450 West 17th Street (The Caledonia) NEW YORK, N.Y.

Mechanical Construction Services: Heating & Air Conditioning Systems

VALUE DELIVERED

A new upscale property for the client’s commercial real estate portfolio, extraordinary mechanical services to help the client exceed a tenant’s expectations during a holiday season, the flexibility needed to adjust to seasonal commercial heating and air conditioning system requirements, superior tenant comfort and convenience, significant energy cost savings.

OBJECTIVES

To construct an energy-efficient 27-story apartment/condominium building.

SOLUTIONS

For this mechanical construction project, Heritage Mechanical Services furnished and installed a complete mechanical system capable of meeting today’s demanding tenant, energy and other facility needs. In the main mechanical room, the company installed two 400-horsepower dual fuel (gas and oil) boilers that feed low-pressure steam throughout the building. A Vari-Vac System was installed to control the vacuum steam supplied to the apartments/condos. This is a fully automated HVAC system that relies on inside and outside temperature averages to cycle the output of the boilers, based on heating load requirements, ultimately maximizing heating capability while minimizing energy costs. Adjacent to the mechanical room, located in the cellar, sits a 15,000-gallon fuel tank storing oil, which the boilers can use as an alternative to gas in the winter or as an emergency backup.

Heritage Mechanical Services provided HVAC installation of a low-pressure steam main, which sends low-pressure steam to various A/C unit re-heat coils as well as the domestic hot water heaters. The main also supplies vacuum steam, part of the Vari-Vac System, to over 1,100 packaged terminal air conditioning (PTAC) units located within the individual apartments. A two-cell cooling tower on the roofworks with a plate and frame heat exchanger in the cellar to maintain the condenser water loop temperature.

Additional commercial heating and air conditioning units serve the corridors, lobbies and other incidental spaces between the North, South, and West Towers. For example, two 40-ton gas-fired rooftop packaged units serve public corridors in the 27-story north tower; two 15-ton packaged indoor units with steam heating coils warm the 12-story west tower, and one 21-ton packaged, gas-fired rooftop unit helps maintain a comfortable environment in the 8-story south tower. Twentyone steam-fired unit heaters serve the mezzanine, first floor and basement/parking areas, while 17 “extended-range” water source heat pumps help condition the main lobbies and multiple amenity spaces, such as business centers and residential lounges, as well as party rooms on the 9th and 12th floors.

Finally, Heritage Mechanical Services integrated these components with 225,000 pounds of industrial HVAC ductwork and 40,000 linear feet of pipe. The company also fabricated and installed a 10-gauge black iron flue to connect each boiler stack and tie into the main boiler flue, which was vented out of the 27th floor.

During the week prior to the Christmas holiday, Heritage Mechanical Services provided an innovative mechanical solution to meet the urgent needs of one of the client’s major tenants. Equinox, a spa/health club, had scheduled its grand opening for the holiday season. Unfortunately, the building’s boiler room was not ready to heat the tenant’s space. Using a temporary mobile steam boiler parked outside the building, the company piped steam back into the building’s first floor mechanical system. From there, the firm diverted the steam into the main header in the boiler room, where it was circulated to the Equinox facility, creating a comfortable environment for the tenant’s opening event.

CLIENT BACKGROUND

The Caledonia is a luxury rental in New York’s West Chelsea area, where it has been built along the High Line, New York’s most unique and exciting urban park. Using materials and textures inspired by nature and the city, the Caledonia includes amenities intended to relieve urban stress, such as rustling bamboo trees in the open air garden and water that cascades into the lobby’s stone reflecting pool.

OPERATING COMPANY:
Heritage Mechanical Services, Inc.

CLIENT:
Related Development

ARCHITECT:
Handel Architects

ENGINEER:
I.M. Robbins

CONSTRUCTION MANAGER:
Plaza Construction Corp.

MECHANICAL CONTRACTOR:
Heritage Mechanical Services, Inc.

PROJECT DURATION:
19 months

		New Construction
		Retrofit
		Electrical Construction
		Mechanical Construction
		Facilities Services
		Consulting Services
		HVAC Services
		Energy Solutions