MRH Penn South
New York City
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MRH Penn South
321 8th Ave, New York, NY
10 Buildings
22 Stories
2,820 Total affordable units
172,000 Total sq ft.
- Bernheimer Architecture
- Gut Rehabilitation
- EDS Award: $150,000
Key Scope Items Studied:
- Exploration of recladding and energy use reduction in existing buildings
- Study campus wide decarbonization strategy
- Evaluate feasibility of grid reconnection
- Evaluate campus capacity for renewables such as solar photovoltaic (PV) and geothermal systems
Project Description
On May 19, 1962, President John F. Kennedy dedicated the opening of a new, limited-equity cooperative housing development, at that time called Penn Station South, just southwest of New York’s Penn Station in the neighborhood of Chelsea, Manhattan. Operated by the Mutual Redevelopment Houses, Inc.'s (MRH), the Penn South project is an opportunity for the gut rehabilitation strategy of a ten-building campus encompassing 2,820 affordable residential units throughout the whole cooperative. Penn South was the first of its kind to incorporate an on-site cogeneration (cogen) plant which provides all of the energy needs for the entire campus. MRHs ongoing commitment to operational self-sufficiency and environmentalism has, ironically, placed them in a difficult position in light of the City’s most recent decarbonization initiatives that requires covered buildings of over 25,000 square feet to comply with increasingly stringent emissions intensity thresholds. The team will start by evaluating a single-core study building spanning 172,000 square feet with 186 low-income residential units. Establishing a comprehensive, scalable, and future-proof decarbonization plan for Penn South and other similarly positioned co-ops.
Design Team Lead
Bernheimer Architecture 
Project Team
Developer: Mutual Redevelopment Houses, Inc. (MRH)
Early Design Support Project Scope
Funded Early Design Support studies for the MRH Penn South project includes a one building case study investigation to inform the campus decarbonization strategy including the exploration of recladding and energy use reduction in existing buildings. The building is currently disconnected from the grid and generating its own power utilizing an on-site cogeneration plant utilizing natural gas and fuel oil that the team will evaluate for feasibility of grid reconnection after the evaluation of the campus capacity for renewables such as solar photovoltaic and geothermal systems. Additionally, the team will study and employ a campus wide decarbonization strategy utilizing a cohort-based approach prioritizing shared resources and strategies to ease the burden of decarbonization.
The Buildings of Excellence Early Design Support Program
Buildings of Excellence Early Design Support (EDS) Partners are qualified design firms that are elevating new design approaches for a zero emission future in New York’s multifamily buildings that prioritize occupant health, safety, and comfort. Partners are eligible to receive up to $1.50/square foot in direct funding per project, up to a cap of $150,000 per project, to complete carbon neutral research, modeling, early-stage applications for third party standards, economic analyses, integrated project delivery meetings, and more robust marketing and promotion plans to disseminate information out to the market.