New York City’s first all-electric skyscraper is nearing completion in Downtown Brooklyn, reports The New York Times. Known by its address, 505 State Street was designed by Alloy Development, a design and development studio which describes itself as dedicated to making Brooklyn “beautiful, sustainable, and equitable.”
Inside the building, electric energy will power all functions that would normally use gas. To make this possible, Alloy first found ways to make the building more efficient, then sourced the right equipment to provide the needed power. “It’s really not that complicated at the end of the day,” Jared Della Valle, chief executive officer of Alloy Development, told Fast Company. “The less you need air conditioning and the less you need heating, the less energy you’ll use overall, and therefore we can reduce the size of our systems and get them to a place, from an engineering perspective, where we can create enough hot water and enough energy to satisfy those demands.”
The monumental building not only offers a glimpse at a more sustainable future in the construction industry, but also serves as an example for new buildings in the city. This couldn’t come at a better time, as most new developments in New York will be required to use electric heating and appliances by 2026. The law was passed to combat climate change, because, according to the New York State Assembly, buildings in the state account for 32% of greenhouse gas emissions.
505 State Street will undoubtedly be a model for future developers working within the Big Apple and throughout the Empire State. Hopefully it can also inspire developers outside of New York who are not constrained by laws but are still looking to offer their communities more sustainable multifamily buildings. “We’re hoping that by leading by example, our industry peers will come along with us,” Della Valle told Yale Climate Connections.
The 44-story building has over 400 units and is set to open in April of this year. According to The New York Times, apartments start at $3,500 a month for a studio while three bedrooms start at $11,200. However, 45 units were set aside for affordable housing and attracted over 107,000 applicants, who entered a drawing for a unit. These homes range from $763 to $2,155 a month.
