Green Real Estate

Located between 9th and 10th Avenues in Hell's Kitchen, 459 West 44th Street is a green condominium conversion that offers three duplex units starting just north of $2 million apiece. It's a much higher price point than many of the boutique green condominium projects that we've been following here at gbNYC, but developer Van Velle recently profiled the project in Businesweek and provided some interesting thoughts about the role of green design features in the current real estate climate. "We recognized that, in a declining real estate market, the demand would be for value- for homes built to last," Mr. Velle said. "That's why we decided to go sustainable. We scrapped the previous plan, which sacrificed quality for quantity, and instead proposed three luxury condos constructed with sustainable products and efficient technology." Calling it a swap of quantity for quality, Mr. Velle purchased the property from a contractor that had abandoned a prior project in the middle of demolition operations at the four-story structure.

100 Gold Street is touting itself as the first green residential building in Brooklyn’s Vinegar Hill neighborhood. Designed and developed Anthony Morena’s REDD Group, the 5-story, 10-unit condominium development is currently under construction just a few blocks east of the Manhattan Bridge and is incorporating a variety of sustainable design features. 9-foot windows will provide ample natural daylight and Manhattan views for residents; gas-fired, wall-hung boilers in each unit should save up to 40 percent on heating costs. Recycled glass tile will be used for backsplashes in each kitchen and zero-VOC paints throughout are being supplied by Brooklyn-based Ivy Coatings. Other materials sourced locally include recycled-content roof pavers manufactured by Saugerties-based Unity Creations and hand-blown light fixtures by Beacon-based Niche Modern. Green features will also include on-site bicycle storage, dual flush toilets, and compact fluorescent lights throughout. REDD also intends to purchase renewable energy credits to offset the building’s projected energy consumption during its first year of operation.

New York City-based architecture and interior design firm Montroy Andersen DeMarco has designed a 150,000-square-foot corporate campus for Switzerland-based Givaudan Fragrance and Flavors in East Hanover, New Jersey (about 25 miles west of Midtown). The $28 million project, which is currently wrapping up now that Givaudan has moved into the space, includes a number of green design features as well as an innovative series of "odor booths," designed to be completely impenetrable to external smells and odors- obviously a critical component of a fragrance company's design program. Montroy converted two existing office buildings- one for corporate space, the other for fragrance development (including the odor booths)- and connected them with a central lobby atrium; initially, Givaudan had considered constructing an entirely new complex. In addition to reusing the two existing buildings, green features include bamboo flooring, natural daylighting, low-e windows, and fiberoptic lighting, and an automatic indoor air quality and climate monitoring and control system.

We can't stop writing about 11 Times Square here at gbNYC; the project continues to remain fascinating to us on a number of different levels. Designed by FXFOWLE and aiming for a LEED Gold rating, the 40-story tower has yet to land a single tenant despite assurances from developer SJP Properties that the building would be half-filled by this past summer. That, of course, was before the credit crunch, and the project has, at least in our opinion, become the paradigm for green building projects that continue to move forward through the current market turmoil.