The only LEED Gold-certified restaurant in New York is slated to open in Harlem on December 10, but it would have been a tourist attraction even without the environmentalist cred: it's an Applebee's. According to Inhabitat, the restaurant will harvest rainwater and sunlight, use waterless urinals, boast walls of living plants and use bamboo chandeliers. However, it's unclear if the metal Pepsi-Cola signs, old gas station pumps, and cryptic black and white photos of baseball teams of unknown provenance will continue to be manufactured from toxic, nonrenewable Rockwellian nostalgia.
According to the CEO of the company that oversees more than 40 Applebee's in the region, the new design is "about being a good neighbor, both locally and globally," because polluting anything but one's temple is simply irresponsible. The Post reports that the restaurant, located on 117th Street near Pleasant Avenue, cost $4 million to build—$1 million more than usual. We've asked Midtown tourist favorite Dan's Burning Oily Rag Pile Diner & CFC Speakeasy for comment on their new eco-competition, but have yet to receive a response.
