sidbuilds

Historic buildings getting "green" renovation
By Tom Caprood, The Record, Sunday, April 13,2008

TROY - They may not look like much now, but two Madison Street buildings could serve as a prototype for upcoming energy-efficient housing projects in the area and help bring some of the city's historic architecture into the 21st century.

As part of "The Madison Project" a partnership between three local builders to renovate vacant structures, homes at 109 and 111 Madison St. will be completely transformed into highly energy-efficient, "green" buildings.

"Troy is filled with buildings that need to be restored, and what better way would there be to do that than by making them super energy-efficient" asked Karla Kavanaugh, a partner in the project and co-owner of Octagon Builders, an all-woman building company based out of Saugerties and Chatham.

Kavanaugh, along with fellow Octagon Builders owner Carole Furman, and local property manager Sid Fleisher, has been working on the project since 109 Madison St. was purchased in early 2007.

Together, the development team has been working on the best way to design and renovate the formerly gutted two-family structures into modern, efficient loft-like apartments.

According to Furman, the project came as a result of current architectural concepts of groups such as Architecture 2030 and the Building Science Corporation, which believe that the carbon footprint, or pollution levels, of residential buildings must be drastically reduced by the year 2030, through better insulating practices, in order to prevent further damage to planet from global warming.

"Karla and I had been interested in working in this area for a while, and we thought it would be the perfect time to insulate a house and make it as energy efficient as we could" said Furman, who explained that Octagon Builders had previously constructed two ‚"green" houses in areas outside of the Capital District.

Insulation will be installed in the buildings based on a model from the Building Science Corporation, which calls for a rating of R-10 under a building's basement, R-20 in first floor walls, R-30 in walls leading up to the roof, and R-60 between the roof and living area, in order to drastically reduce the building's heating and cooling needs. The ‚"R" ratings are reportedly based on the insulation's resistance to heat transfer, with higher numbers representing more resistance.

Besides insulation, the buildings will be fully equipped with energy-saving features, including 95 percent efficient furnaces, hookups for both thermal and electrical solar panels, tightly-sealed windows and on-demand water heaters, which, unlike traditional units, would only use energy when hot water is requested.

"Once finished, we're hoping these units can serve as a model for what can be done with the various buildings around the city that are just waiting for someone to come along and fix them up," said Fleisher.

Furlong also explained that the structures will be evaluated by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority and will receive Energy Star certification once their renovations are completed.

While the developers were not yet sure of what their asking price will be, Fleisher expected that 109 Madison St. will be put on the market within the next month. The other building, 111 Madison St., has only been cleaned out so far and will begin to be renovated once the first is completed.

"Overall, we see this as a further revitalization of the neighborhood, and believe that it's something could happen with similar homes all over the city," said Kavanaugh.

THE MADISON PROJECT: