Condo of the Day: 515 5th Avenue

walked by this yesterday. really like the building and this area of park slope.

to those that think park slope is not diverse and filled with strollers, check out this section of its southernmost border.

5th avenue around here still has a lot of the old hold-out businesses from decades past plus a scattering of newer ones.

park slope is one of the most eco-friendly neighborhoods around. stuff like this is an easy sell there.

even in my brownstone co-op in northern park slope, we talk each annual meeting about how we can continue to each year implement something "green" in our 100 plus year old building.

Posted by: guest at December 3, 2007 12:56 PM

"$1.2 million for a 1,100-square-foot three-bedroom"

OVER $1000/sf? Not going to happen.

Posted by: guest at December 3, 2007 1:02 PM

didn't we already decide this is pretty far from green? putting in floro lights in the common areas and energy star appliances in the apartments and a few other tweaks worth a brochure is hardly "going green".

It might salve the lingering guilt from watching inconvenient truth, but don't be kidding anyone that you're making that much difference to your personal carbon footprint.

Posted by: guest at December 3, 2007 1:04 PM

the $1.2 mill place has an equal size terrace. You can see it in the photo...

The top 3 floors have a nice view of the manhattan skyline...

The lower floor 3BR sold for 750 to 870, so, you are really just paying for the view or the view and the terrace

Posted by: guest at December 3, 2007 1:08 PM

I believe it will happen.

This building is special.

Posted by: guest at December 3, 2007 1:09 PM

Please , somebody tell what these people are smoking (seller AND buyers)! I understand you pay a premium for eco friendly stuff (just like when you go to the supermarket...) but $1,000/sf?? Do people even realize where this place is? I give up...

Posted by: guest at December 3, 2007 1:11 PM

I didn't find the ceiling height for this project. Does anyone know? And also, is it concrete floors and ceilings (thickness?) or wood beams and planks?

Posted by: guest at December 3, 2007 1:14 PM

$1.2 MM for an apartment with a 10x14 "master" bedroom and no place to put a dining table? NUTS!

Posted by: guest at December 3, 2007 1:14 PM

Dear Jaded at 1:04:

With typical construction materials, indoor air quality is considered to be 10 times more polluted than the outdoor environment. In order to provide cleaner indoor air, the developers of 515 have chosen materials manufactured with water-based adhesives and low VOC formulas wherever possible. These materials include:

Bamboo flooring and upper kitchen cabinets - contains no VOC's

Aiko kitchen cabinets by B&B Italia - made with low-emission resins and glues and no-emission varnishes

Benjamin Moore Eco-Spec paint - contains no VOC's

Fireslate countertops - contains no VOC's

Whenever possible, the developers have selected products manufactured using "green" practices. "Greener" products and practices include:

Green planted roof - 515's green roof is lush and functional. When heavy rain hits New York, the city's sewage system can become overloaded with storm run-off, and raw sewage overflows into our surrounding waters. The green roof helps slow storm water drainage, and also reduces "heat island" effects in summer.

Energy credits - The developers will purchase renewable energy credits to offset electrical usage in common spaces for one year.

Bamboo flooring and cabinets - Bamboo is a fast-growing renewable resource harvested from managed forests.

Linoleum tile flooring - This material is made from cork powder, primarily a scrap from other manufacturing processes, and does not contain PVC's as found in vinyl tile products.

Fireslate countertops - Made using 15% recycled materials, Fireslate recycles over 50% of its manufacturing waste.

Toto WC - Toto is an award winning manufacturer of plumbing products that recycles 100% of its manufacturing waste. Toto also leads the industry in developing fixtures that conserve water.

Bosch Energy-Star rated dishwasher

Fisher Paykel refrigerator - This refrigerator features "Active Smart" refrigeration system which saves 40% of the energy used in previous models and uses no ozone-depleting chemicals.

Solar - power exterior lights

It's certainly a good start!

Posted by: guest at December 3, 2007 1:22 PM

i want the salvation army back.

Posted by: guest at December 3, 2007 1:27 PM

A bit short on closets and storage, don;t ya think?

