On Campus Hilton Takes the Lead

Students walking around the Stony Brook campus recently have undoubtedly noticed the many construction projects around campus. One of the most talked about projects is the still in progress Hilton Inn located near the Administration Building parking garage on Circle Road.

The hotel, which was announced in a press release in 2009, was a project that had been under consideration for over 20 years. Now, it will finally completed on Feb. 1, according to Jeannine Lang, the director of sales for the Hilton Garden Inn.

In addition to a 5,000 square foot meeting space, restaurant, indoor pool, exercise room and sundry shop the new hotel on the campus of Stony Brook University will have something else that should make its guests happy—a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certificate.

In order to become LEED certified, a building must satisfy a set of perquisites and earn at least a 40 on a 110-point rating system according to U.S. Green Building Council website.

Robert Frey, a Stony Brook alumnus and owner of SBHC Private Equity IV, LLC—the company who is developing and funding the construction and operating costs of the hotel—is confident that the hotel will be LEED certified.

“There is a whole big checklist,” Frey said. “The design was drawn up with that in mind. We have designed the hotel to have maximum efficiency. Right now, the design meets the certification.”

The hotel will have many different environmentally-friendly features that will help it get LEED certified in addition to helping the environment.

According to Frey, one of the major environmentally-friendly features that the hotel will have is a temperature monitoring system set up in each individual room rather than having one system that controls the entire hotel so the hotel can better control the amount of energy being used.

“This way, we can check the rooms and check the thermostat from a computer- controlled system,” Frey said. “We have the advantage of actively heating or cooling rooms that need it and use less energy.”

The idea is to heat or cool the rooms just enough so it’s cool in the summer and warm in the winter without wasting too much energy, according to Frey. Once the guest leaves, the room can be reset to the specific temperature in order to use the right amount of energy and if a room remains unoccupied, it will remain that temperature so it will not be wasting energy.

This will satisfy the “thermal control” item of the U.S. Green Building council LEED new construction checklist, which is the list that helps determine which buildings are LEED certified.

In addition, there will be increased levels of insulation and the glass will have tinting that to stop UV rays, according to Frey.

After the construction, new treeswill be planted to comply with the LEED requirement to “protect or restore habitat.” About 3.8 acres were disrupted during the construction process.

“I’m not worried, the area is surrounded by trees,” Frey said. “It helps to keep [the area] cooler.”

Another feature the hotel will have in order to be more sustainable and fulfill the “bicycle storage” item on the LEED new construction checklist, are bike racks so guests can leave their bikes at the hotel.

“We are encouraging biking by using things like bike racks,” Frey said.

All of these features cost more to construct, but will not affect the price of staying at the hotel for guests, according to Lang.

“You can always not do something,” said Frey. “It’s surprising when you look at home many people don’t do it. But it’s a good idea to be sensitive to the issues. In the long run, it will probably be more cost effective.”

Although all of the construction will be finished in February, it will take more time for different aspects of the hotel to be approved. However, guests should be able to stay about 30 days after the completion of the construction, according to Frey.

“We lost a little time because of Sandy, but fortunately we were ahead of schedule,” Frey said. “I’m optimistic we will remain on schedule.”