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From Temple to Green Hotel
Going Green
Going Green: From Temple to Green Hotel
Turning a former temple into an environmentally-friendly hotel.
This former temple has been vacant and crumbling away for years. Now, using new state tax credits for renovating historic buildings, Syracuse developers say they’re going to turn it into a hotel, a hotel that’s a model of green technology.
Green technology. First of all we will be harvesting rainwater. Through harvesting rainwater and the fixtures we’re using, we will be saving over 500,000 gallons of water on an annual basis. We will be drilling geothermal wells that will provide heating and air conditioning. The equipment we’ll be using will be twice as efficient as the minimum standards.
Hotel Skyler developer Norman Swanson says they’re seeking “Gold” certification through the U.S. Green Building Council.
In addition to reusing building products, high efficiency pumps, L-E-D lighting, Swanson says every aspect of this hotel is going to be different.
When you check into your room, your keycard entrance must be put in a slot on the wall or the room doesn’t turn on. When you leave, your room turns off.
Developers are also promising a healthy building.
It is about an environment where we have walls of plants that cleanse the air. We won’t use any products whether they be paint, carpeting, or furniture that off gas. Our guests, our employees and especially people with medical conditions or allergies will find this a totally clean environment.
And Swanson says they’re willing to share their building process.
We’re anxious to show developers across the country how this can be done. Our partners, whether it is the HVAC, whether it is how we insulate the building, it will all be on our web site. It will be public domain knowledge. So people can take a temple or a Catholic Church in a downtown environment that’s empty and convert it into a hotel or an office building with the blueprint that we are creating.
I’m Terry Ettinger for Going Green.
