The Beacon
New York County
Demonstrating Novel Heating and Cooling Systems in High-Rise Buildings
View Project Info View Project Info
The Beacon
21 Stories
274 Affordable units
263,183 Total sq ft.
- New Construction
- Anticipated Completion: 2027
- Total project cost: $234,685,630
- Total project cost per sq. ft.: $891.72
- Award: $1,000,000
- Phius CORE certification
- Enterprise Green Communities
- Disadvantaged Community Location
- Downtown Revitalization Initiative Location
- NYS DEC Potential Environmental Justice Area Location
Project Description
The Beacon is a 274-unit, residential high-rise building located in a designated disadvantaged community within East Harlem, which delivers Passive House performance at reduced capital and operating costs. The building will demonstrate how novel heating and cooling systems can lower system costs and total global warming potential, and how building controls, time of use rates, and resident engagement systems can lower lifetime operating costs associated with both building systems and resident behavior. Proposed by an experienced and innovative design, development, and contractor collaboration, this fully electrified, Passive House and carbon-neutral-ready project will build on existing best practices to showcase delivery of cost-effective, resilient, and healthy buildings to be replicated throughout New York State.
Project Status: Design Development
Market Sector: High-Rise Multifamily
Developed by: The Community Builders, Inc.(opens in new window) & Ascendant Neighborhood Development Corp. (opens in new window)
Designed by: Paul A. Castrucci, Architects PLLC (opens in new window)
Notable Technical Attributes
- Heating/cooling- packaged terminal heat pump (PTHP)
- Domestic hot water – air source heat pump (ASHP)
- Double pane windows
- Centralized energy recovery ventilation (ERV)
- Minimum efficiency reporting value (MERV) 13 filtration
- Onsite solar photovoltaic (PV) – solar PV capacity 168kW
- Domestic hot water controls – demand control sensors with leak detection monitoring in units and/or common areas with time-of-day controls
Resilience, Passive and Active Survivability
- Located above the estimated elevation of the 500-year flood
- First floor, building egress, and all critical building systems are elevated 4 feet above the sea level Rise-adjusted design flood elevation (DFE)
- Robust thermal envelope will allow residents to shelter in place during power outages
- Below grade detention tanks will offset flooding during stormwater events
- Storm water managed by permeable and planted surfaces
Site Features
- Interior bicycle storage for 137 bikes
- Within ¼ mile of a bus stop
- Within ½ mile of other mass transit
Efficient Housing Old and New: Densification Via New Construction and Retrofit
Discover how this adaptive reuse project is transforming a defunct school building into a mixed-use building.
The Buildings of Excellence Competition
The Buildings of Excellence (BOE) Competition is a $75 million competition that has distributed monetary awards over five rounds. Kicked off in early 2019, BOE recognizes and rewards the design, construction, and operation of resilience, climate-friendly multifamily buildings that are healthier for residents and their communities.
Designing and developing clean and resilient buildings that are good for both businesses and residents is at the core of this competition.
The honorees are visionary architects and developers who take the lead in achieving beautiful, zero-emission buildings that improve quality of life and inspire the industry to follow their example toward a climate-friendly future. Their projects are beneficial for the environment, highly profitable, and provide them a competitive edge in the marketplace.
Join the Competition
Explore additional BOE Competition winners to learn more about innovative approaches to designing and developing buildings in New York State.
See the Winners