Historic buildings getting "green" renovation
By Tom Caprood, The Record, Sunday, April 13,2008

TROY - They may not look like much now, but two Madison Street buildings could serve as a prototype for upcoming energy-efficient housing projects in the area and help bring some of the city's historic architecture into the 21st century.

As part of "The Madison Project" a partnership between three local builders to renovate vacant structures, homes at 109 and 111 Madison St. will be completely transformed into highly energy-efficient, "green" buildings.

"Troy is filled with buildings that need to be restored, and what better way would there be to do that than by making them super energy-efficient" asked Karla Kavanaugh, a partner in the project and co-owner of Octagon Builders, an all-woman building company based out of Saugerties and Chatham.

Kavanaugh, along with fellow Octagon Builders owner Carole Furman, and local property manager Sid Fleisher, has been working on the project since 109 Madison St. was purchased in early 2007.

Together, the development team has been working on the best way to design and renovate the formerly gutted two-family structures into modern, efficient loft-like apartments.

According to Furman, the project came as a result of current architectural concepts of groups such as Architecture 2030 and the Building Science Corporation, which believe that the carbon footprint, or pollution levels, of residential buildings must be drastically reduced by the year 2030, through better insulating practices, in order to prevent further damage to planet from global warming.

"Karla and I had been interested in working in this area for a while, and we thought it would be the perfect time to insulate a house and make it as energy efficient as we could" said Furman, who explained that Octagon Builders had previously constructed two ‚"green" houses in areas outside of the Capital District.

Insulation will be installed in the buildings based on a model from the Building Science Corporation, which calls for a rating of R-10 under a building's basement, R-20 in first floor walls, R-30 in walls leading up to the roof, and R-60 between the roof and living area, in order to drastically reduce the building's heating and cooling needs. The ‚"R" ratings are reportedly based on the insulation's resistance to heat transfer, with higher numbers representing more resistance.

Besides insulation, the buildings will be fully equipped with energy-saving features, including 95 percent efficient furnaces, hookups for both thermal and electrical solar panels, tightly-sealed windows and on-demand water heaters, which, unlike traditional units, would only use energy when hot water is requested.

"Once finished, we're hoping these units can serve as a model for what can be done with the various buildings around the city that are just waiting for someone to come along and fix them up," said Fleisher.

Furlong also explained that the structures will be evaluated by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority and will receive Energy Star certification once their renovations are completed.

While the developers were not yet sure of what their asking price will be, Fleisher expected that 109 Madison St. will be put on the market within the next month. The other building, 111 Madison St., has only been cleaned out so far and will begin to be renovated once the first is completed.

"Overall, we see this as a further revitalization of the neighborhood, and believe that it's something could happen with similar homes all over the city," said Kavanaugh.

Saving a city one building at a time

By Chris Churchill, Times Union,

Vacant South Troy properties are getting a new lease from community-minded residents

By CHRIS CHURCHILL, Business writer Times Union Newspaper
First published: , Albany, New York

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

TROY -- Sid Fleisher grew tired of the cold and quiet hulls that dotted his neighborhood, the dark buildings where no children played, no dogs romped and no televisions blared.

So over the years, he purchased a few of the vacant buildings and gussied them up. He brought them back to life.

He isn't alone. There are others taking on South Troy 's abandoned buildings.

There is, for example, Judy Meyer, who in recent years has bought and rehabbed three vacant structures. Or Melissa and Jeremiah Roberts, a young couple now rehabbing the long-empty building that will be their home.

And there are, no doubt, similar examples elsewhere in the Capital Region, folks tackling the region's many vacant structures, buildings that are a visual blight and an economic drain.

For Fleisher, the work started in 1980, when he moved to Troy to take a job at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. He has since rehabbed five buildings, three of which were vacant. He still owns all but one, garnering rent money.

They pay for themselves, he said.

He likes the work so much he joined with two partners, Carole Furman and Karla Kavanaugh, to start The Madison Project. The group hopes to rehab empty building after empty building, using the proceeds from each to pay for the next.

Their first project, aptly, is on Madison Street . The bought the building, vacant for four or five years, for $40,000 and have already spent $80,000 on a renovation that is giving the building top-notch energy efficiency.

This summer, they hope to end construction and sell the building at 109 Madison St. to an owner occupant.

"Part of the reason for doing this is to develop more of a sense of community in the neighborhood," Fleisher said.

Said Furman: "Right now, we'd be happy just making a slim profit on it."

Slim profit is an apt description of Meyer's last project, a former saloon on Fourth Street . She bought it for $30,000, spent $110,000 on a renovation and sold it for $145,000.

Meyer is now wrapping up her most recent renovation. She's planning an open house for the project at 64 Washington St. from 2 to 4 p.m. Sunday.

"It's my semiretirement hobby," Meyer said.

While Meyer sells her buildings, Melissa and Jeremiah Roberts plan to hold on to theirs.

The couple, each in their late 20s, bought the two-story building in April for just $59,000 and are spending $15,000 to fix it up. The last owner had actually begun the renovation, but walked away before it was complete.

But it was complete enough for the Roberts and their boxer, Timo, to move in before they finish the renovation.

Melissa Roberts estimated the First Street building, not far from the South Troy Diner, had been vacant since 2003.

South Troy, like other urban neighborhoods in the Capital Region, has no shortage of vacant buildings, and conversations with folks like Fleisher, Meyer or Melissa Roberts show how difficult it will be to save them all.

Sometimes the owners of the buildings can't be found. Sometimes they can but have no interest in selling, even as decay kills value.

 And Troy 's government is not always an ally: Roberts, for example, says the city seems to be in no hurry to issue the couple a building permit. Fleisher, meanwhile, notes that wealthy downtown rehabbers get tax breaks, while neighborhood rehabbers get higher tax assessments.

"The city is not giving us the respect it should be giving," Fleisher said, while standing on the second floor of the Madison Street building. "And you have a whole area of the city with buildings like this."

Still, despite the hassles, Fleisher and others said the projects bring rewards, including the satisfaction of reversing the decay of a building, a neighborhood, and a city.

"I'm basically doing it for the pleasure of doing it," Meyer said.

Chris Churchill can be reached at 454-5442 or by e-mail at cchurchill@timesunion.com.