Apartment Property in Hoboken Gets LEED Gold Certification, A First for its Developer

Hoboken, N.J.–Berkshire at the Shipyard, a new 93-unit apartment building in Hoboken, N.J., has just achieved LEED Gold certification from the U.S. Green Building Council. With the designation, Berkshire not only becomes Ironstate Development Co.’s first official green building, marking a big step in the real estate firm’s sustainable development initiative, the 13-story tower also takes on the title of the tallest residential LEED-certified property in the State of New Jersey.

Berkshire sits along the Hudson River within Ironstate Development’s Shipyard community, a mixed-use destination offering 1,160 residences, 65,000 square feet of retail space, a one-acre waterfront park, as well as a marina and Yacht Club and a ferry terminal providing direct access to Manhattan. Ironstate Development opened Berkshire’s doors to a full tenant roster–it took only four months to lease up the property–in September when general contractor AJD Construction completed the project.

Minno & Wasko Architects and Planners designed the building, which is green quite literally from head to toe, just as Ironstate Development had planned from the very beginning. In addition to Berkshire’s poured-in-place concrete structure, high performance thermal envelope, recycled finish products and finish materials with low volatile organic compounds, the property features one- and two-bedroom residences with such environmentally friendly elements as Energy Star appliances and water efficient plumbing fixtures. But the green icing on the cake, so to speak, is Berkshire’s 11,000 square-foot roof garden, which counteracts heat retention and relies on storm water for irrigation.

Ironstate Development is not limiting its sustainability initiative to new projects. The company is in the midst of retrofitting existing properties in its portfolio, adding such energy efficient elements as solar roof panels.