Posted by: guest at December 3, 2007 1:30 PM

I love how the website promo photos of this "green" building include a display of about 30 bottles of pellegrino. I though bottled over filtered tap was the latest no-no for those who think they are saving the earth.

Posted by: guest at December 3, 2007 1:34 PM

I would like to know what else is "GREEN!" about this building.

Is it super-insulated both to the outdoors and between apartments?
Was it designed and construction managed to avoid heat bridging the interior spaces to the outer skin?
Sound attenuation spec’ing and carry through in construction, both for outdoor and indoor noise?
Are the windows properly engineered and scaled? Triple pane? Etc.? Are the frames insulated or are they heat bridges?

Recycled materials used?
Fly ash in the concrete?
Properly managed construction, construction site, and off-site prefab facility practices leading to efficiency, waste reduction and recycled materials?

Gray water handling? Black water handling?

Solar orientation…is it well thought out? I see no way to shade windows (louvered panels or overhangs). Will east and west windows lead to overheating in spring/summer/fall? Is winter sun maximized?

Solar hot water?
Is heating run off methane, oil?
Ground source heat pump?
Heat exchanger air handlers?
Heat recouping from waste water?
Centralized heating plant with high efficiency?

WHAT IS the estimated kilowatthours/annual square meter on this project? Only by comparing this to standards would allow us to determine its “greenness”.

And a word on bamboo flooring:

They are not necessarily "environmentally friendly". There are a lot of issues at play with this material: labor conditions, massive water use (freshly cut bamboo must be rinsed in flowing water for a long, long time to remove carbohydrates), adhesives and coatings, underlying substrate if it is a layer of bamboo glued to wood or engineered wood, shipping from the other side of the planet. Hardwoods from the Northeast require less invested energy and support local/regional businesses and jobs. The Northeast has relatively well-managed forestry.

Heat exchangers?

Solar orientation?

Solar hot water?

Ground source heat pump?

Centralized heating plant with high effiency?

Is heating run off methane or oil?

A word on bamboo floors...

They are not necessarily "environmentally friendly". There are a lot of issues at play with this material: labor conditions, massive water use (freshly cut bamboo must be rinsed in flowing water for a long, long time to remove carbohydrates), adhesives and coatings, underlying substrate if it is a layer of bamboo glued to wood or engineered wood, shipping from the other side of the planet. Hardwoods from the Northeast require less invested energy and support local/regional businesses and jobs. The Northeast has relatively well-managed forestry.

Posted by: guest at December 3, 2007 1:54 PM

z,
very funny!

Posted by: guest at December 3, 2007 1:55 PM

Good points, 1:54! Also, is the building "off the grid"?

I think it should be powered off the grid, self-sustaining with sustenance crops grown on the roof and a private water source, and equipped with defense systems to repel ravenous mobs when the peak oil crash hits and the electrical and heating systems shut down in NYC.

I would pay 1000/sf for that.

Posted by: guest at December 3, 2007 2:21 PM

2:21,
Funny
Sincerely,
1:54

Posted by: guest at December 3, 2007 2:36 PM

From the looks of the web site plans the units are very spacious. Compared with the 4th Avenue crap on the market, these apartments are downright huge. Including the outdoor space, not a bad price for what you get. Do they have that tax abatement thing as well?

Posted by: guest at December 3, 2007 2:44 PM

way too high psf price. it's just not deeper than that.

Posted by: guest at December 3, 2007 2:49 PM

they are selling perfectly fine, 2:49 so i'd say you are wrong.

Posted by: guest at December 3, 2007 2:56 PM

Not that I disagree with anything in the post necessarily, but transparency/ethics would dictate disclosing that 515 is (or at least was recently) a Brownstoner advertiser.

Posted by: guest at December 3, 2007 3:27 PM

2:56 - the fact that the remaining higher-priced units are unsold would say YOU are wrong.

Posted by: guest at December 3, 2007 3:40 PM

the remaining units were JUST RELEASED!

please stop commenting unless you actually have real, live information to bring to the table instead of uniformed negativity, 3:40.

