![]() The law, passed in 2021, is new enough that the city, in fact, is still working out the details of how it will be enforced. When it opens, it will be the city’s greenest skyscraper ever, owing to the city legislation banning use of fossil fuels in new construction - rules that didn’t exist when One Vanderbilt was being conceived. Like SL Green, all New York landlords will be forced to look into an uncertain future and face stark choices.įor now, the future of New York’s office towers can be seen at 270 Park, a half-finished behemoth rising a few blocks north of One Vanderbilt. “If you’re a gear head, this is awesome,” Mr. The generators are hidden some 39 floors in the sky, in a windowless room halfway up the tower. One Vanderbilt’s power plant creates electricity as well as hot water. So far, none has been released into the sewer system, an added benefit in a city where sewers can be overwhelmed by heavy rainfall. Some runoff is evaporated, but much is used to cool the building’s power plant or is recirculated throughout the building. ![]() ![]() “Everything that falls on us reaches our roof,” said Mr. All the rain that touches the skyscraper’s terra-cotta and glass facade is transferred to a pair of giant concrete bathtubs and pumped to the cooling towers above. One striking aspect of One Vanderbilt’s design is its storm water reclamation system. SL Green spent $220 million on transit improvements near the building, partly because of the company’s belief in putting “density where density belongs,” said Mr. One Vanderbilt presented the company with a rare opportunity: blank, prime real estate in the heart of Manhattan, with a flood of natural light (meaning less need for electric lights) thanks to neighboring Grand Central - a low-rise, landmark building - and the fact that 42nd Street to its south is a hefty five lanes wide.īeing just steps from the country’s second-busiest train station added to the sense of opportunity. “Our stock in trade for many years was taking older buildings, redeveloping them and making them energy efficient,” said Marc Holliday, SL Green’s chief executive. SL Green is New York’s largest commercial landlord, with icons like the Lipstick Building and 11 Madison (the former Metropolitan Life North Building) in its trophy case. ![]() Yet because of the rapidly evolving energy-policy landscape, driven by increasing global concern over climate change, even the most ambitious attempts at sustainability often find themselves facing the possibility of retrofitting the moment the elevator doors open. The structure features several design elements, some exorbitantly expensive, to minimize energy use, such as high ceilings to let in more natural light. One Vanderbilt, according to its owner, is designed to be more energy-efficient than most new buildings. After losing its heat, the water is sent back downward to cool off machinery dozens of floors below. Like almost everything in One Vanderbilt, the process isn’t wasted. On the roof, 1,300 feet above midtown, cooling towers the size of a Brooklyn brownstone evaporate warm water pumped a quarter-mile skyward, discharging a haze similar to that of a football player removing his helmet in February. The skyscraper’s underground plaza is an integral part of East Side Access, merging with the decades-in-the-making nexus of connections between Long Island Rail Road and Grand Central Terminal, which finally opened last month.īut the building’s flashiest components lie hidden from public view. Since then, One Vanderbilt has garnered its share of acclaim, thanks to a popular viewing platform and the transformation of a congested block of Vanderbilt Avenue at the foot of the building into a car-free pedestrian plaza. At the time, the pandemic was raging and few were in the mood to celebrate a new office tower. Given its marquee location and remarkable ambitions, it opened in late 2020 to less fanfare than one would imagine. The building, which has 73 floors, plus an area on top with bars and observation decks, was 20 years in the making and sits just west of Grand Central Terminal. Kathy Hochul abandoned plans to build an AirTrain to the site. La Guardia Airport: New York transportation authorities appear poised to improve bus service to the airport after Gov.The Return of ‘Train Daddy’: Andy Byford, who won the nickname and praises for his work as president of New York City Transit, will run Amtrak’s new high-speed rail development program.Plan B for Penn Station : With the initial plan to renovate the train station all but dead, a new proposal has emerged that calls for the construction of a rectangular glass station around Madison Square Garden.Improving the M.T.A.: As the city’s transit system remains mired in a crisis of decreased ridership and shaky finances, experts offer five ideas for addressing the problems.
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