Roosevelt Landings

Roosevelt Landings: Improving tenant comfort and energy costs through clean energy financing

Join the New York City Energy Efficiency Corporation (NYCEEC) andthe Building Energy Exchange (BEEx) for this discussion of one of the largest clean energy retrofits in New York City. Having already achieved moderate cost savings through NYSERDA’s Multifamily Performance Program, the owners of Roosevelt Landings, Urban American, wanted to push forward with a deeper retrofit and resiliency project to further modernize the complex. These holistic efforts included envelope upgrades, smart controls and equipment, and the introduction of a CHP plant. Roosevelt Landings offers multiple lessons for the many large multifamily rental buildings in New York City burdened with electric-resistant heat and aging building systems.

As a prime example of the type of retrofits encouraged and supported by the NYC Retrofit Accelerator, representatives of this unique NYC program will be on hand to discuss how their resources can help your building advance energy efficiency.

How did the team prioritize their efforts?  What unexpected hurdles were overcome?  Which technologies were implemented?  How was the financing structured?

Learn more on June 28th from a comprehensive set of perspectives:

• Urban American (building owner)
• Urban Greenfit (project developer)
• EVCO Mechanical (engineering firm)
• NYCEEC (specialty finance lender)

SPEAKERS:
Joshua Eisenberg, Executive Vice President at Urban American
David Davenport, Managing Principal at Urban Greenfit
Stephen Samouhos, Vice President at EVCO Mechanical
Fred Lee, Director and Vice President at NYCEEC

ABOUT THE PROJECT:
In 2014, Roosevelt Landings, owned by Urban American, completed one of the largest clean energy retrofits in New York City, a $7.4 million energy efficiency and cogeneration project.

Roosevelt Landings is a 1,003-unit, mixed-income residential development built in 1969. The project included whole-building air sealing, smart controls, high-efficiency boilers and a 300kwH combined heat and power plant with black-start capability—all designed to save energy,  increase resident comfort, and provide greater resilience.

Working together with NYCEEC, the project developer Urban Greenfit structured an innovative financing structure—not typically used in multifamily buildings—that unlocked tremendous energy efficiency potential for Roosevelt Landings. An energy services agreement (ESA) to fund the efficiency measures was combined with a power purchase agreement (PPA) for the cogeneration.

EVCO Mechanical was the engineering firm that installed and services the cogeneration system and water heaters.  EVCO also worked together with Urban Greenfit and NYCEEC to calculate the energy savings projections used to underwrite the combined ESA/PPA financing structure.

The results are in.  To date, it has generated cumulative energy savings of 24%—exceeding
projections.  And the actual energy cost savings over the first full year of operation was 124% of the projected amount.  The project has been a success: outperforming expectations, increasing property value and improving tenant comfort.