When L+M Development Partners set out to create Arverne East, a master-planned community on a vacant 116-acre site on the Rockaway Peninsula in Queens, New York, the firm set out to develop the first net-zero carbon community in New York. city The project already includes a 35-hectare nature reserve and a community center. Of the 1,650 homes planned, 80% will be affordable. “We want to make sure affordable housing doesn’t get left behind in the carbon transition,” says Laura Spencer Humphrey, senior director of energy and sustainability at L+M.
“By designing buildings with low energy consumption, we are protecting in the long term [L+M] and the residents”.
— Mark Ginsberg, Partner, Curtis + Ginsberg Architects
By all accounts, the New York City-based vertically integrated affordable housing developer is sticking to that commitment. L+M will open the largest certified passive multifamily house in the US this spring. The company is at the forefront of incorporating geothermal wells into affordable housing projects. And the company recently achieved the first WEDG (Waterfront Design Guidelines) verification for resilient, green and accessible waterfronts awarded to an affordable housing project.
Low-income housing has always been an L+M priority: it has acquired, built or preserved more than 46,000 residential units in the past four decades, approximately 86% of which are affordable. More recently, however, it has broadened its focus to include climate change goals as key design and construction criteria, a deciding factor in New York’s ENR’s decision to select L+M as Landlord of the Year of this year
“There’s no conversation in our room without at least the point of view of energy efficiency and resiliency,” says Sara Levenson, managing director of L+M’s construction team overseeing Arverne East.
Annie Tirschwell, director of Type A Projects and WBE’s partner with L+M in the 30,000-square-foot mixed-use development in the South Bronx called Bronx Point, echoes this point. “The balance of cost and effectiveness from a sustainability perspective is really a hallmark of L+M,” he says.
Sustainability approach
L+M’s leadership team includes Lisa Gomez, CEO, and Spencer Orkus, Partner and President.
Founded in 1984 by Ron Moelis and Sandy Loewentheil, L+M thrives on high-quality, affordable, mixed-income and market-rate housing that strengthens neighborhoods. In 2022, when Loewentheil retired and Moelis moved from CEO to president, Lisa Gomez was elevated to CEO from COO. The move coincided with the launch of LMXD, an affiliate platform designed to expand its active marketplace and mixed income development business. The firm’s existing independent investment management business, L+M Fund Management, focuses on investing institutional capital at scale in affordable housing and workforce investments.
Mark Ginsberg, a partner at Curtis + Ginsberg Architects, who has worked with L+M for 20 years, says L+M is “pushing the envelope” with its commitment to community and sustainability.
Ginsberg helped L+M design its first certified passive house, a mixed-use project that opened in 2018 called Beach Green Dunes II, next to the Arverne East site in the Rockaways. “By designing buildings with low energy consumption, we are protecting in the long term [L+M] and residents,” Ginsberg says of the project that also deployed L+M’s first geothermal heating and cooling system.
Levenson says Beach Green Dunes II was a “testing ground” for energy efficiency, resiliency and sustainability approaches that were expanded “to the larger Arverne East parcel.”
This project, which will also feature passive house residential buildings, is designed with what is believed to be one of the largest geothermal systems in the region connected to multiple buildings. “There aren’t that many geothermal systems out there, especially not on the scale we’re talking about,” Levenson says.
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Sendero Verde, a fully affordable development in East Harlem, will be the largest passive multifamily house in the US
Rendering by Volley Studio, courtesy of L+M Development Partners
One of L+M’s most impressive passive house projects is Sendero Verde, a 709-unit fully affordable development in East Harlem that, when completed this spring, will be the largest multifamily certified passive house in the United States.
“At the end of the day, some of the most exciting things about … any of our buildings that are passive houses is how little energy they use compared to their more conventionally built peers,” Humphrey says. “And that’s half of it.”
L+M also uses passive design for highly efficient wall, facade, roof and window assemblies as well as intelligent site orientation. Humphrey says design is the “first line of defense” in the “hierarchy of how to decarbonize.” It comes down to “thinking of the building as a system and having an efficient envelope.”
Humphrey says another important line of defense in decarbonisation is ‘substitution’ – using on-site renewable energy to replace grid power. “We generally build solar on all our new developments, unless it’s not feasible because of shade or something,” he says.