Posted by: guest at December 3, 2007 3:48 PM

i like the uniformed negativity because it comes with tiny epaulets and knee-high boots.

Posted by: guest at December 3, 2007 3:55 PM

ha

Posted by: guest at December 3, 2007 4:00 PM

I am looking forward to the release of the upper floors. this is a well designed and built building;family friendly and convenient to eveything. It affords one the luxery of living in a building that at the very least has strived to enhance the owners air and quality of life.
Funny I found the ads and the logo quite enticing, most of aguayo's ads are far superior than the rest of the real estate clan in the slope.

Posted by: guest at December 3, 2007 5:43 PM

I saw the remaining units in August. They were released at that time... There are no new units "just released" here

Posted by: guest at December 3, 2007 6:20 PM

NO ONE HAD ANY THING TO SAY REGARDING THE SUPPOSED GREENESS (GREEDNESS?) OF THIS BUILDING.

I want to know if the big deal selling point that this place is "green" is just window dressing.

THANK YOU.

Posted by: guest at December 3, 2007 7:00 PM

Friends of ours just bought a whole house in the south slope for just over 1.3. True, it needs work, but it is a HOUSE, and it's also on a much better block since it's in PS107 and closer to the park. And, with the work they do, they can decide themselves what "green" features they will use, instead of trusting a developer who sanctions dressing a photo of the kitchen with all those pellegrino bottles! I happen to own a condo in the slope, so I have a vested interest in the property values, but I am also looking for a house and charging 1.2 for one of these apartments seems like another sign of this crazy market - now, THAT is what I call unsustainable...

Posted by: guest at December 3, 2007 10:19 PM

Friends of ours just bought a whole HOUSE in the South Slope (on a better block, PS 107 and closer to the park) for just over 1.3. A whole HOUSE! Yes, it needs work but they can then choose how "green" that work will be, instead of trusting a developer who sanctions dressing the kitchen with dozens of bottles of Pellegrino. Sorry, this market is nuts - now that's what I call unsustainable...

Posted by: guest at December 3, 2007 10:33 PM

I have a question for the haters: have any of you ever actually had to sell quality design (be it 'green' or paying a few more dollars per sf for the facade) to a client?

I don't think that there are any award winning architects on this blog commenting about how the building isn't as green as THEY would have made it, or as contextually appropriate as THEY would have drawn it, or with as many #$% $#%$ closets as THEY would have put in it.

Stop complaining. If you don't like the building, go get your architectural license and a design better building. Because you're brilliant, every client will recognize your inherent brilliance and throw money at your design in the name of posterity and community.

Jerk.

Yes I'm talking to you. You know who you are.

Posted by: guest at December 3, 2007 10:41 PM

This whole thread stinks. If this was a Scarano job looking this OUT OF SCALE AND CONTEXT you would have been all over it. Mask it in green and everyone is OK. Bullshit. Learn how to be open minded and then you might have a real Blog. BTW the facade is about as uninteresting as any I have seen and looks like the G.C. designed it and not a professional.

Posted by: guest at December 3, 2007 10:42 PM

Our friends just bought a whole HOUSE in south slope for about 1.3million - a whole HOUSE! Yes, it needs work, but they can make it exactly as they wish, as green as they want, without trusting a developer who sanctions dressing the photo of the kitchen with all those Pellegrino bottles. This market is crazy - now that's unsustainable!

Posted by: guest at December 3, 2007 10:56 PM

Why don"t we also talk about the fact that they recieved numerous site safety and construction violations and yes the best part is that the architect is an engineer. Beware those who live in glass houses.

Posted by: guest at December 3, 2007 10:58 PM

I don't know of a single new construction project in new york without site safety and construction violations.

Posted by: guest at December 4, 2007 10:54 AM

Holy Pellegrino bottles, Batman! You could fill the back of an SUV.

Posted by: guest at December 4, 2007 1:13 PM

I love Pellegrino!!!

I don't see how drinking sparkling water equates to not caring about the environment.

Posted by: guest at December 4, 2007 3:38 PM