All Posts Tagged With: "New York City"
Bruce Ratner’s 80 DeKalb Avenue by Costas Kondylis
Designed by Costas Kondylis, Bruce Ratner’s 80 DeKalb Avenue will be the developer’s first residential tower to rise in Brooklyn. The controversial Mr. Ratner will seek LEED certification for the $200 million project, claiming that the 34-story tower will incorporate a variety of low-VOC materials and use low-flow plumbing fixtures. The project broke ground back in July; earlier this week, Mr. Ratner closed on hard-to-obtain $110 million in tax-exempt bond financing from the New York State Housing Finance Agency for the tower, which will feature 73 affordable and 292 market-rate units. Ratner plans on opening the project for leasing sometime next summer; the majority of the units will be studios and one-bedrooms.
22Aug2008 | Stephen Del Percio | 0 comments | Continued
Final Asking Rents at LEED Platinum Bank of America Tower Hit $185/SF
Hedge fund HBK Investments, which last summer signed on for LEED Platinum hopeful Bank of America Tower’s 40th floor at $135 per square foot, has officially terminated its commitment for 12,000 square feet of that space. The Dallas-based firm will still retain 24,000 square feet on the 40th floor and the Dursts will now seek to lease the freshly freed space for an incredible $185 per square foot. The only space in the building that remains in addition to HBK’s former space is 30,000 square feet on the 37th floor, where the Dursts are asking the same rent; the family will consider partitioning either space into blocks for smaller tenants. According to Eric Engelhardt, one of Durst’s vice presidents for leasing, “[t]here is a greater universe of smaller tenants looking for high end space.”
20Aug2008 | Stephen Del Percio | 0 comments | ContinuedHoly Green: Trinity Real Estate’s LEED-CI Silver Offices by Mancini Duffy
Trinity Real Estate- which is currently developing the mixed-use, Brennan Beer Gorman-designed 330 Hudson Street to LEED Silver specifications- is the largest landlord in the Hudson Square submarket, where it has been converting industrial space into Class A commercial offices since 1983. The firm is the real estate arm of Trinity Church, the downtown Episcopal parish that currently enjoys a 93 percent occupancy rate for its portfolio. Trinity currently owns and operates six million square feet across eighteen buildings north of Canal Street and west of Sixth Avenue. Earlier this year, the firm opened its new 16,000-square-foot headquarters space at One Hudson Square (75 Varick Street), designed by architects Mancini Duffy to achieve a LEED for Commercial Interiors (”LEED-CI”) Silver rating.
19Aug2008 | Stephen Del Percio | 0 comments | Continued
Rough Tuesday for Green Buildings in Midtown
Yesterday was not a good day to be a green building under construction in Midtown. First, Steve Cuozzo reported in the Post that Macklowe Properties’ 510 Madison Avenue, which is currently pursuing a LEED Gold rating from USGBC, has received a partial stop-work order from the Department of Buildings. Later in the morning, a 5 ‘ by 13′ panel of glass fell from the 51st floor of Cook + Fox’s LEED Platinum hopeful Bank of America Tower. The panel landed on sidewalk bridging across 42nd Street (where the former Verizon Building continues to undergo a number of green retrofits), shattering and sending one person to Bellevue. Tishman Construction is serving as the construction manager for both of the projects
12Aug2008 | Stephen Del Percio | 0 comments | Continued
American Apparel Bringing Green Retail to Hell’s Kitchen
As Racked reports that American Apparel is close to opening its twentieth store in New York City, we’ll note that the retailer’s Hell’s Kitchen outlet is currently in pursuit of an unspecified level of LEED for Commercial Interiors certification. The store at 610 9th Avenue will soon by joined by other iterations at 429 Broadway (Broadway and Howard) and 2103 Broadway (at 73rd Street). No word on whether the retailer’s 19 other New York City area outlets will also implement sustainable features or pursue a LEED rating. American Apparel was founded in 1997 and is based in Los Angeles. The company has implemented a number of sustainable initiatives at the corporate level.
12Aug2008 | Stephen Del Percio | 0 comments | Continued
Seeking LEED Silver, 100 Park Avenue Bucks Market, Inks Anchor Tenant
SL Green’s 100 Park Avenue was the first of Park Avenue’s International Style high-rises. Located at the corner of East 40th Street, the modern glass and steel tower was completed in 1949 and replaced the Murray Hill Hotel, which dated from 1883 and whose residents put up a fierce battle against the new development. The building’s current owner, SL Green, is wrapping up an 18-month, $72 million capital improvement program that includes a LEED for Existing Buildings (”LEED-EB”) application aiming for a Silver rating from USGBC. The project includes upgraded building infrastructure, a new facade and windows, and a new lobby and elevators; BOMA named the tower its Best Renovated Building of the Year for 2007. Last week, accounting and consulting firm BDO Seidman signed a 121,441-square-foot lease across the tower’s 9th through 11th floors.
