Synapse to build NYC’s first passive apartment building

UPDATED, 6:18 p.m. Dec. 4: Synapse Capital intends to build the first “passive” apartment building in Manhattan, meaning that the property will cover its own energy needs with a mix of solar power and stronger insulation.

The development arm of the firm purchased the 9,900-square-foot lot at 542 West 153rd Street, between Amsterdam Avenue and Broadway, in Harlem. It sold for $3.6 million, but was listed for $3.5 million, Robert Shapiro of Massey Knakal Realty Services told The Real Deal.

The market-rate rental building would hold 40 units and is slated to open by 2016.

While a row-house in Park Slope became the city’s first passive house, this property would be the first multi-family project of its kind. Architect Chris Benedict intends to install triple-pane windows, heavily insulated walls and other traits of a passive home.

“We’ve discovered a process by which we can build a building we think will cost the same, consume less energy and create a better quality of life for the people inside,” Al Picallo, managing partner at Synapse, told Crain’s.

Last month, Synapse partnered with Pan Brothers Associates to close on a Williamsburg development site at 646 Lorimer Street in an effort to build a 100-room hotel, as previously reported. [Crain’s] — Mark Maurer