2050 Grand Concourse Tops Off, Bringing More Sustainable, Supportive Housing to the Bronx
New York, NY | On January 11, 2021, Unique People Services, Inc. (UPS) topped off 2050 Grand Concourse, a New York State Buildings of Excellence award winning development. The 13-story, 86,063 square foot mixed-income building was one of the inaugural awardees.
Topping off is a construction milestone traditionally held when the last beam is placed on the structure. This milestone indicates the building is close to completion. 2050 Grand Concourse anticipates welcoming residents in early 2022.
Located in the Mt. Hope-Fordham-Tremont community of the Bronx, 2050 Grand Concourse’s 96 apartments will serve low and moderate-income households as well as provide single adult supportive housing apartment units.
As a LEED Platinum, sustainable development, 2050 Grand Concourse will provide apartments for low-income households being priced out of the area, bring higher-earning families into the area, and leverage the spending power of 50 UPS employees to invigorate local businesses. The gateway project will also offer access to free WiFi and multi-use event space within UPS’s community facility, thus activating a vacant segment of an otherwise vibrant commercial corridor.
The sustainable design strategies will also demonstrate a focus on health and wellness by lowering the building’s carbon footprint, immediately having a positive impact on air quality, and reducing energy bills for residents. Bright Power is designing and installing sustainable design features such as 50 kilowatts of solar photovoltaic. Additional sustainability features include electric heat pumps for both heating and cooling and a green roof.
UPS will use the Buildings of Excellence award to implement Bright Power’s MoBIUS®. This will help UPS operate the building more efficiently by providing continuous technical support to the new operators and ongoing real time monitoring to ensure the systems operate as designed. Once occupied, Bright Power’s MoBIUS team will help adjust settings and controls based on how the residents use the spaces while maintaining the building’s low carbon emissions levels.
The Buildings of Excellence Competition, administered by The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), recognizes and supports the design, construction and operation of low-carbon emitting multifamily buildings in New York. It supports Governor Cuomo’s Green New Deal, the most aggressive climate change program in the nation, which puts New York State on a path to economy-wide carbon neutrality and mandates an 85 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. The competition was launched in March 2019 with $18 million awarded to 28 projects under the first round.
“Unique People Services is excited about the partnerships we have created for our 2050 Grand Concourse project,” stated Unique People Services’ Executive Director, Yvette Brissett-Andre. “Working with partners such as Bright Power enables us to incorporate several innovative strategies that promote whole building environmental well-being and quality of life for residents. Bright Power’s MoBIUS is an excellent complement to our project,” Brissett-Andre concludes.
“Unique People Services is not only providing much-needed, quality housing and supportive services in the Bronx, but they also are creating a blueprint for a sustainable, smart building,” said Bright Power’s Executive Vice President, New York, Andrea Mancino, “Not only will 2050 Grand Concourse serve as a beautiful home and asset to the community, but it also will help New York meet its climate goals through sustainable, high performance design.”
“Through our MoBIUS services, Unique People Services will have a consistently high performing building when they welcome residents to 2050 Grand Concourse,” stated Samantha Pearce, Director of Energy Management Services for Bright Power, “Our team will help UPS stabilize energy costs long term and provide technical support from our energy engineers. Unique People Services will be able to focus on what they do best: providing exceptional services and homes for some of New York’s most vulnerable people.”
Projects partners include:
- Robert Sanborn Development
- Magnusson Architecture and Planning (MAP)
- Bruno Frustaci Contracting
- Olive Branch Consulting
- Bright Power
- NYS Home and Community Renewal
- Supportive Housing Opportunity Program
- Bank of America
- The Richman Group
- Local Initiatives Support Corporation
- The Corporation of Supportive Housing
- NYSERDA
- Homeless Housing & Assistance Program administered by OTDA
- Human Resource Administration
- Office of Mental Health
About Bright Power
Bright Power provides strategic energy and water solutions to building owners and operators across the nation. Specializing in multifamily apartment buildings, Bright Power has worked with almost 100,000 buildings that cover 1.9 billion square feet. Bright Power’s energy management solutions include EnergyScoreCards benchmarking software, MoBIUS® real-time energy management, energy audits, energy procurement, on-site generation, green building design services, turnkey installation of energy improvements and ongoing energy management. For more information, please visit www.brightpower.com.