By Jay Fox

The Hudson River Valley in New York State was once an economic powerhouse. Manufacturing centers like Albany, Troy, and Newburgh expanded throughout the nineteenth century and into the early twentieth century, and the architecture of each city continues to be dominated by blocks of buildings from this era of prosperity and growth, especially after preservationists established historic districts to protect these properties during the 1970s. Unfortunately, much of the region has experienced decades of decline due to depopulation and deindustrialization, and Newburgh has fared perhaps worse than any other city in the region. Even within the city’s East End Historic District, dozens of buildings that once housed a thriving working class have fallen into disrepair or been demolished.

Numerous community groups have stepped in to ensure that Newburgh’s historic buildings are preserved and mend the city’s frayed social fabric. One such organization, Safe Harbors of the Hudson, has spent nearly two decades providing supportive services and housing to the community. The group currently owns and manages The Cornerstone Residence—a 104,000-square-foot former hotel that they converted into 128 units of supportive and affordable housing in 2006. On top of providing housing, part of Safe Harbors of the Hudson mission is to use art to enrich the lives of residents. To achieve these ends, they’ve restored and resurrected the Ritz Theater, which is adjacent to The Cornerstone Residence, and opened the nearby Ann Street Gallery.

The Competition, which is administered through the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), helps bring more affordable homes to communities that desperately need them. The Competition also incentivizes teams to create clean and resilient buildings that incorporate all-electric systems and novel means of improving energy efficiency. The program has helped to establish New York as one of the beacons of high-performance building in the United States and accelerated efforts to decarbonize the state’s building stock. The Passive House community within New York would not have gained nearly as much traction—particularly in the multifamily sector—without the Competition.

“The Buildings of Excellence program has been a wonderful can opener that has allowed us to push the envelope and encourage clients because they actually get some funding to help,” says C+GA Partner Mark Ginsberg.

“I can’t say enough nice things about them,” Tooze says. “This has been a fantastic experience.”

While C+GA have completed over 11 multifamily Passive House buildings and won three Buildings of Excellence awards during the latest round of the Competition, getting final certification can still be a financial obstacle, especially for clients on tight budgets. The $680,078 that the project was awarded through Buildings of Excellence helped eliminate that obstacle. “Winning this award was the linchpin in getting us to actually follow through with certification,” Tooze says.

In addition to winning the demonstration award for 77 William Street, all three buildings received Early Design Support through NYSERDA’s Buildings of Excellence technical assistance program. Early Design Support allows teams to incorporate carbon-neutral solutions during the earliest phases of projects to ensure easier integration. Specifically, Early Design Support will help finance the necessary upgrades to make the two retrofits all-electric. The program is currently accepting new partners and project proposals until November 15^th, 2025, offering up to $150,000 per multifamily project.

On top of renovating and improving the buildings, the team has also worked extensively with the city to ensure that all three buildings preserve the historical fabric of the neighborhood. According to Ginsberg, the team has worked with Newburgh and undergone three town approval processes—a site planning board, a variance board, and a historic board—since work began in 2023. The brick façades of the two retrofits will be restored, while 77 William Street’s façade will be outfitted with a few different materials. The first three stories will be clad with brick that matches the historic district’s aesthetic. The fourth story will consist of a mansard roof that uses metal paneling. The fifth story will be clad with fiber cement and will be set back far enough to not be visible from the street.

“It’s a modern building, but it’s also sensitive to the historic proportions of its surroundings,” Tooze says.

Weighing the Options

Though the massing and exterior design of the building has been confirmed, the team is still exploring different options for the building envelope. Specifically, they are looking into using either a structurally insulated sheathing (SIS) system with a timber frame or a structurally insulated panel (SIP) system.

“The benefit of [using a SIS system] is that you get a good R-value, but it’s also sandwiched with a sheathing material on the outside, so it’s all-in-one that’s going to provide your sheathing and your shear insulation all at once,” Tooze says. The SIS system also allows cladding systems to be installed without the need for thermally broken and potentially expensive attachment systems. Tooze believes that the SIS system will be augmented with some mineral wool between the studs, boosting the R-value to over 40.

