Manhattan Office Building Earns LEED-EB Gold

NEW YORK — A midtown Manhattan building has become only the third Class B office property in New York City to achieve LEED-Existing Building (EB) Gold Certification.

Known as the Club Row Building, the property on West 44th Street is owned by APF Properties, a Manhattan real estate investment firm with a commercial value of roughly $900 million. The company is aiming to achieve LEED and Energy Star compliance throughout its portfolio of commercial office buildings in New York, Philadelphia and Houston.

APF acquired the 371,000-square-foot Club Row Building in 2011, offering about 50,000 square feet of office space. Despite being built in 1919, the property has been able to maximize operational efficiency while minimizing environmental impacts. Through a number of sustainability efforts, the property has managed to reduce its water usage by more than 25 percent annually, which saves more than 536,000 gallons a year. The building has also been recycling almost 80 percent of ongoing consumable waste, including 100 percent of its electronics waste.

Offsetting its carbon footprint, the building has been purchasing power from wind energy resources and land gas capture projects, representing more than 50 percent of the property’s two-year energy use.

Additionally, APF implemented a green cleaning, sustainable purchasing, waste reduction, water fixture upgrade and Environmental Tobacco Smoke (ETS) control policies. In 2013, the building began offering a bicycle parking room on the ground floor, which is convenient for commuters to and from nearby Grand Central Station.

All told, APF spent about $1.5 million in building improvements that can directly or indirectly be linked to energy and water savings as well as other sustainable initiatives.

“The LEED-EB Gold Certification at 28 West 44th Street demonstrates APF Properties’ ongoing commitment to providing its tenants with a sustainable, modern and healthy environment in which to work,” said John Fitzsimmons, vice president/director of real estate operations at APF Properties, in a statement.

Prior to the LEED certification for the Club Row Building, APF was also able to cut water use nearly in half at another one of their New York City office buildings, a 132,000-square-foot tower on Madison Avenue. The 48 percent decrease in water consumption at the property between 2006 and 2013 is due to a recently completed, multi-year capital improvement program that included the installation of waterless urinals, dual flush toilets and motion sensor sinks.

Another property, a 36-story, 704,000-square-foot Class A office building in Philadelphia achieved LEED Certification for Existing Buildings in two years after APF upgraded the building in a multi-million dollar renovation. It was the first non-governmental building in Philadelphia to receive LEED certification for existing buildings. Between 2010 and 2013, the Market Street property reduced its energy use by more than 2.5 million kilowatt hours per year, amounting to an 18 percent reduction in energy use during that time period.

“Sustainability is in our DNA as owners and managers,” APF Properties founder Berndt Perl said in a statement. “We believe it is the right approach to take for the environment, as well as for the comfort of our tenants, and to preserve and enhance the long-term value of the portfolio.”