By Liz Tung
Brooklyn Daily Eagle

BROOKLYN — “Efficient� isn’t a word that most people associate with post offices – or any government building, for that matter – but thanks to federal funding, the Brooklyn General Post Office and Emanuel Celler U.S. Courthouse in Downtown Brooklyn will soon be able to describe themselves as “energy-efficient.�

U.S Representatives from Brooklyn Ed Towns (NY-10), Yvette Clarke (NY-11) and Michael McMahon (NY-13) recently announced that the United States General Services Administration (GSA) – an independent management agency of the federal government – has awarded the two historic federal Brooklyn buildings more than $62 million in Recovery and Reinvestment Act (stimulus package) funds.

The stimulus, which was passed in February, allocated billions of dollars in domestic spending for public infrastructure, in addition to education, health care and public welfare provisions.

Approximately $5.5 billion was appropriated to convert federal buildings into high-performance green buildings and build new energy-efficient federal buildings, courthouses and land ports of entry.

Officials at the GSA said renovations of the two Brooklyn buildings would include the installation of energy-efficient windows, heating and cooling systems, lighting and even, potentially, solar panels. The GSA Federal Business Opportunities web site (fedbizopps.gov) also mentions façade repair, roof-replacement and new smoke detectors and fire alarms.

According to a statement released by New York representatives, $58,437,699 has been allocated to the post office, and $4,652,250 to the courthouse.

Brooklyn-based construction company Volmar Inc., which specializes in government projects, has been awarded the courthouse contract. Volmar was already contracted by GSA several years ago to do renovation work on the same building. According to the Federal Business Opportunities clearinghouse, Bovis Lend Lease, LMB, Inc., of New York, also appears to be working on the courthouse.

Contractors working on the post office include the Boston-based Goody Clancey as well as New York companies Bovis Lend Lease, LMB, Inc. and Nicholson and Galloway Inc.

An official from the GSA said that architects and contractors go through a rigorous vetting process before they are selected to work on any GSA project. Companies submit plans and budgets to the GSA, which then whittles down the options according to price and technical expertise.

“It’s a multi-stage process, that starts with 25 or 30 architects, narrowed down by a board to five or six,� said the GSA official. “Then there’s the evaluation, where they rank everybody. Nowadays we have people from the private sector, called design excellence peers, who help us select architects from the private sector.�

The official went on to say that although the recovery act does not require projects to produce a specific number of jobs, the government is monitoring how many jobs are created.

Ultimately, the projects are supposed to save money by reducing the amount spent on energy. In a statement released at the end of July, GSA Acting Administrator Paul Prouty said, “These projects will modernize our nation’s infrastructure and save taxpayer dollars by reducing the federal government’s consumption of energy and water, and increase our use of clean and renewable sources of energy.�

In a recently released statement, New York Representatives Towns, Clarke and McMahon heralded the projects as a victory for Brooklyn’s economy, green technology and the stimulus bill. McMahon also tipped his hat to Towns for the latter’s role in pushing through the proposal. “I commend Chairman Towns for pushing the Administration to fund the Emanuel Celler Courthouse and the Brooklyn General Post office to improve the quality of federal government services for all of the 2.5 million residents of our borough,� he said. “The benefits of the stimulus are starting to be seen.�

The significance of these renovations lies not only in jobs created and energy efficiency, but in the import of the buildings themselves. While the Emanuel Celler U.S. Courthouse holds obvious significance as the site of legal proceedings, the Brooklyn General Post Office has been repeatedly recognized for its architectural and historic importance.

Planning for the more than century-old post office-courthouse began in 1885, as Brooklyn experienced a population-boom following the 1883 construction of the Brooklyn Bridge. The building was designed by Mifflin E. Bell, supervising architect of the U.S. Treasury Department, in the Romanesque Revival style, which was then favored for government buildings. Construction was completed in 1892.

In 1933, as Brooklyn’s population continued to expand, an addition was added to the north side of the building. Thirty-three years later, in 1966, the post office-court house was designated a New York City landmark, while 1974 saw it listed in the National Register of Historic Places. Ten years ago, the GSA purchased the building to undertake renovations.

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