The New York State Energy and Research Development Authority (NYSERDA) recently announced it has made available $1 million to large real-estate portfolio owners for support with developing energy performance standards and institutional mechanisms to enable the design, construction, and operation of net-zero buildings across their statewide portfolios.

Net-zero energy buildings consume no more energy, on an annual basis, than they produce onsite through renewable-energy technologies. The announcement supports Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s goal to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions in New York by 40 percent by 2030.

Those eligible for the funding include real-estate developers, colleges and universities, retailers, public-sector agencies, and other private, public, or nonprofit entities.

“As we move toward achieving Governor Cuomo’s energy goals, encouraging large private, public and non-profit entities to pursue net zero energy performance early in the design process is critically important to reducing greenhouse gas emissions from our building stock,” Alicia Barton, president and CEO of NYSERDA said in a release. “Lowering harmful emissions through net zero energy performance buildings results in cleaner communities and helps protect the environment – a win-win for all.”

This Net Zero Energy pilot program is part of NYSERDA’s approach to support the design and construction industry as it moves to net-zero energy and net-zero carbon construction, renovation, and operations. Designed to help developers embrace net-zero initiatives, the program will help support advanced high-performance building-development methods and technologies while creating a “group of leading institutions that publicly commit to adopting these cutting-edge practices,” the authority said. To spur net-zero energy performance across the state, NYSERDA, on a first-come first-served basis, will provide each approved applicant with a maximum amount of $250,000 toward technical guidance to be provided by a consultant with expertise in net-zero building design and construction. Approved applicants will also receive help with identifying other NYSERDA programs that can offer additional financial and technical assistance for the construction projects themselves. “Those businesses and institutions awarded funding will serve as an example for others to follow by demonstrating the technical feasibility and cost-effectiveness of net zero buildings,” according to the release.

Funding for this program is part of the state’s 10-year, $5.3 billion Clean Energy Fund. More information about this funding is available on NYSERDA’s website (www.nyserda.ny.gov). 

FORT DRUM — Its developer says crews built the new Candlewood Suites hotel at Fort Drum using cross-laminated timber (CLT).

Lendlease — a firm that specializes in project management, construction, real-estate investment and development — says the new hotel incorporates CLT for the hotel’s floors, roof, exterior walls, shaft walls and select interior walls. Made of several layers of pressed lumber board stacked in alternating directions, CLT “offers builders maximized strength and durability with added sustainability and conservation benefits,” per a news release on the Lendlease website.

CLT “is projected to achieve significant energy savings when compared to typical hotel buildings of the same size for the same climate,” as described in a previous company release about the groundbreaking.

The more than 65,000-square-foot structure includes 99 all-suite rooms. The 13-person Lendlease crew utilized more than 1,700 pieces of mass timber and 200,000 pieces of hardware to construct the building. Eight of the crew members who worked on the Fort Drum project were local veterans referred to the project through Fort Drum’s Soldiers for Life program, Lendlease said.

“Lendlease embraces and prioritizes innovation and utilizing CLT allows us to execute on our vision to create the best places while providing a sustainable outcome for our Army partner,” Claire Johnston, managing director of Lendlease’s Communities business, said in the release. “The use of CLT and other integrated methodologies has made it possible to ‘do more with less’ by constructing projects faster, with less labor and safer than conventional materials and methods.”

Part of the Privatization of Army Lodging (PAL) program, Lendlease is the owner, developer, design-builder and asset manager for the Candlewood Suites on Fort Drum, and the “exclusive developer” for the U.S. Department of Defense’s only lodging privatization program. 

Lendlease wasn’t able to share the project cost, Lacey Purcell Jamison, an assistant marketing manager with Lendlease, said in an email response to a CNYBJ inquiry.

Lendlease is based in Sydney, Australia with U.S. headquarters in New York City, according to its website. Lendlease employs about 13,000 people worldwide.

“The Candlewood Suites on Fort Drum is an excellent addition to the IHG Army Hotels portfolio and another great example of the success of privatization. We are very proud to support Fort Drum’s mission and deliver IHG’s signature hospitality and amenities to travelers with the Department of Defense,” Chuck Sourbeer, head of operations, IHG Army Hotels, said.

IHG — short for InterContinental Hotels Group — is the hotel operator and manager of IHG Army Hotels, which are located on 40 U.S. Army installations. IHG is headquartered in the United Kingdom and has a U.S. office in Atlanta, Georgia, its website says.

The New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) recently announced funding of nearly $300,000 for the Eastern Finger Lakes Cover Crop Initiative. 

The program, which is being funded through the state’s Environmental Protection Fund, will help farmers use cover crops to reduce erosion and protect water quality in and around Cayuga, Owasco, Skaneateles, and Otisco Lakes. New York State Soil and Water Conservation Districts will work with farms in Seneca, Tompkins, Cayuga, Onondaga, and Cortland counties to implement cover-crop projects, according to a news release from the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets and the DEC. 

“This project assists our farmers in the eastern Finger Lakes area who are committed to environmental stewardship of the land and to protecting our valuable resources. Cover crops are an excellent way to protect the watershed and benefit farmers by enriching and improving the soil,” Agriculture and Markets Commissioner Richard A. Ball said in the release. “We are pleased to be working in partnership with the DEC and our Soil and Water Conservation Districts, who will provide the technical assistance to landowners on this initiative.”

This year, $285,000 will be used to promote the use of cover crops in the eastern Finger Lakes, including $180,000 to help farmers plant the crops and $105,000 to help offset the costs of specialized equipment used for planting, the release stated. 

