Work has begun on the 60,000-sq-ft Battery Park City Community Center located at the tip of Liberty Luxe and Liberty Green high-rise residential towers on North End Avenue in Downtown Manhattan.

The facility which is being constructed by Stalco Construction of Islandia, New York aims to achieve LEED Platinum certification and will consist of a main lobby, adult swimming pool, children’s pool, gymnasium and fitness center, theater/auditorium, dance studios, classrooms, offices, lockers rooms, a cafeteria, kitchen, bathrooms, and storage and equipment rooms. Green design features and leading edge technological solutions that will be incorporated into the community center include light cell controls of interior lighting to maximize daylight. The gymnasium and the pool will feature expansive windows along the west side of the building and a 450-ft long glass arcade wall along the east side. A ventilation and air conditioning system in the pool area and oversized, sound-insulated ductwork will provide the center with a high air quality.

A curving, 550-ft long glass arcade wall that will face West Street, north of Ground Zero and sit opposite the two swimming pools and the gymnasium inside the building and two ball fields and a soccer field outside the building, will serve as the primary architectural feature of the community center. The interior of the center will feature metal panel and plaster over concrete ceilings, tile flooring, and sports hardwood floor inside the gymnasium.

Another feature of the community center includes a hydraulic pool floor elevator system to be installed in the smaller of the two pools which will control the depth of the pool’s floor in order to accommodate users of various physical capabilities.

Hanrahan Meyers Architects of New York is the architect and interior designer on the project. The project team also includes construction manager The LiRo Group of New York, civil engineer Langan Engineering & Environmental Services of New York, mechanical, electrical and plumbing engineer Goldman Copeland Associates of New York, commissioning consultant Genesys Engineering of Pelham, New York, and environmental design consultant Atelier Ten, also of New York.

Logistical planning began prior to the bidding stage with The LiRo Group and Hanrahan Meyers Architecture collaborating closely during the early pre-construction phase in order to ensure that all embedded electrical and plumbing systems required were set in place and to accelerate the construction start by scheduling all non-weather sensitive activities for the beginning.

Completion of Battery Park City’s Community Center is scheduled for late 2011.