TMBA’s BMS Deployment at City Point Brooklyn: From Vision to Reality
In the heart of Downtown Brooklyn, City Point stands as a modern landmark of urban renewal — a dynamic, mixed-use development that blends retail, entertainment, and residential towers into a single cohesive complex. For us at T.M. Bier & Associates, the project was an opportunity to demonstrate how a sophisticated, integrated Building Management System (BMS) could support the goals of one of the borough’s largest and most ambitious developments.
City Point is not just another property. Spanning nearly two million square feet, the complex includes more than half a million square feet of retail, dining, and entertainment space beneath multiple high-rise residential towers. Designed by Cook + Fox Architects, its materials and façades tie into Brooklyn’s historic character, while its placement above a subway hub reinforces its role as a central anchor for the neighborhood. At the time of construction, its towers were among the tallest in Brooklyn, and the development ultimately achieved LEED Silver certification through sustainable design strategies such as stormwater reuse, landscaped roof areas, and high-performance building systems.
Our role was to deliver the controls infrastructure that would bring these systems together into a seamless whole. At the core of our solution was the EcoStruxure platform from Schneider Electric, chosen for its flexibility and scalability. With it, we integrated a wide array of mechanical and electrical systems, including cooling towers, primary and secondary condenser water systems, boilers and fuel oil systems, a backup generator, air-handling and air-conditioning units, garage exhaust and stack-effect fans, Con Edison vault compartment monitoring, and even snow-melt systems. By tying these elements into a single platform, we created a control environment that now serves as the building’s central nervous system.
The owner’s vision was clear: they wanted automation and integration at a level that would make operations more transparent, efficient, and reliable. For the first time, the property would have real-time visibility into everything from condenser water loops to tenant energy usage, enabling managers to adjust on the fly and optimize building performance. This not only improved efficiency but also enhanced tenant comfort by providing a more stable and consistent indoor environment.
Like any large-scale construction project, City Point presented coordination challenges, from scheduling trade work to sequencing the commissioning of systems. Churchill Enoma, VP of Security Integration & Project Management, recalls these hurdles as “typical construction coordination challenges; nothing out of the ordinary,” but the size of the project meant they demanded careful management nonetheless. Each stage required balancing installation, integration, and testing so that by the time tenants moved in, the systems were already tuned for performance.
The results speak for themselves. Our implementation of carefully crafted sequences of operation has enabled the building to run at high efficiency across its water and air systems, with energy recovery units further improving performance. Real-time monitoring and dashboards give operators insight into retail and residential energy consumption, allowing them to identify inefficiencies quickly and respond to load changes proactively. By optimizing water flows, minimizing heating and cooling conflicts, and tracking demand peaks, the BMS has become a key contributor to City Point’s sustainable operations.
For tenants, these improvements translate into comfort and reliability. Air quality is maintained by automated garage exhaust and stack fans, while heating and cooling remain consistent regardless of occupancy shifts or outside conditions. At the same time, building management has the tools to maintain resilience, with critical systems like backup generators and snow-melt systems integrated into the platform.
For our team, one of the highlights was the opportunity to deliver such a significant project in Brooklyn, a borough close to our hearts. As Churchill put it: “I had the opportunity to oversee a project in Brooklyn — a borough I love — and that building at that time was the tallest in Brooklyn.” That sense of pride underscores what City Point represents not just for us, but for the community: a project that helped redefine the skyline and the future of downtown Brooklyn.
City Point demonstrates how the right BMS can transform a complex development into an efficient, sustainable, and comfortable environment for both tenants and operators. For us, it stands as proof of our ability to integrate systems at scale while delivering measurable results in energy performance, comfort, and operational transparency. More than just a technical achievement, it is a project that embodies our expertise, our connection to New York City, and our role in shaping the future of building management in one of the country’s most dynamic urban landscapes.
