AVENUE OF THE AMERICAS ASSOCIATION ANNOUNCES
2009 GREEN STREET AWARDS

Environmental Awards Promote Energy Savings and Sustainability Programs

The Ave. of the Americas Association recently announced the winners of its 2009 Green Street Awards at its 83rd Anniversary Dinner Dance at the Hilton New York. “The Green Street Awards Program was launched this year to recognize building owners and tenants along the Sixth Avenue corridor who have successfully completed environmental sustainability projects, “said Andrew Gottesman, Chairperson of the Association and Principal of The Hippodrome Building. “This initiative enables our members to share their success stories and help make our midtown neighborhood as green as possible.”
		Mark Windt, chairperson of the Green Street Awards Committee, (left) presents the award to Andy Toland (right) of 1211 Ave. of the Americas.

• Certification/Achievements for Buildings over 1 million Square Feet – 1211 Avenue of the Americas. This building, which is owned by an affiliate Beacon Capital Partners LLC, was recognized for its LEED-EB Silver certification and an Energy Star Rating of 75.

• Energy Efficiency/Sustainability Projects for Buildings over 1 million Square Feet –Hilton New York. The 1,980-room Hilton New York was honored for its installation of a 200 KW fuel cell, as well as a wireless digital guestroom thermostat system with occupancy setback features and front end monitoring that helped decrease run time by nine percent. The hotel also has interfacing meeting space event schedules with the building’s BMS for an estimated annual savings of $100,000.

• Energy Efficiency / Sustainability Projects for Buildings under 1 million Square Feet – The Hippodrome Building. The Hippodrome was recognized for its installation of variable frequency drives on four existing cooling towers for an annual savings of $78,000 and for retrofitting170 offices with energy efficient lighting.

• Tenant Office Space Category - Paul Weiss Rifkind & Wharton. This law firm was honored of initiating a firm wide “Green Initiative Earth Day” annual event, retrofitting lighting throughout its entire tenant area thereby reducing energy use for lighting by nearly 70 percent, recycling of at least 90 percent of discarded mixed office paper and assuring that at least 90 percent of all types of paper have at least 95 percent post-consumer recycled content. The firm’s cafeteria also replaced Styrofoam and introduced eco-friendly disposable cups, plates and silverware. NBC Universal and 1285 Ave. of the Americas also received certificates of recognition for their energy efficiency and certification achievements.

“As the largest hotel in New York City and situated on one of the busiest thoroughfares in midtown Manhattan, we want to play an active role in improving the quality of the neighborhood in and around Avenue of the Americas by doing our part with our sustainable initiatives, such as the energy fuel cell,” said Conrad Wangeman, General Manager, Hilton New York. “We are honored that the Association provided with us this prestigious award in recognition of our energy fuel cell and the important role it plays in producing clean and efficient fuel for the hotel, in keeping with our commitment to continue to pursue environmentally sustainable best practices for the benefit of our associates and our community,” he added.

"Paul, Weiss is honored to accept the inaugural Avenue of the Americas Association “Green Streets” award for our commitment as an environmentally responsible tenant," said Eric J. Sekler, executive director of Paul, Weiss. "Carrying on with the initiative with the support of our partners, we have made a major and ongoing commitment through our Green Initiative program to reduce the firm’s environmental impact by adopting environmentally sustainable programs and improvements in the workplace," Mr. Sekler continued.

Applications for the 2010 Green Street Award program will be available in May 2010.

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