Green Retail

We make no great effort to conceal our pro-New Jersey bias here at gbNYC, but it's especially gratifying when a Garden State-based project comes along that would be exciting even if it were not located a short drive -- depending on traffic -- from where Stephen and I grew up. GreenWorks on Grove, which Steve profiled earlier in its life cycle, is one such project -- an old gas station in Montclair re-imagined as a super-green 3,500-foot retail space. Considering the astonishing suite of green design elements built into GreenWorks on Grove -- from solar panels and high-performance glass to individual electric submetering and super-efficient HVAC and plumbing systems -- it was probably a given that GreenWorks would get the LEED certification it sought. And yet it's still worth celebrating just how thoroughly GreenWorks has succeeded in what was a very ambitious bit of adaptive reuse. They were awarded LEED Gold for Core and Shell earlier this week.

Now dubbed The High Line Building at 450 West 14th Street in a press release, the Morris Adjmi-designed, 100,000-square-foot, 11-story tower recently topped out. The project, which we profiled previously here at gbNYC, is seeking a LEED for Core and Shell Gold rating from USGBC; developer Charles Blaichman has already inked fashion tenant Helmut Lang to lease for two full floors and showroom space. (It's unclear whether a lease for 20,000 square feet of office space with Japanese fashion company Theory has been finalized). In addition to its LEED-CS application, Blaichman is touting the building's unique office and retail frontage and access to the High Line and is aiming to complete the project this fall. Green features are mostly LEED-standard, including efficient lighting, plumbing, and insulation, and low-VOC and FSC-certified finishes. Certainly the project's most unique design element though is that the High Line park itself will actually run for 103 feet through the lower floors of the building, which are actually a converted former beef processing facility; the upper six floors are new steel construction.

An interesting adaptive reuse project is underway over in Montclair, New Jersey. Designed by Sionas Architecture and built by Jack Finn & Company for owner Cadbury Properties , GreenWorks on Grove will convert the site of a former gas station into a three-unit speculative commercial retail building at 100 Grove Street in suburban Montclair. The project is applying for a Silver rating under USGBC's LEED for Core and Shell system; tenants who choose to build their spaces out under LEED for Commercial Interiors will find each outfitted with individual electricity submeters, which should allow for a true implementation of green leases across the board. The building is located less than a half mile from the direct New Jersey Transit train to Midtown and will offer tenants access to bicycle racks and changing rooms. Other green core and shell features include high-performance glass, insulation, and HVAC systems, as well as building-integrated photovoltaics (supplying up to 20 percent of the development's power) and native landscaping. Renée Realty serves as the project's leasing agent.

Schenectady-based Price Chopper Supermarkets has broken ground in Colonie on what’s set to become New York’s first LEED-certified supermarket, just north of Albany. The 69,000-square-foot facility is scheduled to open up sometime in early 2009, and Price Chopper hopes to use the project as a template for future green supermarkets across the Northeast. A fuel cell from UTC Power will supply 60 percent of the supermarket’s electricity requirements, as well as 400 kilowatts of standby power in the event of a grid outage. The supermarket will recover heat from its refrigeration equipment and use it as space heating. Other green design features are LEED-standard, including locally-sourced construction materials and energy-efficient lighting. The company worked with NYSERDA during the design phase in order to qualify for various tax incentives from the agency under its green building programs.