Carbon-Neutral Center Planned in Manhattan

New building would double as arts and education center. Also, affordable housing design takes shape in Bronx.

Carbon-Neutral Facility Set for ‘08

The Solar 2 Green Energy Arts and Education Center, New York’s first carbon-neutral, solar-powered building, is set to spring up on the East River at 23rd Street.

The two-story, 8,000-sq-ft complex will be a “net-zero facility, generating more clean energy than it will consume,” says Christopher Collins, executive director of Solar One, the developer.

The facility will be dedicated to teaching residents how to conserve energy in an urban environment, and will be open to the public year-round.

Environmental classes for K-12 students will also be available at the center, which will eventually host a four-day energy fair called the CitySol Festival.

Solar One has tapped London-based Arup as engineer and Turner Construction of New York as construction consultant for the building, which was designed by Kiss + Cathcart Architects of Brooklyn. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s administration has already allocated $3 million to create Solar 2, though the developers will rely on financing from private donors to raise the rest of the $12.5 million project budget before construction can begin. Collins says he hopes to start building in the fall of 2008, with construction taking about a year.

The first floor will house a café, bookstore, and an exhibit space related to renewable energy, while a solar-powered roof will demonstrate how to best utilize renewable energy, Collins adds.

There will also be a “visible system to compare and contrast new and old energy systems,” Collins says.

The center will have a model of an eco-apartment to showcase a green lifestyle, as well as a 120-person-capacity, dividable classroom; a theater-style outdoor classroom; and an outdoor “green stage” theater with seating for 200 to 250 people. The building will be “powered through photovoltaic roof panels generating 85 KW of electricity from the sun, augmented by ground-source geothermal wells for heating and cooling,” Collins says.

Solar 2 offers a signal that the city is open to new initiatives to replace fossil fuels, reduce energy costs, and help mitigate global warming, says Richard Cherry, founder and president of Community Environmental Center, a nonprofit environmental services organization that is consulting on the project.

New Model on Deck for Affordable Housing Design

The project team behind a new, $35 million residential project in the Bronx is hoping to

jump-start a new trend in affordable housing design. 

The new project, dubbed 500 East and located at 165th Street in the Morrisania section of the Bronx, was designed by Magnusson Architecture and Planning of New York to serve as a high-quality imprint for affordable housing in the borough, with various tailored design details, especially to maximize use of a challenging site.

The site’s mix of Third Avenue frontage, a 230-ft-long façade along 165th Street, and a steep slope created design challenges that typically make affordable housing complexes too costly to pursue. The architects decided to create a dramatic façade along Third Avenue, a major Bronx thoroughfare, as well as a corner entry with a setback that creates a public open space in front of the building.

Meanwhile, in response to the smaller, quieter scale of 165th Street, the design modulates the building’s longest façade as the structure’s height drops from eight to six stories.

The steep slope of the site also inspired a nearly double-height atrium space, which offers views from the street into a landscaped courtyard.

“MAP met those challenges head on and turned them into opportunities,” says Ron Moelis, principal at L&M Equity Participants of Larchmont, N.Y., part of a joint venture that is developing the 500 East project along with Nos Quedamos, a South Bronx-based nonprofit community group, and Melrose Associates, Magnusson’s development arm.

The building will house 128 units, including studios and one-, two-, and three-bedroom apartments, for residents earning up to 60% of area median income, as well as 4,500 sq ft of commercial space on the first floor of the building along Third Avenue.

New Tribeca Hotel Planned

A new 100-room hotel will join 15 residential condominium units at 85 West Broadway in Manhattan’s Tribeca neighborhood in a project that will be known as Smyth Tribeca and operated by the trendy Thompson Hotels chain of New York. The developer is Tribeca Associates.

The 13-floor hotel was designed by Brennan Beer Gorman Architects of New York to have a cutting-edge look while honoring the architectural tradition of Tribeca, says Louis Hedgecock, the firm’s partner-in-charge. To that end, the 92,000-sq-ft structure will feature tall, slim windows, a concrete façade, and a square corner that will rise up the 135-ft-tall tower.

Construction on the concrete building, helmed by Pavarini McGovern Construction of New York, began in March. Completion is expected in January 2008. Other firms on the team include Richardson & Sadeki on interior design, Edwards and Zuck as M-E-P engineer, Thornton-Tomasetti as structural engineer, Brandston Partnership as lighting designer, Cerami Associates as acoustic consultant, Gilsanz Murray Steficek as exterior wall consultant, and Midtown Technologies as the low voltage consultant.

Slender Tower for Times Square

While the news of yet another building sprouting up in Times Square is not exactly showstopping, the plan for a new luxury apartment tower is making dramatic use of a tight, irregular space.

The slender building at 785 Eighth Ave. – which will hold 122 condominium units, retail space, a fitness center, spa, outdoor garden, and lounge – is set to rise on a “narrow, pie-shaped” area that required Ismael Leyva Architects of New York to merge dynamics with efficiency. Leyva says he decided to build higher to overcome the obstacle presented by the oddly shaped lot, which is 23 ft wide.

The angular, 42-story building totals 132,078 sq ft with 1,845 sq ft for retail. Esplanade Capital and 785 Partners LLC are codeveloping the project and have refused to disclose the cost. It broke ground last fall.

Leyva says he added cascading balconies with glass railings to “give movement to the building” and give it a unique profile in bustling Times Square. Some units will have outdoor terraces, balconies or hot tubs.

Times Square Construction, the construction manager, says the project is slated for completion in 2008.

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