Queens
Shipwrecks Threaten Sensitive Ecosystem in Jamaica Bay
Jamaica Bay has become the dumping ground for derelict yachts, boats, and even barges according to a recent report. Despite its protection as part of the Gateway National Recreation Area- the only National Park in New York City- the Bay has accrued 88 shipwrecks. A third of the Bay is a national wildlife refuge which plays host to over 350 species. The number of wrecks does not even take into account close to 160 wrecks collecting in the creeks leading into the Bay. These wrecks pose an environmental hazard by leaking oil and gas into the sensitive ecosystems surrounding Jamaica Bay.
Popularity: 17% [?]
30Jun2008 | Stephen Del Percio | 0 comments | Continued
Queens Botanical Garden Visitor’s Center Earns NYC’s First LEED Platinum Rating
The Queens Botanical Garden Visitor’s Center officially received its LEED Platinum rating today from USGBC. The Center is the first building in New York City to earn Platinum under LEED for New Construction and features a number of innovative green design features, which we’ve profiled here at gbNYC previously. The 16,000-square-foot Center opened to the public back in September and was designed by New York City-based BKSK Architects.
Popularity: 20% [?]
19Jun2008 | Stephen Del Percio | 0 comments | Continued
Perkins + Will to Design $1B LEED Silver Police Academy in Queens
Earlier this week, the Department of Design and Construction and the New York City Police Department selected Perkins + Will to design the NYPD’s new $1 billion Police Academy, which will be located in College Point, Queens. The project will seek at least a LEED Silver rating from USGBC and will consolidate the NYPD’s existing Academy in Manhattan and other facilities in the Bronx and Brooklyn across a 35-acre site that currently serves as the city’s largest auto impound. The new Academy will feature a firing range, 450,000-square-foot physical training area, 250 classrooms, and a 100,000-square-foot “tactical village” that will include mock street scenes, subway cars, and a bodega.
Popularity: 20% [?]
23May2008 | Stephen Del Percio | 0 comments | Continued
British Airways to Launch LEED at JFK with Terminal 7 Rehab
British Airways announced yesterday that it will spend $30 million over the next 18 months to refurbish its Terminal 7 out at JFK International Airport. The project is slated to break ground in June and BA plans to pursue first LEED rating to date for any facility at JFK. Specific details on green design features aren’t available yet, but the new terminal will maximize natural daylight and presumably incorporate other LEED-standard credits. The New York Observer suggests that “modernist furniture, clean lines and general sleekness seemed to be the prevailing theme” for Terminal 7 at yesterday’s unveiling.
Popularity: 24% [?]
22May2008 | Stephen Del Percio | 1 comment | Continued
Green Incubator: NY Designs Business Center in Long Island City
NY Designs is a program sponsored jointly by the CUNY Economic Development Corporation and LaGuardia Community College. Housed on the seventh floor of one of LaGuardia’s buildings in Long Island City, the $6 million, 35,000-square-foot space opened in 2006 with a number of green design features, including recycled tire carpet. Its mission? To “grow New York design firms.” Current tenants include graphic design outfit Tribecca Designs, fashion designers eenamaria, and AR Architects. Lease terms range from six months to three years at an extremely affordable $2.50 to $3.00 per square foot (thanks to grants from NYSERDA, HUD, and ConEd, among others).
Popularity: 6% [?]
15May2008 | Stephen Del Percio | 0 comments | Continued
Queens College Dorm Seeks Silver, Stirs Controversy
A new dorm at Queens College will seek a LEED Silver rating from USGBC, but local residents are more concerned with the impact to the neighborhood from the 506-bed facility- particularly from student parking- rather than the project’s sustainable features. The dorm, which will be located at 64-80 Kissena Boulevard, will feature 144 units across one building constructed in three-, four-, and five-story wings connected by a series of walkways. The 156,000-square-foot dorm will include an underground parking garage with capacity for 89 cars, and the college will create an additional 100 scattered throughout the rest of the campus.
Popularity: 11% [?]
