While the owner of the 2.6-million-sq-ft Empire State Building gears up for a $500-million renovation, designed to cut energy costs by 38% and be a model for other green office-building retrofits, a construction firm that recently moved into its green ESB offices is releasing hard data on the 24,000-sq-ft retrofit. Skanska USA Building, which moved into its 32nd-floor space in November, reports it has reduced its energy bill by 46% over its smaller, previous offices elsewhere.
This fall, Skanska expects to be awarded LEED Platinum status for the retrofit from the U. S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design rating system. Of the project’s $4.6-million cost, $210,858 is attributed to the cost of a Class A office buildout with LEED improvements, which translates to $189.52 per sq ft, or $8.64 per sq ft more than non-LEED space. The predicted energy savings, coupled with a $22,802 grant from New York state, yields a gain of $368,380 over the course of the 15-year lease, after subtracting the LEED premium, says a spokesman for Skanska.