Whether your ride of choice is a Harley, BMW, Honda or Kawasaki, anyone who enjoys motorcycling appreciates the added bonus of an enviro-friendly ride and the joy of whistling past the gas pumps. Even the casual observer has likely noticed the ranks of those on two wheels have greatly expanded since the days when Hunter Thompson famously pulled back the curtain on the Hell”™s Angels”™ raucous shenanigans.
The Discovery Channel”™s “American Chopper” series has ridden the crest of the wave and made one family”™s fame and fortune: Paul Teutul and his sons have become known as America”™s custom-bike builders. The popular show ”“ 70 percent chrome and piston and 30 percent family feuding ”“ has made their name a household one.
Known as Orange County Choppers ”“ OCC to the fan base ”“ the family opened a retail store in the town of Montgomery a few years ago, but they”™ve quickly outgrown that space. Visitors from all over the U.S. come to see the exotic and exciting styles the Teutuls have created and OCC”™s line of clothing and accessories is exploding, too.
But fame has its price. With a growing retail trade, its expanded line of custom-made bikes and the need to merge their executive and administrative space in one location, the company is on the move.
OCC is currently building a 92,000-square-foot showroom and office space at the intersection of Interstates 84 and 87 in Newburgh, scheduled to open by January.
For a family that”™s better known in public for sometimes blustery interaction and attention to custom detail, the Teutuls have also leaned toward “green” when it came to building their new headquarters.
The concept of energy-efficient buildings has taken America by storm, whether in commercial or residential construction, especially with the price of crude oil slowly edging toward triple-digit-per-barrel prices.
The Teutuls, whose custom-built creations average 60 miles per gallon, are building their new headquarters with the same idea: Make it beautiful, but save money by keeping the building”™s utilities cost-effective and the grounds around it as environmentally clean and green as nature and buildings allow.
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To that end, Henry Kroll, the project manager for Full Throttle Construction, predicts the new OCC headquarters will be “among the greenest in the nation.” He is awaiting the much-desired LEED (leadership in energy and environmental design) certification stamp of approval from the U.S. Green Building Council.
The building”™s all-steel construction meets Green Building Council guidelines, said Kroll, and has been manufactured where possible with recycled materials.
Full Throttle engineers incorporated a storm water management plan that will replace retention ponds with a system allowing storm water gradually to seep back into the aquifer. It will collect a portion of the nonpotable water for landscaping needs. The heating and cooling system will be comprised of stingy roof-top hydronic boilers. Engineers predict the system will not only meet and exceed Green Building Council standards, but will save OCC nearly 50 percent on its heating and air conditioning bills.
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