13May2008 | Stephen Del Percio | 0 comments | Continued
AIA Names Queens Botanical Garden’s Platinum Visitor’s Center a Top 10 Green Project
The American Institute of Architects’ Committee on the Environment (”COTE”) announced today that BKSK Architects’ Visitor’s Center at the Queens Botanical Garden, which was designed to achieve New York City’s first LEED Platinum rating, has been named to COTE’s 2008 list of Top Ten Green Projects. The release of COTE’s compilation was (presumably) timed to coincide with today’s Earth Day celebrations, and the Visitor’s Center is without question deserving of the accolade. gbNYC, in fact, named the project #1 on our 2007 list of top New York City green buildings. The Visitor’s Center was selected from over 100 entries; the other nine winners include Kieran Timerlake Associates’ Yale University Sculpture Building and Gallery.
Popularity: 10% [?]
22Apr2008 | Stephen Del Percio | 0 comments | Continued
Green Retrofits Pending for Long Island City’s Standard Motors Building
The 300,000-square-foot, six-story Standard Motors Building at 37-18 Northern Boulevard in Long Island City will soon be transformed into a $40.6 million mixed-use, commercial loft development that will also offer ground-floor retail space. Purchased by a JPMorgan Chase-backed pension fund, the project has been in the works for some time. Standard Motors Products, which has outsourced much of its manufacturing operations from the site, wanted to sell the building for the highest possible price, but also lease back 60,000 square feet and retain control over the incoming tenants. The project will also implement a number of green retrofit initiatives.
Popularity: 12% [?]
15Apr2008 | Stephen Del Percio | 0 comments | Continued
DEP Promises to Clean Up Contaminated Newtown Creek on Queens/Brooklyn Border
Greenpoint residents met last week with the New York City Department of Environmental Protection (”DEP”) to beg for a full-scale overhaul of Newtown Creek, an offshoot of the East River that divides Brooklyn and Queens. New York’s largest wastewater treatment plant is located on the grimy creek’s bank, and in the summer, the stench from the plant wafts for miles. The Queens Ledger reported that DEP Commissioner Emily Lloyd hopes to make a series of environmental upgrades in order to bring the plant into compliance with the federal Clean Water Act, including covering all areas where sewage is exposed to the air and building new chlorination tanks.
Popularity: 9% [?]
4Feb2008 | Meredith Taylor | 0 comments | Continued
Long Island City’s Court Square Two Receives LEED Gold Rating from USGBC
We’ve written previously about Court Square Two, Citigroup’s new 528,000 square foot, 14-story building in Long Island City, Queens, designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox. On Monday, the $290 million project was officially awarded a LEED Gold rating from USGBC (better than the Silver rating that it was reportedly seeking).
Specific green design features at Court Square […]
Popularity: 13% [?]
25Oct2007 | Stephen Del Percio | 0 comments | Continued
Video: PlentyTV at Queens Botanical Garden
Tobin Hack and PlentyTV visit the Queens Botanical Garden in this video, which has some great clips of last month’s ribbon-cutting ceremony at the Garden’s Visitor & Administration Center, which will be the first building in New York City to earn a LEED Platinum rating from USGBC. In addition to the exterior shots of the […]
Popularity: 7% [?]
22Oct2007 | Stephen Del Percio | 0 comments | Continued
Queens Botanical Garden’s Platinum Visitor Center Opens to Public
Mayor Bloomberg cut a ceremonial ribbon out in Flushing on Thursday, officially opening BKSK Architects’ Visitor & Administration Center at the Queens Botanical Garden, which is seeking a LEED Platinum rating. We’ve profiled the Center before here at gbNYC, but want to point you to the press release describing the event, which includes quotes from […]
Popularity: 11% [?]
30Sep2007 | Stephen Del Percio | 1 comment | Continued
Corona Maintenance Shop & Car Washer Facility, Corona, Queens
Just to follow up on my most recent post on the greening of New York City’s subway infrastructure (and ignoring for the time being Wednesday’s fiasco), the Corona Maintenance Shop & Car Washer Facility landed at #10 on New York Construction’s Top Projects Completed list for 2006-07 (image to left via MTA). The $208 million, […]
Popularity: 7% [?]
10Aug2007 | Stephen Del Percio | 0 comments | Continued-
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