60,000-Sq.-Feet Of Green Roofs Coming To Greenpoint Soundstages

GREENPOINT, BROOKLYN — About 60,000 square feet of new green space will soon be coming to Greenpoint, though you may not be able to see it from the street. Film and television company Broadway Stages has partnered with a local nonprofit to build 1.4 acres of "green rooftops" on its soundstages on Kingsland and Monitor Street.

The green roofs, the second and third to be built on the company's soundstages, will be paid for by a $1.5 million grant from the New York State Environmental Facilities Corporation’s (EFC) Green Innovation Grant Program.

They will bring much-needed greenery to the urban jungle, and not just for aesthetic reasons, according to Alive Structures, the organization that will design and build them. The roofs will help mitigate poor air quality, reduce the overall temperature, help capture storm water and provide other environmental benefits for the area.

"(Green roofs) are one of the best things you can do for the environment to make a more sustainable and resilient future for New York City, especially with climate change," said Marni Majorelle, founder of Alive Structures. "We're very excited about this."

Majorelle said construction will hopefully start on the roofs by the spring, once paperwork is finalized on the plans. The roofs, like an existing green roof on Broadway Stages' 520 Kingsland sound stage, will include a variety of native plants.

(Map provided by Alive Structures shows where the green roofs will be built)

The plants will help reduce air pollution by absorbing and filtering "particulate matter" that's in the air. Each 1,000 square feet of green roof can remove 40 pounds of particulate matter, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, meaning the two new roofs would remove 80 pounds per year.

The roofs will also absorb close to 100 percent of a typical one-inch rain storm, helping with sewage overflow issues in the city, Majorelle said.

Residents also might notice that the roofs will help cool the air and reduce what is known as the Urban Heat Island effect, which New Yorkers are probably familiar with.

"(Urban Heat Island effect) is something we’ve all experienced — you are in the city, it's the middle of the summer, it is scorching hot and you go upstate. You’re surrounded by trees and it's not hot anymore," Majorelle explained. "City's are like these ovens and green roofs reduce that overall temperature."

The roofs can also be used for educational opportunities and to bring local jobs to the neighborhood with their construction, she added.

This connection to the community was one of the reasons Broadway Stages wanted to get involved with the project, CEO Gina Argento said. The green roofs are one of several environmental initiatives the company has taken on for its 50 soundstages throughout the city.

"We are a company with local roots and understand the needs of our neighbors and the importance of giving back," Argento said."It’s important that we do our part to help turn Greenpoint green and restore a healthy environment...and reconnect people to nature, which is something that New Yorkers desperately need."

Broadway Stages said the green roofs will not be the last of its environmental projects. The next initiative will hopefully be to build a greenhouse at its Staten Island property, the former Arthur Kill Correctional Facility, which it uses for filming.

Alive Structures and Broadway Stages have been working together since around 2015.

"We're really grateful to be working with (Broadway Stages)," Majorelle said. "They’ve done a lot to help us create this vision and allow me to dream big, like I do."

Photos provided by Alive Structures of the existing Kingsland green roof.