The new solar system at green Bronx building Via Verde has been officially switched on.
The 66-kilowatt, building integrated photo voltaic system will provide enough power to offset a big chunk of common area electricity charges, including elevators and lighting, according to Bright Power, that firm that installed the system.
“The final solar panel has been put in place and the system is now fully operational,” said Andrew McNamara, vice president of new construction at Bright Power.
“The 300,000 s/f building’s step-like design, with levels rising above one another, created more vertical space for solar panels and allowed for the energy saving system to be fully integrated in the building’s design. The results are not only efficient, but quite beautiful.”
Developed by Jonathan Rose Companies and Phipps Houses, and designed by Dattner Architects and Grimshaw, Via Verde, located at 700-704 Brook Avenue, is a 222-unit affordable housing development offering a mix of rental units and co-operative apartments.
After an initial lottery supervised by The New York City Housing Development Corporation (HDC) resulted in all the rentals and half the co-ops being spoken for, Via Verde’s developers have opened up sales of the remaining 35 two-bedroom co-ops to income-qualified buyers in the general public.
The remaining co-ops are priced at $146,000.
