Green Condos: Proving You Right or Wrong?

Is your opinion that spending time and money building sustainable, "green" condos is a risk that further compounds an already dangerous investment, or is it a perfect differentiation in a market of commodity that will lead your project to success?

Check out this video about one of the greenest residential buildings in NYC, The Visionaire, also previously featured on Inside the Brackets here and see what you think.


Video from McGraw-Hill

It should be pointed out that despite all of the 2008-2009 economic headwinds, The Visionaire sales team reports great results in this Bloomberg.com article by John Gittelsohn.

"Starwood is the majority investor in the Visionaire, a $300 million, 35-story apartment building that opened in October 2008. Apartments there have been selling at a pace of more than one per week, with six units closing in November, said Christopher Albanese, principal of the Albanese Organization that developed the project.
'In this market, selling more than one a week is
like hotcakes,' he said. Almost 60 percent of the Visionaire’s 250 apartments
have been sold, Albanese said."

Perhaps this is further evidence that well-designed, well-built, sustainable, and correctly priced units will vindicate a development strategy that may look riskier upfront because it is different from the norm. This is Albanese's third green residential tower in NYC, so clearly they believe they are onto something good.

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Andrew C. Wilson, AIA, LEED AP is a Principal at [1016] Architecture in Chicago and New York. Contact him to discuss sustainable, infill development opportunities in either of these cities.

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