New York City

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.

We noted recently that Community Housing Innovations (”CHI”) has broken ground on the $4.5 million, affordable, green Minerva Place Condominiums in White Plains, but wanted to formally present you with a few more details about the project. Minerva Place is one of the first low-rise new developments in Westchester County to satisfy the New York Energy $mart Multifamily Performance Program guidelines. The project includes a 350-foot-deep geothermal heating and cooling system, as well as efficient insulation and construction techniques that CHI anticipates will save residents up to 30 percent on energy costs. Minerva’s energy-efficient features are being subsidized by a $55,000 grant from NYSERDA. The project was designed by Warshauer Mellusi Warshauer Architects and includes 11 two-bedroom (priced at $265,000) and 3 one-bedroom units ($225,000), each with hardwood floors and granite kitchen countertops. To qualify, families must have incomes between $73,000 and $91,000.

Earlier this week, the New York State Department of Transporation (”NYSDOT”) unveiled its Green Leadership In Transportation and Environmental Sustainability (”Green LITES”) design program. While NYSDOT has utilized sustainable elements in its transportation designs previously, Green LITES is an attempt to standardize the entire process and place New York State at the head of the pack when it comes to sustainable transportation design; the program, which is based on LEED, is the first in the country of its kind. “This effort is only the latest example of New York setting the standard for environmental sensitivity in transportation planning,” said Federal Highway Administrator Thomas J. Madison. “They don’t just set the gold standard, they set the green standard.” NYSDOT will review all designs submitted after September 25 under the Green LITES program, prior to the project going out to bid.

According to Crain’s, Michael Rawson, the head of GFI Hotel Co., is close to announcing plans for The NoMad, a 160-room renovation of a 12-story Beaux-Arts-style building on Broadway between 28th and 29th Streets just north of Madison Square Park (hence the moniker). Notwithstanding several new local hospitality developments that will seek LEED ratings, the project would be the first hotel conversion in New York City to pursue LEED certification, though specific green features have yet to be revealed. The project will feature 11 suites whose interiors will be designed by Jacques Garcia and also include a roof garden and restaurant. Mr. Rawson, who has worked closely with hotelier Andre Balazs on other projects including The Mercer, plans on opening the hotel in the fall of 2009.

We wrote earlier this summer about Brennan Beer Gorman Architects / Brennan Beer Gorman Monk Interiors’ (”BBG-BBGM”) new headquarters space on the 25th floor of the Empire State Building, which will seek the tower’s first LEED for Commercial Interiors rating. Recently, the 32,000-square-foot project’s general contractor Aragon Construction installed BBG-BBGM’s HVAC system on the building’s first setback on the southwest corner. The two 9500-pound chillers will run independently from the rest of the Empire State Building and were designed to save BBG-BBGM 15 percent on energy consumption over ASHRAE standards. The installation was actually the first in the history of the building and suggests some of the intricacies of both green construction contracts and leasing provisions, including whether the landlord or tenant should be responsible for the installation of such equipment and how any associated savings that are realized might be shared between the two sides.

1070 Anderson Avenue, designed by Manhattan-based Magnusson Architects is an 8-story affordable housing development in the Highbridge section of the Bronx that will offer 41 units in a variety of studio and one-, two-, and three-bedroom configurations. The $12 million tower’s design is inspired by principles of Art Deco and rises as a south-facing L, increasing the reach of natural light into each apartment and also creating a 6000-square-foot courtyard for residents to enjoy. Green roofs grace the seventh- and eighth-floor setbacks, while low-E, Energy Star-certified windows, an efficient rooftop boiler, and continuous exterior insulation will aim to lower the building’s utility bills. Other green features include low-VOC paints and materials, dual flush toilets, CFLs, and Kone Ecospec elevators. The building’s lobby includes local plants and shrubbery that will receive water from a rainwater collection system. Developer New Destiny Housing is considering applying for a LEED Silver rating, but will participate in an NYSERDA incentive program.

SL Green has started a $160 million capital improvement program at 1515 Broadway- home to MTV’s Times Square studios- which will upgrade the tower’s HVAC, lighting, and other building systems in pursuit a LEED-EB Silver rating from USGBC. Designed by architects Kohn Pedersen Fox, the renovation will also include the installation of a 42-foot high extension to the 54-story building’s street-level curtain wall, where pedestrians can peer into the MTV space and access the lobby of the Minskoff Theater. Steve Cuozzo quotes SL Green leasing chief Steve Durels as stating that the firm’s “goal is to give [the building] more street presence and more drama, especially as you look at its lower part.” SL Green purchased the 2 million-square foot tower back in 2002 for $480 million, and its green upgrades come in advance of the pending expiration of nearly 1 million square feet of the total 1.5 million in the building currently leased by Viacom.

Apparently unfazed by recent skepticism from local engineers and architects aimed at Mayor Bloomberg’s plans to install wind turbines on Gotham’s skyscrapers and bridges, California-based Marquiss Wind Power has offered to donate one of its turbine systems to the city in order to demonstrate that the Mayor’s idea is in fact viable. The company’s patented roof-top wind turbine is approximately 19 feet high and weighs less than a typical rooftop air conditioning unit. Its T500 model is optimized for low, variable wind, is rated at 5 kilowatts, and is priced between $30,000.00 and $60,000.00 depending on the specific configuration. According to Marquiss CEO Paul Misso, the company’s turbines should pay for themselves within four to eight years, “depending on wind speed, utility rates, and available incentives.” Last week, in the aftermath of Mr. Bloomberg’s remarks in Las Vegas, experts had questioned the efficiency of wind turbine installations on local high-rises.

Two of Manhattan’s highest profile LEED projects took blows on the chin last week. After announcing in July that it would likely reduce the tower’s size by nearly a third, Vornado’s plans for Harlem’s first office tower in thirty years appear to be on the ropes. Despite generous tax incentives from both the city and state, Vornado has had difficulty obtaining financing for the Swanke Hayden Connell-designed Harlem Tower. Instead, the developer recently sought an additional $15 per square foot from planned anchor tenant MLB Network and, alternatively, also proposed building a five-story building exclusively for the network. The Times reports that both strokes “infuriated” MLB executives, who “wanted to be in a marquee tower on 125th Street.” Meanwhile, downtown, 2008 Pritzker Prize winner Jean Nouvel’s LEED-hopeful 100 Eleventh Avenue is currently $50 million over budget and close to a year behind schedule.

When New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg goes to Vegas, he bets big. At an alternative energy conference, perhaps bullied by T Boone Pickens, the mayor proposed installing wind turbines, among other power-generating technologies, on Manhattan’s skyscrapers and bridges. And why not: aiming to slash the city’s greenhouse emissions by a third by 2030 is rather ambitious. The mayor also proposed ocean wind farms off the coast and solar panels across the city’s rooftops. He’s dreaming big (Statue of Liberty powered by wind farms) while keeping the character of the neighborhood when it comes to the turbines (”If there is a large ape that starts climbing the Empire State Building, it might get in his way” - yes, that is our mayor speaking.