11Aug2008 | Stephen Del Percio | 0 comments | Continued
ML: Helmut Jahn’s 50 West Street Breaks Ground in Pursuit of Gold (Video)
Time Equities broke ground in a ceremony back in June on 50 West Street, a 65-story, $600 million, 580,000-square-foot mixed use tower that will rise along Rector Street, just a few blocks south of the World Trade Center site. The New York-based developer anticipates LEED Gold certification for the project upon a 2011 completion date. The base of 50 West Street will include a 5-star hotel offering 155 units, as well as retail space, with 280 condominium units sitting above. Designed by Helmut Jahn, the project will include a variety of sustainable design features ranging from automated blinds to a green roof, efficient plumbing fixtures, and renewable and recycled-content construction materials specified by architects of record Gruzen Samton. 50 West will be Jahn’s first executed design here in New York City since the CitySpire back in 1987.
11Aug2008 | Stephen Del Percio | 0 comments | Continued
UES Green Wall, Delays at Atlantic Yards, Reviewing the Lucida, & More Spec 8th Avenue Office Space
gbNYC selects green news items of note that were reported across the New York City area during the week of August 3, 2008, including the installation of a living wall above Pure Yoga on East 86th Street, more delays for Bruce Ratner’s controversial Atlantic Yards development, a review of Cook + Fox’ LEED hopeful Lucida condo project on the Upper East Side, and plans for another speculative office tower along 8th Avenue from Boston Properties and Related, in between 11 Times Square and 250 West 55th Street.
9Aug2008 | Stephen Del Percio | 0 comments | Continued
Century-Old 14 Wall Street Earns 2008 Energy Star Designation from EPA
Regardless of your perspective, it’s critical to keep in mind that the most sustainable of buildings is the existing building, particularly when retrofitted for energy efficiency improvements and other green enhancements. Capstone Equities and The Carlyle Group’s 14 Wall Street- which dates from 1912- recently earned a 2008 Energy Star award. The 37-story tower, which stands along Nassau Street between Wall and Pine, across from the New York Stock Exchange, was designed by Trowbridge & Livingston and was designated as a New York City landmark in 1997. There are now twenty commercial buildings in New York City that have received the Energy Star designation from EPA, including Cass Gilbert’s New York Life Insurance Building at 51 Madison Avenue.
6Aug2008 | Stephen Del Percio | 0 comments | Continued
Galapagos Art Space Opens Green Doors in Dumbo
The Galapagos Art Space- formerly of Williamsburg- opened last night at 16 Main Street in Brooklyn. The 10,000-square-foot performing arts space will no longer be hosting rock bands, but expect a mix of theater, cabaret, dance, orchestral music, and puppetry in the coming weeks. Galapagos includes a 1600-square-foot indoor lake that helps cool the space and a major design focus was recycled-content material; 90 percent of steel used in construciton was recycled while poured concrete includes 30 percent recycled material. The project is in the midst of pursuing an unspecified LEED rating; when conferred, it would be the first for any performing arts venue in New York City.
6Aug2008 | Stephen Del Percio | 0 comments | Continued
Green Harlem Brownstone, Battery Park City Primer, & Natural Gas v. Water
gbNYC selects green news items of note that were reported across the New York City area during the week of July 27, 2008, including an overview of Battery Park City’s green residential towers, the public opening of a LEED-hopeful, $4.6 million Harlem brownstone that features denim jean insulation, and concern over New York City’s water reserves given looser permitting requirements for natural gas drilling.
3Aug2008 | Stephen Del Percio | 0 comments | Continued
City Council’s Infrastructure Task Force Debates Solar Power Installations
During a panel discussion that was held earlier today at Hunter College, local alternative energy experts and city officials debated how Gotham might encourage increasing solar power to public and private buildings. The City Council’s infrastructure task force organized the forum, and co-chair Daniel Garodnick explained that under current regulations, a building owner is required to pay the costs of hooking a solar power system to the Con Edison grid. It’s not that simple, though; a 32-page .pdf document called “Standardized Interconnection Requirements and Application Process for New Distributed Generators 2 MW or Less Connected in Parallel with Utility Distribution Systems” sets forth the parameters. The New York Times’ City Room blog reports that one idea the task force is considering is creating various “solar empowerment” zones, where neighboring buildings that are suitable for solar installations could tie their arrays together and pay for just one connection to the Con Ed grid.
31Jul2008 | Stephen Del Percio | 0 comments | Continued
SoHo Partnership Enters Supply Agreement for Biodegradable Trash Bags
The SoHo Partnership is a non-profit organization that hires homeless and jobless people through the BRC Human Services Corporation, another New York City-based organization that provides rehab and treatment programs for the homeless. The program cleans a 30-block area daily, removing over 15,000 pounds of trash, and also plants and maintains trees and other greenery and administers various recycling programs. Yesterday, the organization announced that it has entered into a supply agreement to purchase Perf Go Green’s biodegradable trash bags for use in its operations. The Perf Go Green bags debuted earlier this year at the International Home and Housewares Show in Chicago, and are manufactured from recycled plastics. The film that’s applied to the bags is biodegradable, and causes the bags to break down when disposed of in soil. SoHo Partnership founder Henry Buhl said that the organization is “absolutely delighted to announce SoHo as the city’s first neighborhood to use biodegradable trash bags.”
31Jul2008 | Stephen Del Percio | 1 comment | Continued-
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