Hudson Square Properties

Nordic Design Principles Applied to New York Real Estate

Hudson Square Partnership is a joint venture with Hines, Trinity Church Wall Street, and Norges Bank Investment Management, that owns 12 buildings totaling 6 million square feet in the Hudson Square, Soho, West Village, and Tribeca districts.

The comprehensive retrofit of 345 Hudson Street takes advantage of tenant turnover from now to 2032 as an opportunity to upgrade the building’s infrastructure to new, carbon-efficient, energy cost-saving technology and completely decarbonize the 978,277 square foot property.

The floor-by-floor replacement of packaged terminal cooling units and steam heating with a comprehensive water source heat pump system significantly reduces heating and cooling needs by recycling heat from different spaces in the building. The water source heat pump system is accompanied by a new, highly efficient energy recovery ventilation system that minimizes energy waste.

Hudson Square Properties brought together a consortium of global solution providers and engineering expertise that took a solutions-based approach and adapted it to local market needs.

This project will demonstrate the power of thermal networking through an innovative approach by which heating and cooling is shared between tenants throughout the building and eventually between neighboring buildings. Heat will be stored by reusing defunct fire suppression tanks, which first reduces cost, but also allows heat pumps to operate more efficiently, matching heat delivery more closely with building operations.

Low Carbon Retrofit Measures Include:

• Floor-by-floor replacement of packaged terminal units with water source heat pumps to meet heating and cooling needs
• Dedicated outside air heat recovery system to provide optimal fresh air ventilation into building
• Use of existing fire protection rooftop water tanks for thermal storage
• Connection to adjacent building for sharing of waste heat/cooling when available

The Empire Building Challenge

The Empire Building Challenge (EBC) is a $50 million investment by New York State to demonstrate different pathways for achieving carbon neutrality in tall buildings. Through the establishment of a private-public partnership with leading real estate owners and their engineering experts, exciting approaches to cold climate decarbonization are being tested in the New York market. The EBC’s new Retrofit Playbook for Large Buildings includes step-by-step guidance and real-world case studies for decarbonizing and modernizing a range of building types. With the potential to replicate these solutions across real estate controlled by the first cohort of Empire Building Challenge partners and beyond, the impact of each project will accelerate New York’s progress toward the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act’s (Climate Act)  goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions 85% by 2050.