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

| Dec 5, 2011

Summit Design+Build begins renovation of Chicago’s Esquire Theatre

The 33,000 square foot building will undergo an extensive structural remodel and core & shell build-out changing the building’s use from a movie theater to a high-end retail center.

| Nov 9, 2011

Lincoln Center Pavilion wins national architecture and engineering award

The project team members include owner Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, New York; design architect and interior designer of the restaurant, Diller Scofidio + Renfro, New York; executive architect, FXFOWLE, New York; and architect and interior designer of the film center, Rockwell Group, New York; structural engineer Arup (AISC Member), New York; and general contractor Turner Construction Company (AISC Member), New York. 

| Nov 9, 2011

Sika Sarnafil Roof Recycling Program recognized by Society of Plastics Engineers

Program leads the industry in recovering and recycling roofing membrane into new roofing products.

| Nov 4, 2011

Two Thornton Tomasetti projects win NCSEA’s 2011 Excellence in Structural Engineering Awards

Altra Sede Regione Lombardia and Bank of Oklahoma Center both recognized.

| Nov 1, 2011

Sasaki expands national sports design studio

Sasaki has also added Stephen Sefton to the sports design studio as senior associate. 

| Oct 20, 2011

UNT receives nation’s first LEED Platinum designation for collegiate stadium

Apogee Stadium will achieve another first in December with the completion of three wind turbines that will feed the electrical grid that powers the stadium.

| Oct 20, 2011

Johnson Controls appoints Wojciechowski to lead real estate and facilities management business for Global Technology sector

Wojciechowski will be responsible for leading the continued growth of the technology vertical market, while building on the expertise the company has developed serving multinational technology companies. 

| Sep 12, 2011

First phase of plan to revitalize Florida's Hialeah Park announced

This is the first project of a master plan developed to revive the historic racetrack. 

| May 18, 2011

Improvements add to Detroit convention center’s appeal

Interior and exterior renovations and updates will make the Detroit Cobo Center more appealing to conventioneers. A new 40,000-sf ballroom will take advantage of the center’s riverfront location, with views of the river and downtown.

| May 18, 2011

Carnegie Hall vaults into the 21st century with a $200 million renovation

Historic Carnegie Hall in New York City is in the midst of a major $200 million renovation that will bring the building up to contemporary standards, increase educational and backstage space, and target LEED Silver.

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