Common cover crops in New York state include rye, oats, wheat, radishes, peas, clover, and sunflowers. The crops, which are typically planted in late fall following the harvest of traditional plantings, improve soil health for the spring, the state says. Cover crops also help reduce erosion and runoff, absorb excess nutrients, filter surface water and ground water, add organic matter to soil, reduce weeds, combat pests, and sequester carbon-dioxide emissions in the soil.

Soil and Water Conservation Districts from Seneca, Tompkins, Cayuga, Onondaga, and Cortland counties will use the state’s Agricultural Environmental Management (AEM) framework to plan, implement, and evaluate projects. Funding will be made available to farms to incorporate cover cropping into their annual cash-crop planting systems. 

Farmers who are interested in learning more about cover-crop implementation can contact a local county Soil and Water Conservation District at https://www.nys-soilandwater.org/contacts/county_offices.html.

The initiative began in January 2018, and 541 acres of cover crops have been planted so far. The crops are marked with new signs designating them a part of the Eastern Finger Lakes Cover Crop Initiative.

State Department of Health Commissioner Dr. Howard Zucker said, “We all have a responsibility to do our part to protect water quality for the benefit of public health. Our agricultural partners are on the frontlines of land stewardship and safeguarding our natural resources that impact the water we receive at the tap. We encourage farmers in the Finger Lakes region to take advantage of the Cover Crop Initiative to aid New York’s drinking water quality efforts and enhance their overall operations.” 

The Eastern Finger Lakes Cover Crop Initiative builds on the state’s efforts to safeguard natural resources, the release said. The state has been working with Soil and Water Conservation Districts as well as Cornell Cooperative Extension to build and expand “farmer-led soil health coalitions” and promote policy changes to improve the health of the state’s land and water. 

The State’s Agricultural Nonpoint Source and Abatement Control Grant Program and its Climate Resilient Farming Program also promote the use of cover crops on farms. Since 2010, these programs have funded
$3.3 million for 268 landowners who contributed $1.7 million in cost-sharing funds for cover crops across more than 36,000 acres of New York state farmland, per the release.       

DeWITT — Scherzi Photography recently sold the property at 5818 East Molloy Road in the town of DeWitt to James Piao.

Lee Salvetti of Cushman & Wakefield/Pyramid Brokerage Company represented the buyer and JWP Commercial represented the seller in this sale transaction, according to a Cushman & Wakefield/Pyramid Brokerage news release.

The transaction closed on Sept. 12 at a price of $400,000, according to Onondaga County online property records. It’s a 0.85 acre property with a 9,600-square-foot building, and the new owner is listed as ICT-Foundation For Rapid Production, LLC. The property, located in the East Syracuse–Minoa School District, is assessed at $398,200 for 2018. 

GEDDES — Harborbrook Apartments, which provides 60 affordable homes for people aged 55 and older, has opened on property adjacent to the Centers at St. Camillus in Geddes.

Syracuse–based Christopher Community, Inc. developed the $12.6 million affordable-housing development, New York State Homes and Community Renewal (HCR) said in a news release. 

Christopher Community is a nonprofit development and management company specializing in housing for seniors, families, and the disabled in upstate New York.

The development will provide support services for seniors or residents at risk of homelessness in 20 of the apartments, which is funded through the state’s Empire State Supportive Housing Initiative, per the release.

HCR provided a $2.8 million loan through the supportive housing opportunities program and a $912,000 loan through the middle-income housing program. Awards of federal and state low-income housing tax credits generated about $9 million for the project, and the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority provided a grant of $56,000.

“The need for this type of supportive housing project was evident from the response by all who were involved,” Kelly Besaw, VP for property development at Christopher Community, Inc., said in the release. “This was the best form of collaboration. Everyone from St. Camillus, our service partner, to the Town of Geddes, the municipality and the funders from New York State Homes and Community Renewal and [New York State] Department of Health could see the vision for this project from day one and were nothing but supportive. Christopher Community has always been an expert in developing and managing senior housing. This project takes it to the next level. We created something truly special and developed a supportive housing and aging in place model that we hope to replicate in other areas of Upstate New York. The ability to live independently is something that no one wants to let go of.”

The state’s investment in Harborbrook Apartments complements CNY Rising, the region’s economic-development blueprint, by increasing access to affordable housing that provides supportive services to help residents live independently in their community.

Since 2011, HCR has invested $190 million in Central New York that has created or preserved affordable housing for about 7,700 residents.

“Harborbrook Apartments and The Centers at St. Camillus Campus are providing our seniors and other vulnerable neighbors with an affordable home and the support services they need to live in the community they love while avoiding costly nursing home and hospital care. When we expand opportunities for safe, secure homes for all New Yorkers, we strengthen our economy and keep Central New York rising,” RuthAnne Visnauskas, commissioner of New York State Homes and Community Renewal, said in the release. 

About the project

Harborbrook Apartments was designed using an “aging in place” model that provides “accessible, affordable housing to help individuals remain independent at home, rather than residing in nursing homes or hospitals,” per the HCR release. 

The development features a “centrally located” elevator, handrails on both sides of hallways, roll-in showers and grab bars, “easily” adjustable/removable cabinetry in kitchens and bathrooms, wide doorways and hallways, non-slip surfaces, lever handles, and no-step entryways. 

Amenities include a community room, “Energy Star” air conditioning and laundry facilities, a dishwasher in each apartment, computer lab, and outdoor patio and garden space.