By Jay Fox

This June, New York State’s Building of Excellence Competition award ceremony will reveal round five winning project teams, who will receive funding from the state through the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA). Since launching in 2019, the Buildings of Excellence Competition has awarded a total of $58 million to 65 projects. The funding has regularly gone to projects that serve low- to moderate-income communities, with approximately 76% of all new units built or planned to be built qualifying as affordable housing. Additionally, award winners have incorporated new technologies and building methods that improve occupant comfort and allow buildings to operate more efficiently and more sustainably. Encouraging new technologies and high-performance building methods that are replicable, clean, and resilient also helps New York meet its goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions 85 percent by 2050.

Implementing these technologies is no easy task, and we’ve been regularly keeping track of previous winners as they’ve advanced from the drawing board all the way to occupancy. We’ve covered a lot of award recipients from rounds one through four in articles or PHA LIVE! events, as over 70% of all Buildings of Excellence winners have been or will be built to Passive House standards. However, these projects were showcased when designs were still being finalized or during the initial stages of construction. As many projects are now further along, we thought it would be a good idea to ask, where are they now?

Round One Winners

Announced at Building Energy Exchange’s Manhattan offices in the fall of 2019, the initial winners of the Buildings of Excellence Competition include some truly standout projects, particularly Sendero Verde Building A, which is now one of the largest apartment buildings in the world to be certified by the Passive House Institute.  

Regular readers of the Accelerator’s site and Passive House Accelerator magazine may also recognize a few of these projects, including 425 Grand Concourse, which made the cover of our Fall 2023 issue.

Round Two Winners

Announced in the spring of 2021, the winners of round two of the competition includes The Rise, which was one of the projects on the cover of our Spring 2024 issue, and the very recently completed Bethany Terraces, which is now providing 58 much-needed affordable apartments to New York City seniors.

Round Three Winners

Announced from the ground floor of Engine 16, a round one winner, the winners of round three of the Buildings of Excellence Competition are largely still in preconstruction phase, though we have already published articles about award recipients 1818 5^th Ave. Passive House in Troy, Brownsville Arts Center and Apartments in Brooklyn, and Highbridge in the Bronx. However, the two projects below have already broken ground and will be finished soon.

Demonstration Projects for Rounds Five

Many of these winners have used the funds from the award to push the boundaries of what was considered possible when they entered into the design phase. Particularly during the earliest rounds, it is likely that many projects would not have pursued Passive House certification or going fully electric without those funds.

Project teams who submitted applications for Round Five of the competition were encouraged to prioritize leveraging technologies that optimize energy use during the day, utilize refrigerants with lower global warming potential than R-410A, and employ geothermal heat pump systems for space conditioning. We’re really looking forward to seeing what solutions Round Five winners are exploring! We'll find out when NYSERDA announces the winning teams June 17.

Early Design Support

In addition to the Demonstration Program, the Buildings of Excellence umbrella provides support for early design by offering the Early Design Support RFP, together the programs comprehensively support projects in both soft and hard cost investments in New York State. The Early Stage Design support is now available for projects that integrate carbon neutral features into pre-schematic and schematic design phases that lead to the cost-effective construction and completion of exemplary multifamily buildings. Design firms that are investigating Passive House certification or energy efficiency measures—as well as working on primarily multifamily buildings, whether retrofits or new construction—are encouraged to submit applications.

Applications to secure Early Design Support funding will be accepted on a continuous basis through November 15, 2025, or until funds are exhausted. Direct funding of up to $150,000 per project is available to Design Partners to support technical capacity building, mitigate risks, and facilitate carbon-neutral early-stage investigations through case study development and information sharing. More information about the Early Design Support RFP program can be found on NYSERDA’s website. The portal to submit an application can be found here. Please reach out to Vera Voropaeva with any questions at [email protected].