Stephen Del Percio

We're shutting things down this week here at gbNYC for a brief mini-vacation but will be back with you next Monday, May 4. We'll be around on Twitter (@StephenDP) and encourage you to take a look back through our archives while we're gone, including our recent review of stories that we reported during the course of the first quarter of 2009. You can also check out some of our recent work over at GRELJ, where we have been discussing green building performance issues from a legal perspective. Have a great week and we'll see you next Monday!

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In early March, the Albanese Organization's LEED Platinum hopeful Visionaire condominium project in Battery Park City earned a 2009 AIA New York Building Type Honor Award in the Housing category. The 33-story, $310 million development was designed by Pelli Clarke Pelli and offers 251 units across 500,000 square feet. We've followed the project closely here at gbNYC and, this coming Friday, April 17, you can check out the building up close- for free- at a sustainable development seminar being sponsored, in part, by both Albanese and the FIABCI international real estate federation. Speakers include EcoBroker founder John Beldock, Russell Albanese, and Michael Rossi, who heads the New York chapter of FIABCI. I'll also be speaking, from a legal perspective, about the various implications of LEED certification for the commercial and residential real estate markets. The event will be held on the Visionaire's 30th floor, run from noon to 4:00, and will earn you four continuing education credits if you're a licensed real estate broker in New York State; both lunch and cocktails will be served. You can RSVP for the event at 212-918-1997 or by emailing Mr.

As you may have noticed, about a month ago we gave gbNYC a major facelift. We're still working out some kinks and playing with the format, but we hope you're finding it more user-friendly so far. One of our new features that we're excited to introduce for the first time in connection with the new-look site is a weekly audiocast. We've recorded the first three episodes, which you can access after the jump, and hope to present a new episode weekly moving forward. The goal of the audiocast is to increase the depth and scope of content that gbNYC brings to you, allowing us to dig a bit deeper into important green building issues. In each episode, we'll discuss posts from the previous week in more detail, as well as present other green issues that we've yet to delve into on the site. The audiocast is produced by Washington, D.C.-based attorney Ryan Genovese, who also serves as the moderator along with yours truly. Let us know what you think of the audiocast or if you yourself might be interested in joining the discussion on a future episode. Below you'll find the show notes and links to the audiocast file itself.