Leave each place better than you found it.

WHY BUILD, MANAGE AND OPERATE GREEN?

Joseph and Rose Durst founded their real estate business with a simple philosophy: “Leave each place better than you found it.” This has driven The Durst Organization to develop pioneering offices and residences for more than four generations.

When Douglas and Jody Durst took over management of the company in the early 1990s, they identified perhaps the most important element of this founding principle: integrating eco-friendly and sustainable practices into all aspects of The Durst Organization’s portfolio. Since then, The Durst Organization has been a recognized leader and innovator in the field of sustainable building.

Green buildings are healthier buildings. Studies demonstrate that a green building increases employee productivity and reduces absenteeism. A green building provides tenants with an opportunity to promote their healthy workspace, enhance their brand, and attract quality personnel.

With everything from cleaning products, to green roofs, to beehives, to organic composting, to a 4.6 Megawatt cogeneration Plant, sustainable practices are integral to every project the Durst family undertakes.

NOTABLE "FIRSTS"

The Durst Organization has compiled an impressive list of trailblazing environmental benchmarks:

• One Bryant Park — the first LEED Platinum skyscraper

• One World Trade Center — the tallest building designed to achieve LEED Gold, core and shell certification in the United States

• One Five One — the world’s first "green" skyscraper

• 1155 Avenue of the Americas — the first thermal ice storage air conditioning system in New York City

• HELENA 57 West — New York’s first voluntary LEED residential building. Earning LEED Gold, it is also Manhattan's first high-rise residential building to launch an organics collection program.

• First commercial owner in New York City to send food waste from its buildings to its affiliate, McEnroe Organic Farm, for composting. The resulting nutrient rich material is returned for use on the green roofs atop the buildings where the food waste originated.

• 1133 and 1155 Avenue of the Americas — the first two buildings in New York City to receive LEED Silver Certification under the LEED v4 Existing Building: Operations + Maintenance Rating System.

•114 West 47th Street — the first LEED Gold certified building in New York City under LEED v4 EBOM. Built in 1989, the building is one of the top 9% most energy efficient buildings in the United States.

Sustainable practices also include:

• GREEN ROOF INITIATIVE. The Durst Organization has installed more than two acres of green roofs, plazas, terraces and gardens across its portfolio. To learn more, see the video created by the High School for Environmental Studies.

• SAVING WATER, ENERGY, AND MATERIALS. Download an overview (pdf) for additional insight into One Bryant Park’s sustainability features.

• DAY-TO-DAY GREEN. The Durst Organization is building green and maintaining green, with programs such as carpet recycling, green offices, and a green supplies discount program for tenants.

Because building sustainably is an iterative process and new methods, materials, and technologies are constantly being introduced, the company continuously researches, explores, and implements new approaches to building green.