Large LEED Construction Causing Costly Law Suits and Legal Pressures

People will pay more to live in LEED certified buildings.  LEED construction projects often cost more, but they are also cost saving investments and are becoming somewhat trendy.  However, for large-scale projects such as Battery Park City’s Riverhouse, the potential costs of falling short of the LEED requirements can lead to an array of problems.  

Riverhouse’s heating and cooling systems are supposed cutting-edge, energy efficient, green designs.  Unfortunately, the builders just can’t get them to work quite right.  One tenant has already sued the building about the issue.  We take heating and cooling systems for granted but judging from the Riverhouse construction project, these components become more difficult when required to meet LEED standards.

No one can doubt the benefits or importance of green construction both for our wallets and the environment, but situations similar to Riverhouse are not uncommon and serve to stress the importance of taking the time to carefully plan the LEED certified project before breaking ground.

I give the developers the benefit of the doubt and assume that they did their due diligence to double check with the engineers about the effectiveness of the heating system.  But if one tenant is looking to recover $1.5million associated with the heating defects, imagine the costs that could stem from the entire residency filing suit.  The building is still unfinished, but is estimated to already be 75% sold out.

Find the complete story and posting here. http://bit.ly/awCgRg

Thanks to gbnyc for the blog topic