Future development phases, expected to begin in a year or two, will build 1,000 units of mixed-income housing with 80 percent affordable.

Focusing on the Basics

As developers gain experience building green, many are adopting standard packages of green features. “It’s mainly nuts and bolts things like high efficiency boilers, good construction to make buildings air tight, balanced ventilation systems, proper lighting levels and lighting controls and low-flow plumbing fixtures,” explains Ryan Merkin, senior project manager, Steven Winter Associates, New York.

“The basics are what really make the most significant differences in building performance,” Stein says. “It’s the little things that add up to significant energy savings for a building,”

Courtlandt Corners I and II, a 423,000-sq.-ft. development with 323 apartments in four buildings on East 161st Street in the Bronx, takes this basic approach to sustainability. The project, designed by Dattner, features high performance building envelops, energy efficient HVAC systems, Energy Star appliances and lighting, apartments sealed for ventilation tightness and low flow plumbing fixtures. Completion is scheduled for the end of 2010.

Courtlandt’s developer, the Phipps Houses Group, New York, also enlisted Dattner to design a companion project called Courtlandt Crescent with similar sustainable features. The project will consist of two buildings housing 217 apartments and 10,000-sq.-ft. of community space. Construction is expected to start in July 2011.

Over the past 10 years developer Les Bluestone, cofounder of Huntington, N.Y.-based Blue Sea Development, has refined a set of methods and features now incorporated into all his affordable projects. He focuses on the core and shell, making sure the building is well insulated and sealed, and indoor air quality.

Instead of a central ventilation system Bluestone air seals and ventilates each apartment separately with a continuously running fan that “uses less energy than a light bulb. “Trickle vents at the windows guarantee a steady supply of fresh air. Low-VOC materials help ensure good indoor air quality.

This spring Bluestone completed the $15.3 million General Colin L. Powell Apartments in the South Bronx. The 7-story, 60,000-sq-ft building with 50 affordable coops uses 43 percent less energy than a comparable building and attained LEED Platinum and NYSERDA MPP certifications.

Bluestone, who is not afraid of trying new ideas, installed two, five kw micro co-generation units in the building that produce 100% of the project’s domestic hot water plus electricity for the common areas. Going forward, micro co-gen units will be installed in all his projects based on the system’s payback and efficiency.

Four blocks north Blue Sea partnered with Habitat for Humanity to build Prospect Macy, an affordable coop. The building includes a co-generation unit, a green roof, fitness room and landscaped play yard. Completion is slated for the end of 2010.

Construction will start in 2011 on an 8-story, 120-unit affordable rental project in Morrisania in the Bronx. This Blue Sea project features a 10,000-sq-ft rooftop greenhouse that will house an urban farm growing produce hydroponically for local distribution. The project will employ panelized wall systems and prefabricated bathroom modules to speed construction.

Green Innovations

Other innovative developers include the Richmond Group, which is using modular construction to build Park Terrace, a 4-story, 49-unit rental building for seniors in Yonkers, N.Y. The project, slated for completion in spring 2001, is seeking LEED Silver certification.

The modular housing units, constructed by Capsys Corporation at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, feature low emitting materials and finishes, Energy Star appliances and low-flow plumbing fixtures. The indoor assembly process reduces construction waste and creates very air-tight modules, Cirillo explains. The modules will be trucked to the site this fall and placed on completed foundations.

The Bluestone Organization, Fresh Meadows, N.Y., employed insulated concrete forms (ICF) to construct the wall system of The Andrew, a 50-unit affordable apartment building in Rego Park, Queens. ICF walls are formed by pouring concrete between two, 2.5-in polystyrene panels tied together with plastic or steel ties. The super insulated walls are very airtight with little thermal breaks, Merkin explains.

The developer is also using the wall system to construct the Calverts, six multi-family buildings in Harlem. The buildings, ranging in height from 4- to 8-stories, are seeking Energy Star and LEED certification. The projects are slated for completion between February and July 2011.

In March construction started on Via Verde, a $99 million complex in the South Bronx. The project developed by Phipps Houses and Jonathan Rose Companies, in partnership with Dattner Architects and Grimshaw Architects, is designed to achieve LEED Gold designation. Lettire is the project’s general contractor.

The 288,000-sq.-ft. development will create 222 units in three buildings; a 20-story tower at the north end, a 6-13-story mid-rise building in the middle and townhouses to the south, organized around a central courtyard. The buildings step down along the length of the site creating a series of green roofs. Solar panels will cover the vertical walls of the steps. The highly insulated buildings are clad in a rain screen, which provides for a more water tight envelope for the building, Stein says.