Renewable energy will be critical to getting to net zero for Arverne East, Levenson says. “Geothermal and passive house will work from an energy efficiency point of view to keep loads low. But the implementation of the roof [photovoltaic systems] it’s really what compensates for our consumption”, he points out.
While renewable energy is critical to mitigating climate change, battery backup to support all of a building’s energy needs is not yet feasible, Levenson says. The developer aims for as much backup as possible to keep people safe. “We’re really looking at how we make sure we have pumps working for an elevator, service space or lounge in every building that has ERVs. [energy recovery ventilators] for air circulation and powering a fridge if someone needs medication to refrigerate and having a USB to charge in each unit,” he adds.
Beyond power outages, stormwater and coastal flooding are critical considerations for projects like Arverne East and Bronx Point. Open space for water retention or rain gardens, elevation of ground floor entrances and lobbies, elevation of mechanical elements and design of 500-year flood levels are part of the package of L+M tools.
“Our commitment is to our residents and making sure they have safe and healthy places to live, and that ties a lot into resilience,” Humphrey says.
New York Local Law 97 has also challenged L+M. Recently implemented to limit carbon emissions from new buildings, the law forced the developer to abandon commonly installed building systems with known construction and operating costs, says Stephen Bonasera, senior vice president of preconstruction and firm partner.
Bonasera hired the company’s mechanical equipment manufacturers to prototype and test products with variable coolant flow technology that can fit inside windows. Bonasera says the vertically integrated company ultimately benefits from the improvements, as “we’re always thinking about building buildings to be more efficient because ultimately we’re paying the bills to operate the building.”
Notable L+M projects include:
Arverne Est, a master-planned community that is revitalizing a vacant 116-acre waterfront site on the Rockaway Peninsula in Queens. Its first phase includes a 35-acre nature reserve, a shelter and a community center. When completed in 2031, the development will feature 1,650 housing units, including affordable, market and freehold opportunities. The net-zero project is positioned to become one of the most environmentally conscious developments in the country.
Green Path, an all-affordable 709-unit development in East Harlem that will be the largest multifamily passive house in the U.S. It includes a community center, a school, and more than 11,500 square feet of community gardens. The completed first phase includes 361 affordable housing units for households ranging from very low to moderate income, as well as formerly homeless individuals. The second phase of Sendero Verde, in the final stages of construction and set to open this spring, includes a 34-story tower with 348 units.
Bronx Point, a 530,000-square-foot mixed-use development in the South Bronx along the Harlem River that includes 542 units of permanently affordable housing, a youth education space, a public waterfront park and retail opportunities. It is the first affordable housing project to receive the WEDG Standard for Waterfront Resilience and Hazard Reduction. The housing and public space components opened in October 2023.
A deluge of standards
The housing sector has received a slew of new green building rating systems, from EnergyStar’s net zero standards to updated LEED certification and more. L+M’s goal is to decide what makes the most sense for each building, and “it’s not the same for every project,” says Humphrey.
“I think we’re also trying to look at what these rating systems are teaching us about actual performance now that we have a couple of years of performance with these really advanced buildings,” he says.
Bonasera believes it’s important for the government to be “forward-looking” in its vision and standards, but “when there’s such a dramatic change … it really affects the property, the design consultants, the district contractors, the subcontractors and level of education”.
Ginsberg says L+M finds ways to adapt to change, especially from a construction operations perspective, by using a “holistic approach” that involves cycles of feedback and discussion. “As we’re designing, they’re criticizing.”
One day there may be more standards, such as sourcing products with low carbon built-in. L+M says it is in the early stages of thinking through alternative materials.
“In terms of broader materials [selection]I think we and all our counterparts are trying to figure out the right way to do this, because it’s not as simple as trading one thing for another,” says Humphrey.
While L+M does not seek certifications for all projects, the company hopes to continue to clarify its own sustainability vision “to establish what our threshold is, our baseline, as we always achieve ‘x'” , says Humphrey.
The authenticity of this approach is highlighted by Tirschwell, a partner at Type A Projects. L+M doesn’t “do things just so they can slap.” [on] a label,” he says.
