What a difference only eight years havemade. The Big Apple hasbecome the BigGreen Apple, and the roots laid down by 4Times Squarehave branched out to include11 Times Square, the Goldman SachsBuildingin Battery Park City, 7World Trade Center, theHearst Tower,the Freedom Tower, The NewYork Times headquarters and the BankofAmerica Tower at One Bryant Park.

"New York City is a hotbed of greenbuilding, and it would be anexception for anew building not to be green," says DanKaplan,senior principal with FXFOWLE."The residential sector is laggingbehindcommercial a bit because it's much tougherto sell the conceptto clients."

The greening has grown so quickly not somuch because oflegislation like Local Law86, which requires some municipalbuildingsto have at least a silver Leadership inEnergy andEnvironmental Design or LEEDrating, but because developers—andmoreimportantly, their clients—realize that it is asociallyresponsible choice that benefitseveryone. "It's gotten much easierto buildgreen," says Dan Tishman, president ofTishman Realty &Construction Co. Inc.,which as the construction manager of 4TimesSquare was the first green builder inManhattan. "It's not moreexpensivebecause there are more products and contractorsandsubcontractors used to it. Andbecause there is LEED certification,thegreenness is acknowledged."