Luxury Manhattan Dealership’s Award-Winning Controls Upgrade

The Challenge: Failing BAS & Increased Energy Waste

In New York City, a luxury automotive dealership occupies 411,672 square feet across five floors of a 32-story mixed-use building. The site is meant to showcase high-end vehicles and deliver a premium experience at every touchpoint. Yet behind the showroom lights, the building controls told a different story.

A failing building automation system (BAS) had forced staff to operate boilers, chillers, and air handlers manually, leading to wasted energy, rising costs, and growing frustration. For a brand built on innovation and precision, this was not sustainable.

Leadership needed a solution that would restore reliability, reduce costs, and align with the city’s increasingly stringent Local Law 97 (LL97) requirements.

The Solution: Integrated Building Controls Modernization

Meeting expectations for quality and reliability required a fundamental shift in how the building operated.

Trane Account Manager Tristan Morales, Trane Controls Account Manager Steve Kropp and Comprehensive Solutions Account Executive Corey Letcher worked to implement a solution that would automate, optimize, and future-proof the facility while reducing the burden of manual operation on the building team.

The upgrade brought together chillers, boilers, air handlers, fan coils, and variable air volume boxes into one coordinated building management system. At its core is a Tracer Ensemble enterprise server with Tracer SC+ system controllers. Advanced algorithms now optimize tower operation, water and air flow and start-stop sequences, which has led to more comfortable spaces delivered with less energy. The updates have also eliminated surprises for an operating team that now has visibility into real-time data in addition to longer-term trends.

A Smart Investment That Paid Off

The $934,000 project qualified for more than $652,000 in Con Edison incentives, significantly reducing upfront costs. The improvements also positioned the facility to avoid more than $84,000 per year in LL97 fines beginning in 2030. Factoring in annual energy savings of over 1 million kilowatt-hours of electricity and nearly 31,000 therms of natural gas, the investment will pay for itself in just over a year.

“This upgrade has shown what’s possible when pairing intelligent controls with meaningful incentives,” said Morales. “In the customer’s quest for excellence, we collaborated to deliver a system that elevates comfort, performance and efficiency.”

Award-Winning Performance

The project’s impact extended beyond the building itself. The dealership was named the 2025 Energy Project of the Year by the New York Chapter of the Association of Energy Engineers (AEE). The recognition highlighted not only the energy savings, but also the example it set for other commercial and automotive facilities across New York.

The Results: A Controls Upgrade That Delivers Measurable Savings

The modernization reduced the Manhattan dealership’s electricity use by nearly 25% from a baseline of more than 4.2 million kilowatt hours, with natural gas savings adding to the overall impact. Combined with incentives and avoided fines, the controls upgrade delivered significant cost savings while also cutting emissions and accelerating compliance efforts.

Just as importantly, the building team regained confidence in a system they can now depend on every day. Intelligent controls now ensure that customers enjoy a consistently comfortable environment, and staff can focus on delivering the premium service that defines the brand.

The project established a strong foundation for reliable operations, consistent comfort, and continued progress toward efficiency and sustainability goals.

The Manhattan dealership is more than a premier automotive facility in New York City. It’s an award-winning example of what’s possible when thoughtful investment in building technology delivers long-term, measurable results.