Haven Plaza
Address:
200 Avenue C
New York, New York 10009
Clients:
Institute of Human Dev
1011 First Ave 12th FL
New York, NY 10022
CTA Architects, P.C.
151 West 26th St. 8 FL
New York, NY 10001
Project Size:
3,300 SFConstruction Cost:
$8 Million
The Haven Plaza Utility Services Building is one of the largest post-Superstorm Sandy disaster resiliency projects focusing on protecting affordable multi-family housing in the East Village. The building will protect residents of the 371 apartment complex from future storm related power and heat disruption. It consists of 3 levels and houses much of the complex’s utility infrastructure. The first and second floors will be constructed above the 100-year flood elevation and the cellar will be flood-proofed.
Utility services relocated to the new building include natural gas, city water, electric power, and Haven Plaza’s new steam generation plant. Haven Plaza originally heated the apartments with Consolidated Edison steam. The resiliency building will feature three new dual-fueled steam boilers on the second floor which will result in significant operating cost reductions for heating the complex. The boilers will use natural gas during daily operation. The boilers will be capable of operating with No. 2 oil if gas is not available, a 2500 gallon fuel oil tank will be installed on the lowest floor, in a flood-proof room. Power distribution for both the new building and an existing building will be installed on the first floor alongside the domestic water heaters. Steam and domestic water will be delivered to each building through underground distribution piping.
Flood-proofing the four existing buildings was an impractical consideration. Alternatively, all essential equipment will be raised to maintain key operation in the event of future floods. The domestic booster pumps which supply water for the entire complex will be installed on a raised platform. The existing vacuum pumps in each building will also be raised and submersible condensate pumps will be installed. All power distribution equipment will be elevated to prevent future flood damaging. Each building will be equipped with manual transfer switches, allowing portable generators to provide emergency power to the base building common services.