JERSEY CITY-Hoboken Brownstone Co. principals George Vallone andDaniel Gans plan to transform the seven-acre brownfield site into asustainable mixed-use community of more than 400 homes and 7,500square feet of retail space.

The project, located on the site of the former Van LeerChocolate Factory at 110 Hoboken Ave. here, will utilizeenergy-efficient technologies in the design. These include masswall construction, which creates an insulated and low airinfiltration building enclosure capable of thermal storage, abalanced ventilation system with energy recovery capabilities andalternative energy sources such as solar hot water and a geothermaltest well. When all three elements are integrated, they can producebuildings capable of 50% to 90% energy savings when compared tostandard buildings, according to the developer.

Thanks to its focus on green design, the project--dubbed VanLeer Place--will be developed with a $3.6-million grant fromPSE&G's Energy Efficiency Economic Stimulus program. “Overthe past several decades, residential and commercial buildings haveemerged as the largest consumer of energy and carbon emissions,using more energy and emitting more carbon dioxide than eitherindustry or transportation,” Gans points out. “This isparticularly evident in dense urban areas such as Jersey City. As aresult, government on the federal, state and local levels has madea conscious effort to encourage and promote programs anddevelopment practices that lower energy consumption in mixed-usebuildings in city settings." That, he says, is the goal for VanLeer Place.