The owners of StuyTown, a rental apartment complex comprising Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village in New York City’s Manhattan borough, have announced plans to make the property home to the largest private multifamily residential rooftop solar project in the U.S.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Blackstone and Ivanhoé Cambridge, a real estate subsidiary of Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ), bought the complex two years ago and plan to invest over $10 million to install 3.8 MW-DC of solar on the buildings’ rooftops.
In a press release, the companies explain StuyTown consists of over 11,200 multifamily units in 56 buildings across 80 acres in Manhattan’s East Village. It houses more than 27,000 New Yorkers and represents 1.7% of Manhattan’s population.
The 3.8 MW-DC solar project will span across the property’s 22 acres of rooftops and, once finished, is expected to have tripled Manhattan’s capacity to generate solar power, according to the companies. New York-based Onyx Renewable Partners is developing the solar installation, which is slated to begin this winter and reach completion in 2019.
The companies say the installation will consist of 9,671 high-efficiency solar panels and generate enough energy to power over 1,000 New York City apartments annually.
“We are incredibly proud of the long-term partnership we are building with the StuyTown community,” comments Nadeem Meghji, head of real estate Americas at Blackstone. “In 2015, we made a commitment to preserve StuyTown’s unique heritage and be responsible stewards of its future. This innovative solar project is one of many initiatives we designed and implemented to make the community more sustainable and environmentally friendly.”
The companies say StuyTown is the first multifamily building in New York City to have received an ENERGY STAR certification, which it has won three years in a row for its energy management technologies. Other sustainable initiatives at the property have included the installation of LED lighting, high-efficiency hot water heat exchangers, elevator shaft louvers to minimize heat loss and domestic water flow control valves, as well as incorporating the use of a centralized building management system to control steam heating distribution and manage all of its sustainable initiatives, according to the companies.
StuyTown has already reduced on-site greenhouse gas emissions by 10% since 2007 and has now expanded into the solar sphere as part of its larger commitment to environmental sustainability. StuyTown Property Services (SPS), the complex’s property management company, will run the solar project.
“Working to make communities more sustainable underpins many of our business decisions. We are especially proud of this initiative and congratulate our partners Blackstone and the team at SPS. Stuyvesant Town-Peter Cooper Village is a very special place and continues to be a leader in New York City,” says Daniel Fournier, chairman and CEO of Ivanhoé Cambridge.
“When we acquired StuyTown in late 2015, we made sure to solicit feedback from the residents. We quickly learned of the strong connection with the community’s green space and the residents’ commitment to the environment,” says Rick Hayduk, CEO of SPS. “This solar project is yet another initiative executed by StuyTown’s ownership to reduce overall GHG emissions for the betterment of our city.”
To learn more about the project, visit stuytown.com/solar.