The other option, SIPs, are far more robust and are designed to replace the entire wall system (minus the cladding) with one prefabricated component. Depending on the manufacturer, SIP systems may even include the windows. Given the building’s relatively high density and internal heat loads, it may be possible to use double-pane windows instead of triple-pane windows and still meet performance targets. Though Ginsberg says he typically favors using triple-pane windows, he acknowledges that they can get very heavy, which poses challenges during installation, and that they are significantly more carbon intensive than double-pane windows.

Ginsberg is also quick to note that there will be a major decrease in embodied carbon within the building’s framing, as the team plans to use timber instead of concrete. Though they would like to use timber more broadly, many of their projects are in New York City where the use of conventional timber framing in multifamily construction is prohibited. Builders are required to use non-combustible materials like steel, brick, and concrete. These restrictions are not in place in Newburgh, so Ginsberg says that they intend to use a SIS system combined with timber framing or a timber-based SIP system.

The embodied carbon of non-combustible materials adds up. According to Ginsberg, between 60% and 80% of the embodied carbon in a building comes from just three sources—concrete, masonry, and steel. This is a subject that is important to the firm, and Ginsberg notes that Tooze led a study on cost-effective means of reducing embodied carbon on Shore Hill—a 137-unit Phius-certified building in Brooklyn that was also both a winner of a Buildings of Excellence demonstration award in 2023 and a recipient of Early Design Support. Tooze found that the firm could reduce embodied carbon by 28% at no cost when compared to conventional practices for multifamily light wood-frame construction. That figure could increase to 60% through the use of readily available products or methods that cut carbon. Some examples include carbon curing (i.e., mineralizing carbon dioxide by injecting it into concrete) or the use of aggregates (e.g., pozzolans like fly ash or ground glass).

Unfortunately, they will not be able to totally eliminate concrete from 77 William Street. The foundation will be a cast-in-place slab with sub slab and outboard insulation. There will be a basement under about 75% of the building, and they intend to line up its footings with the existing footings of 79 William Street. “You always want to meet the footings of the buildings so that you don’t undermine them,” Tooze says. There is a bit more space between 77 William Street and 69 William Street, so there is less concern about the integrity of the latter’s foundation.

The roof of 77 William Street will include a membrane, a thick layer of polyiso, and a photovoltaic array. The building to the south, 79 William Street, will likely have a PV array, too, but 69 William Street will not because there isn’t a lot of room on the roof and it is in partial shade. Another form of renewable energy that the firm looked into was geothermal, but the upfront cost was too steep, and the process of drilling bore holes after excavating the property would have delayed the project by several months. Ultimately, it just wasn’t right for the project.

For 77 William Street, the team plans to rely on unitized units for the heating, cooling, and ventilation of each apartment. These units may not seem ideal for Passive House construction because of the number of envelope penetrations that need to be made for intake and exhaust, but any hit to airtightness can be remedied with good air sealing technique. Tooze notes that they will likely have to modify the design of the system on the fourth floor due to the mansard roof. He says that they are exploring the use of prefabricated plenums that can be installed beneath the windows.

Ginsberg says that the firm has veered away from centralized systems except in historic retrofits, as regulations concerning preservation prohibit excessive penetrations and the use of louvers on street-facing façades. He notes that all-in-one models are less costly than ducted mini-split systems; there’s no need for hundreds of feet of refrigerant piping that could potentially leak at every joint; and that the refrigerant that they do use is confined to a unit that has been sealed in a factory, making it less likely to leak.

Building managers should prefer these systems, as well, because unitized systems don’t experience catastrophic failures that affect the whole building. If one fails, it only fails for one apartment, and the unit can be quickly switched out so long as there is a replacement handy.

Looking Ahead

Construction is expected to begin in fall 2026, with a schedule likely ranging from 18-24 months. We’ll be checking in again with C+GA to learn more about their progress and to learn more about how they incorporate carbon-cutting techniques and products into the final design of these three buildings.

Top image of Newburgh and image of William Street courtesy of Daniel Case via Wikipedia.