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Originally Posted by NYguy
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http://www.globest.com/news/1105_110...sector=newyork
Construction To Begin on Green Residence
By Natalie Dolce
March 3, 2008
NEW YORK CITY-Freestanding residential tower HL23 will rise from a site on West 23rd Street half beneath the High Line elevated railway bed, now slated for transformation into an urban park.
Construction will begin in March on the 14-story building, which will have a reverse-tapering structure.
A source familiar with the development tells GlobeSt.com that the developer, locally based 23 High Line LLC, is buying 100% green energy for the building. Alf Naman of High Line confirms, telling GlobeSt.com that they are in contract to purchase green power from a source that is creating energy elsewhere through wind power. Naman also reveals that total hard costs for the construction are $22 million.
The design architect for the development, located at 515-517 W. 23rd St., will be Neil M. Denari Architects Inc. of Los Angeles. YRG sustainability consultants will direct the High Line project through the LEED-certification process. The developer, 23 High Line is pursuing certification at the Gold level, which targets 41 of 69 available points. According to a prepared statement, the project is targeting points in all five categories, as well as additional innovation credits for exemplary and innovative performance strategies.
As a residential building, special attention has been focused on improving occupant health and well-being by providing a high level of indoor air quality and supplying extensive natural light to the units, the release notes. In addition, strong emphasis was placed on energy efficiency, thereby reducing the demand on our depleting natural resources.
Some of the many green strategies being implemented in this project include: providing a high level of ventilation and indoor air quality to creates a healthier indoor environment for residents; specifying products and materials with low Volatile Organic Compound content to further improve indoor air quality and occupant health; using eco-efficient water fixtures and appliances, which reduces water consumption by at least 30%; implementing a construction management plan that focuses on reducing indoor air contaminants and further improves the building’s air quality; extensive natural daylighting and views to the outdoors, which should reduce the need for electric lighting; providing bicycle storage for building occupants; specifying high reflective roofing products, which will reduce the urban heat-island effect; integrating efficient mechanical systems and a tight building envelope, reducing energy consumption by 15% to 25%; using refrigerants that are low ozone depleting and do not contribute to global warming; providing infrastructure for trash chutes and a recycling program within the building; implementing a construction waste management plan that diverts at least 75% of waste from landfills; and using materials with high recycled content.
Brown Harris Stevens has been retained as exclusive sales agent for the property. The source tells GlobeSt.com that completion date is scheduled for the end of 2009 and that units will be available for sale once construction begins.
The singular form of the 39,200-sf HL23 was made possible by modifications to seven different zoning requirements, granted by the city in support of the design’s contribution to the cityscape. No two homes in the building will be alike. The building will house 11 homes, including nine full-floor residences, a duplex penthouse at the top of the building, and a private garden at the building’s base. The residences at HL23 will range in size from approximately 1,850 sf to 3,600 sf, and in price from $2.7 million to $10.5 million.
"Quite frankly, I felt like it was the last great site in urban America, it was so amazing," notes architect Denari in a prepared statement. "In the early 1980s, I lived in New York City and spent a great deal of time in far West Chelsea, imagining and even drawing designs for buildings that would celebrate its gritty, industrial romance and the beautifully decaying form of the High Line. I cannot overstate how satisfying it is for our firm to create a formally challenging, artistic project here more than 25 years later, addressing a practical demand for the people who will live inside the building and a local demand for the public who will experience it from the sidewalks, the High Line, and from other buildings throughout the West Chelsea arts district."