NEW YORK—Looking back at the city as it rests behind autumn colored trees and a tranquil wooden esplanade along the Hudson River, it's easy to see how the area of Manhattan known as Battery Park City managed to switch the conventional order of "city park" to come up with "Park City." The wedge-shaped neighborhood is just about one mile long, but includes five parks, a tree-lined walking path and separate bike path, a Hudson River esplanade, and fifteen public art installations. And that's just outdoors.
Inside residential and commercial buildings, the Battery Park City Authority is holding developments in the neighborhood to high levels of environmental friendliness, making them meet the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification requirements put forth by the U.S. Green Building Council. "We decided to do it because we knew that the environment and health are important to people," said Leticia Remauro, spokeswoman for the Battery Park City Authority.
The neighborhood expanded its building guidelines in 2000 to stipulate that buildings meet LEED certification requirements.
Remauro recalled that back in 2000 Battery Park City was already known as environmentally conscious. The neighborhood's plentiful "parks and gardens didn't use toxic fertilizers or chemicals and it made sense for the next step to be making the buildings meet environmental guidelines. So our chairman James Gill led the board to adopt the environmental guidelines."
However, at the time, no residential community had ever incorporated such guidelines, and some of the authority's staff members weren't in agreement. "Many people thought it wouldn't take off," recalled Remauro.
The doubts were short lived. Soon, some of the biggest developers in the country were building at Battery City Park. In the end, the apartments were able to go for 4 or 5 percent higher than the market rate, Remauro said triumphantly.
"People have demonstrated they prefer to live in a healthier building. They show this by their willingness to pay higher rents. We have literally changed the marketplace."
Leading the Way
The first green development in Battery Park City became the first LEED certified high-rise residential building in North America, The Solaire.
Created by developer Albanese, The Solaire contains an onsite wastewater treatment facility in its basement—the first of its kind in the nation—as well as a storm water reuse system. Using this and other water-saving methods the building consumes 50 percent less potable water than a typical building of comparable size.
The Solaire's rooftop garden keeps the building from overheating in the summer and solar energy panels on the building's surface save energy. Also, an advanced air-filtration system and special "low or no off-gassing" paints and materials create high air quality in the building.
Remauro recounted one story, "There was a family that had a little six-year-old girl that moved into The Solaire. She had trouble breathing since she was born and for the first time in her life, in The Solaire, the six-year-old girl slept through the night without wheezing and coughing, her mom attributed to the clean air in the building."
"Then, when the little girl went to Disney World [for vacation] she couldn't stay there, she had to come right back."
Now Battery Park City boasts eight residential buildings that are LEED certified and one commercial building, the 2.1 million square foot world headquarters of Goldman Sachs, scheduled for completion in 2009.
The latest residential edition is Albanese's Visionaire, a 35-story, 251-unit condominium tower now being construction on Battery Place. When completed, The Visionaire will be a striking tower of curved glass that optimizes natural light and allows for generous river and city views.
The Visionaire incorporates many similar techniques as The Solaire, and more, achieving an even higher level of LEED certification. Even the kitchen cabinets of The Visionaire will be made from bamboo material, since bamboo is more sustainable, growing very quickly compared with the years required for the wood typically used for cabinets.
The Green Behind the Green
At The Visionaire prices range from $800,000 for a studio to $11 million for the penthouse. Certainly not the lowest prices in New York City.
President Russell Albanese of the Albanese Organization acknowledged, "compared with traditional buildings, which do not have the many energy saving features of a green development, the green buildings' construction cost is a bit higher. But in the last seven to eight years, many environmentally friendly technologies have matured and thus production cost has come down."
Something for new developers to keep in mind is that green buildings are not only attractive to the environmentally minded but are also specifically designed to use less energy and water, meaning here-and-now benefits in the form of lower utility bills.
"As oil prices skyrocket, utility bills have jumped to a level that makes many people prefer the energy saving green features available only on buildings like The Visionaire. The built-up demand is just amazing," said Albanese.
In fact, if LEED certification is sought in a building's developmental stages, before construction begins, the extra cost is negligible according to Catherine Nueva Espana, business director for the environmental design firm Atelier Ten.
"It doesn't cost more to do LEED, that's the first misconception," she said. "A lot of clients get into green buildings but don't know what green means. In general, people are getting more well versed on what a green building is, especially in New York. Each project is educational."
Leading the way from 2000 to today, Battery Park City's Solaire and Visionaire are now being joined by many more LEED certified residential buildings in New York City like the Archstone Clinton residential tower in Midtown Manhattan, The Octagon on Roosevelt Island, and the Kalahari in Harlem.
The green building trend has "been steady in some states, in New York, it's particularly dramatic," said Nueva Espana.
Additional reporting by Fran Wang
Feeds