flexiblefullpage -
billboard - default
interstitial1 - interstitial
catfish1 - bottom
Currently Reading

One-acre rooftop farm and additional event space completes as part of $1.5 billion Javits Center Expansion

Events Facilities

One-acre rooftop farm and additional event space completes as part of $1.5 billion Javits Center Expansion

The farm is expected to generate up to 40,000 pounds of produce annually.


By David Malone, Managing Editor | September 23, 2021
Javits Center rooftop events center
Image credit: ©Albert Vecerka/Esto

The Jarvis Center’s new rooftop farm and event space has completed as part of the Center’s $1.5 billion expansion project on Manhattan’s West Side. The 200,000-sf rooftop includes a glass-enclosed pavilion, an outdoor terrace, and a one-acre working farm that is expected to generate up to 40,000 pounds of produce each year.

The farm features a greenhouse that can host intimate gatherings or meals fo dup to 25 people. Brooklyn Grange will manage the day-to-day operations of the farm and the greenhouse. The produce will be sent directly to on-site kitchens to be incorporated into meals served to clients. It builds on the success of the convention center’s sustainability program, which includes an existing 6.75-acre green roof that serves as a habitat for area wildlife.

The 15,000-sf, glass-enclosed pavilion can host events with up to 1,500 individuals throughout the year. The pavilion is adjacent to a large outdoor terrace that features a meadow, a shade garden, and an orchard with 32 apple trees and six pear trees.

Javits Center rooftop apple orchard
Image: Javits Center.

A solar farm with more than 3,000 solar panels, making it the largest rooftop solar farm in Manhattan, was also included as part of the project. It is expected to generate 1.7 megawatts of solar energy with an additional 3.5 megawatts of battery storage, providing the convention center with more than 2 gigawatt hours per year. The installation of two underground retention cisterns helps capture and treat rainwater to be used for irrigation on the roof, reducing the need for potable water for irrigation by at least 50%.

Javits Center rooftop events space
Image: ©Albert Vecerka/Esto.

The total Javits Center project features 50% more front-of-house and back-of-house areas and more than 200,000 square feet of new meeting room and pre-function space, including a 54,000-square-foot special event space — the largest of its kind in the Northeast. The newly expanded Javits Center also features 500,000 sf of event space and a four-level truck marshaling facility that can house up to 200 tractor-trailers at one time.

The project was led by the New York Convention Center Development Corporation, a subsidiary of Empire State Development, the state’s chief economic development agency, a Lendlease and Turner joint venture and architectural firms TVS, Moody Nolan, Stantec and WXY Studio.

Related Stories

| Jan 14, 2016

How to succeed with EIFS: exterior insulation and finish systems

This AIA CES Discovery course discusses the six elements of an EIFS wall assembly; common EIFS failures and how to prevent them; and EIFS and sustainability.

Events Facilities | Oct 2, 2015

Louisville convention center to undergo $180 million renovation, expansion

The facility, which reopens in the summer of 2018, has already booked events it wouldn’t have gotten as a smaller venue.

Giants 400 | Sep 17, 2015

CONVENTION CENTER SECTOR GIANTS: Gensler, AECOM, Turner top rankings of nation's largest convention/events sector AEC firms

BD+C's rankings of the nation's largest convention/events sector design and construction firms, as reported in the 2015 Giants 300 Report.

Office Buildings | Jul 31, 2015

Design unveiled for Apple HQ visitor center

A glass-walled single-story building alongside the main office building in Cupertino, Calif., will be used as a visitor center.

Events Facilities | Jun 19, 2015

4 ways convention centers are revamping for the 21st century

Today's convention centers require more flexible spaces, the ability to blend virtual and in-person events, and meaningful sustainability, writes Skanska's Tom Tingle.

Modular Building | Jun 10, 2015

London debuts business complex made from 50 shipping containers

London's newest business complex, Pop Brixton, will support local entrepreneurs, create jobs, and is made entirely of shipping containers.

Cultural Facilities | Apr 20, 2015

Jean Nouvel loses court battle against Philharmonie de Paris over alleged design ‘sabotage’

Nouvel boycotted the January opening of the facility and asked for his name to be removed from all references to the work. 

Cultural Facilities | Mar 30, 2015

Designs released for new entertainment center in Lubbock, Texas

Amenities of the facility include a performance venue that seats 2,220, a smaller one that seats 425, a 6,000-sf multipurpose room, and a bistro café.

Religious Facilities | Mar 23, 2015

Is nothing sacred? Seattle church to become a restaurant and ballroom

A Seattle-based real estate developer plans to convert a historic downtown building, which for more than a century has served as a church sanctuary, into a restaurant with ballroom space.

Cultural Facilities | Mar 13, 2015

New Orleans observation tower to feature 320-foot double-helix gondola ride

Tricentennial Tower will take visitors on a 300-year journey through the city's history before landing them at the top for a 360-degree view of the Crescent City.

boombox1 - default
boombox2 -
native1 -

More In Category




Mixed-Use

A surging master-planned community in Utah gets its own entertainment district

Since its construction began two decades ago, Daybreak, the 4,100-acre master-planned community in South Jordan, Utah, has been a catalyst and model for regional growth. The latest addition is a 200-acre mixed-use entertainment district that will serve as a walkable and bikeable neighborhood within the community, anchored by a minor-league baseball park and a cinema/entertainment complex.

halfpage1 -

Most Popular Content

  1. 2021 Giants 400 Report
  2. Top 150 Architecture Firms for 2019
  3. 13 projects that represent the future of affordable housing
  4. Sagrada Familia completion date pushed back due to coronavirus
  5. Top 160 Architecture Firms 2021