Manhattan College Student Commons Achieves LEED Gold

RIVERDALE, N.Y. — Manhattan College’s Raymond W. Kelly ’63 Student Commons, which officially opened in October 2014, recently achieved LEED Gold certification by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC).

The $45 million student commons is the college’s first LEED building on campus.
The Kelly Commons is also the largest higher education building in the Bronx to achieve LEED Gold certification.

The 70,000-square-foot, five-story Kelly Commons has many green features, including a green roof, regional and recycled content building materials, enhanced commissioning, high-efficiency lighting design, occupancy-based lighting and HVAC, demand-based ventilation, a variable speed refrigerant system, high-efficiency condensing boilers, Elkay hydration stations and low-flow bathroom fixtures. In addition, an energy management system monitors energy throughout the building and is frequently surveyed and analyzed to review progress and identify ways to improve.

“This is the result of a great deal of hard work from our staff,” said Andy Ryan, Manhattan College vice president for facilities. “Obtaining LEED Gold certification exemplifies Manhattan College’s commitment to bringing sustainability to the forefront of our students’ learning and living environment.”

The student commons includes the Center for Social Action and Services Learning, which focuses on student volunteer and service-oriented activities. It also houses a multicultural student center and student club and organization headquarters. Additionally, it provides 6,500 square feet of multi-purpose meeting space.

As the crossroads of the campus, the Kelly Student Commons links the north and south parts of campus. It enhances the college’s ability to integrate academics and student life programming, and provides space for fitness and wellness programming, dining, study, and cultural and community events.

The Raymond W. Kelly building is named for former New York City Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly, who graduated from Manhattan College in 1963, and is one of the college’s most renowned alumni. Kelly was the longest-serving commissioner of the New York City Police Department, having held the position from 1992 to 1994 and again from 2002 to 2013. Kelly spent more than 40 years in the NYPD, serving in 25 different commands. He is the only person to date to hold every rank in the department.

“The great service that Commissioner Kelly has performed, for city and country, makes him a shining example of the best of our tradition,” said Brennan O’Donnell, president of Manhattan College, in a statement. “And so it is indeed fitting that for generations to come, countless Manhattan College graduates will think of the Kelly Student Commons as a place where they discovered and learned to develop the talents and gifts that they, uniquely, have been given to share with the world.”