The New York Times had a write-up yesterday about a new “green” development project in Battery Park City:
Riverhouse, a 31-story condominium rising at the northern end of Battery Park City, has photovoltaic cells on the roof to convert sunlight into electricity, twice-filtered air in its apartments and its own $1 million wastewater treatment plant in the basement. In fact, this building, whose address is One Rockefeller Park, is so “green” that even its corner bakery is organic.
Great! Finally a way for people who care about the environment to really live the green experience:
The property’s developer, the Sheldrake Organization, wanted to continue the environmental theme and also enable those who would spend $800,000 to $4 million for a unit in the building to satisfy a taste for indulgence. The solution was to woo Maury Rubin, owner of City Bakery, to open a store on the ground floor of Riverhouse as well as a residents-only cafe off the building’s gymnasium.
That’s right, for the bargain basement price of $800,000 to $4 million, you too can live in a high rise where everything is solar powered, the air is twice filtered, the bagels are organic, and there’s a residents-only café to keep the riff raff out. Oh, and also a bicycle storage room, since environmentally friendly people use good old fashioned human exertion to power their morally superior conveyances.
What? Really? You can’t afford an $800,000 to $4,000,000 condo? Huh. You must hate the environment.
--Brooke Oberwetter
