Real Estate Mogul Dan Neiditch Looks Skyward with Solar

Image source: CNBC.com

The city that never sleeps certainly doesn’t rest when it comes to adopting major developments, whether at street level or high above the clouds. In his years in New York City real estate, Dan Neiditch has seen more than his share of big changes. However, there’s one area where the mogul has been among the pioneers: clean energy, and solar in particular.

A lifelong New Yorker, Neiditch has written extensively on the city’s need to lead in the field of solar power generation. It’s only logical that the birthplace of the skyscraper should be taking the lead in placing environmentally-friendly solar panels atop those soaring roofs. As a property owner and developer, Neiditch has put his money where his mouth is, installing the nation’s highest residential solar array on top of his crown jewel: Midtown Manhattan’s Atelier building. The Atelier, a 46-story condominium building, sits in one of the most visible districts in the world, just a stone’s throw from Times Square. This prominence, Neiditch hopes, will serve to inspire his peers in real estate and development to see the benefits of solar power.

Dan Neiditch will be the first to tell you that while these implementations are a great step forward, they don’t amount to reinventing the wheel. To put it more succinctly, it’s among the easiest choices property owners can make. From Dan himself: “It’s still mind-boggling to me that more groups haven’t done what we did at the Atelier. For a relatively inexpensive choice, it’s given us so much return.”

Solar adaptation can be accomplished relatively painlessly on all structures in this crowded city, not only big high rises. While the Atelier is the nation’s highest residence bedecked with rooftop solar panels, it is Neiditch’s hope that the example they’ve set will spread to a majority of structures in the city and nationwide, both large and small. “I’m not claiming to be a hero or a role model because of this. I just want more builders and developers, people in my position, to see what a great benefit solar power creates for their business and the city as a whole,” said Neiditch.

The financial gains he and his business have enjoyed thanks to this conversion are a part of the public record, and proudly so. In 2015, he was quoted by CNBC mentioning the $40,000 in annual savings the Atelier enjoyed upon installation of their solar array, a number that has tripled since then. Neiditch has personally written of the benefits in a featured piece on Entrepreneur listing advantages from tax abatement to aesthetic improvement that have been made possible for his business thanks to their solar panels.

“It’s enabled me to spread this message further out than just telling everyone I know,” says Neiditch. “This is such a no-brainer, I feel like it’s just a matter of making more people aware.”

Solar might be Dan Neiditch’s biggest investment in renewable energy, but it’s far from the only one. The Atelier boasts a number of environmentally friendly amenities, from light sensors that save power when rooms and halls are unoccupied, to energy-efficient fixtures and windows that cut down on wasteful usage. In an operation as large as a Manhattan high-rise there are a wide range of ways to save energy and power, and Neiditch stands tall in the field after making mindful consumption a guiding principle.

This is the rare opportunity for business leaders to embrace a cost-cutting initiative that dovetails with real benefits for the world at large in the form of cleaner energy. Dan Neiditch has made the Atelier a place where societal concerns are not cast aside in search of profits, but are seen as the driver of an exciting and profitable new path. As far as the rest of the city, it’s their turn to look upwards and see what they’ve been missing.