25th floor of 888 Seventh Avenue in Midtown. Designed by M Moser Associates, the 19,800-square-foot office includes extensive natural daylighting, low-flow water fixtures, and other energy-efficient systems. The space was designed to achieve a 15 percent reduction in energy consumption through occupancy sensors and programmable, efficient HVAC units. The project team also included Synergy Construction, Inc. with LEED consultants OMNIBUILD, and only required seven months to complete. 888 Seventh Avenue, located on West 57th Street between Broadway and Seventh Avenue, includes 46 stories of office space, was built in 1969, and is owned by Vornado Realty Trust. Other major tenants include New Line Cinema and The Corcoran Group.

Greenock Capital is executing a green renovation of the historic two-story Risk Building at 535 Springfield Avenue in Summit, New Jersey. The building dates from 1873 and is named for Dr. William H. Risk, a medical doctor who settled in Summit that same year. Greenock has retained Wesketch Architecture of Millington, New Jersey as the architect of record for the project, which will preserve much of the building’s original granite and brownstone facade features. Although the project is incorporating numerous green design elements, it does not appear that it will seek any formal third-party green building certification. The new structure will be called the Claremont Corporate Center and include various energy-efficient upgrades, ranging from extensive daylighting and interior occupancy sensors to new elevators and exterior lighting.

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 you may know, the USGBC recently accepted public comments on proposed amendments to its certified wood credit. The purpose of the effort is to establish “a clear set of metrics, proposed as the USGBC Forest Certification System Benchmark, that any forest certification system must meet in order to be recognized within LEED.” Only Forest Stewardship Council-certified wood products are currently eligible under LEED. Earlier this year, Toronto-based construction consultant and gbNYC reader Leslie Marshall led a research team and evaluated various green building rating systems. His team’s report, “Certified Wood and the Impact of LEED,” looked closely at the Canadian market and attempted to quantify most aspects of stakeholder experiences with specific rating systems, including LEED. Recently, Mr. Leslie wrote a letter to USGBC requesting that it release certain data related to the credit in order to assist the timber industry in assessing the merits of the proposed amendments; to date, the letter (reprinted below the jump) has gone unanswered.

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.