Gov. Hochul awards $20 million to make tall buildings across New York more sustainable

Empire State Realty Trust, Hines, L+M Development Partners, and Omni New York will receive up to $5 million each to advance sustainable retrofit solutions for high-rise buildings. 

Governor Kathy Hochul announced the $20 million investment on January 12. The four projects include Empire State Building, 345 Hudson Street, the Heritage buildings, and the affordable multifamily housing development, Whitney Young Manor. 

The funding will go towards making the high-rise buildings more climate-friendly by reducing their carbon dioxide emissions. The project aims to help New York City achieve the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act goal of making the city carbon neutral by 2050.

The four partners involved in this program collectively own and manage over 37 million square feet of New York real estate. The retrofit project will set an example for decarbonizing buildings across the state and country.  

"As we pursue our nation-leading climate goals, it's imperative we explore innovative ways to transform our buildings into models for a sustainable urban future," Governor Hochul said in the press release of the project. 

Empire State Realty Trust has promised to make the necessary improvements and achieve carbon neutrality across their 14-commercial office building portfolio by 2035, including the Empire State Building. Hudson Square Partnership will complete floor-by-floor retrofits of office buildings to decarbonize them. 

L&M has committed to modernizing 600 affordable housing units and making them more sustainable through façade upgrades. Finally, Omni New York will use the $5 million funding to retrofit an affordable multifamily property, Whitney Young Manor. The building will receive improved insulation and two new centralized heat pump systems to provide residents with heating, cooling, and domestic hot water.

Resources:

“Governor Hochul Announces $20 Million Awarded to Advance Climate-Friendly High-Rise Building Retrofits in New York State,” (New York State, 2022)