Brooklyn

I spend a lot of time writing about luxury condos as part of my work with gbNYC partner Elegran, and very little time actually visiting said condos. So while it's tempting to write, "if you've seen one luxury condominium, you've seen them all," it's probably more accurate of me to write, "if you've seen one Flash-driven website for a luxury condominium, you've seen them all." At some point, though, all these listings kind of collapse into one -- one endless state-of-the-art fitness center, one sprawling rooftop sundeck, and so dully on. But while Brooklyn's Toren has many of the same amenities and attributes as the endless parade of luxury condos in Manhattan that fills my days, a few notable things set Toren apart. For one thing, Toren is certified LEED Gold. For another, it's architecturally striking in the extreme, thanks to a gutsy Skidmore Owings & Merrill design. And for a third, Toren is flourishing where many cookie-cutter condos in Brooklyn and Manhattan are not. Call it real estate meritocracy, if you want.

Considering that Stephen does not get all of his exercise through blogging and Metrocard-swiping, maybe he should be writing this post. But he also has a job -- and a long overdue post on attending ASHRAE in Orlando; come on, dude -- and so I guess I'll drag my wheezing, emaciated form into the breach and cover the interesting case of Bushwick's Green Fitness Studio. While it's not pursuing any sort of third-part certification, and thus can't objectively be placed in some sort of continuum of greener-to-less-green gyms, the green specs on the Green Fitness Studio's website certainly suggest that this gym is a good deal greener than the power-guzzling gym your author is still paying membership dues to.

We know some things -- good things -- about Redhook Green, the just-announced "net zero" mixed-use development in (wait for it) Red Hook. For instance: we know that it has a cool look inspired, according to the designers at Brooklyn's Garrison Architects, by the shipping containers lining Red Hook's river frontage. (We prefer to think of it as an homage to season two of The Wire, but that's us) And we know, too, that the project's developer is a man on a mission somewhat greater than, say, Bruce Ratner's. Jay Amato, the entrepreneur behind Redhook Green, is blogging his butt off at the building's official site and seems truly to be on fire for the idea of living and working efficiently and responsibly in Brooklyn. And Amato also has gbNYC on his blogroll, so we can count "his excellent taste" among the things we know, as well.

Last week, the Brooklyn Botanic Garden unveiled a final set of plans for a new Visitor Center pavilion designed by architects Weiss/Manfredi to pursue LEED Gold certification from USGBC. The building would join the LEED Platinum-certified Queens Botanical Garden Visitor's Center, which was the first LEED Platinum-certified building anywhere in New York City. When completed, the 22,000-square-foot Visitor Center will be the first new structure at the Botanic Garden in over 20 years. Funtionally, the pavilion will include an orientation room for visitors, a shop, event space, restrooms, and a cafe.