LEED-EBOM

At its annual meeting back on June 18, the East Midtown Partnership presented 515 Madison Avenue with its 2009 Building of the Year award. As you'll recall, the tower recently underwent a $5 million renovation and continues to pursue a LEED-EBOM rating from USGBC. The 42-story neo-classical building is owed by Newmark Knight Frank chair Jeffrey Gural and was built in 1931 from an original design by J.E.R. Carpenter. Rosen Johnson Architects executed the renovation project, which included an expansion and upgrades to the building's lobby. The porte-cochere (carriage door) Madison Avenue entrance was redesigned to emphasize the building's signage by allowing natural light to penetrate its canopy. Gural is also pursuing LEED-CI certification for 515 Madison's 13th and 14th floors, where green design features include recycled-content carpets, lighting occupancy sensors, and dual-flush toilets. The East Midtown Partnership acknowledged 515 Madison's "extensive renovation designed to make it an environmentally-friendly 'green' building, and increased occupancy in the process;" we recently noted a trio of leases that were finalized at the building.

Beacon Capital's 1211 Avenue of the Americas (on Sixth Avenue between West 47th and 48th Streets) recently earned LEED-EB Silver certification from USGBC. The 45-story, two million-square-foot tower is the largest building that has been certified to date under the LEED for Existing Buildings rating system (it's unclear to us whether the project sought certification under LEED-EB Version 2.0 or Existing Buildings: Operations and Maintenance- we'll clarify in the comments if possible). Specific green features incorporated into the retrofit include efficient and reduced-content mercury lighting, low-flow plumbing fixtures, and new glazing that boosts the amount of daylight that reaches the tower's interiors. 1211 Avenue of the Americas earned BOMA's "Best Operating Office Building" award in 2008 for buildings larger than one million square feet; current tenants include the New York Post, Fox News Channel, and the Fox Business Network.