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New York Times - House & Home - Thursday, March 24, 2005

Prescavenged Treasures
for the Dumpster-Challenged

BUILD IT GREEN! NYC, a 17,500-square-foot low-end Lowe's, opened last month In Astoria, Queens, with stacks of reclaimed kitchen cabinets, mismatched doors and carefully mined wood molding, along with sinks, radiators, handrails ; even a few new Andersen windows. Run by Justin Green, left (with light fixtures from the former Harp Bar in Manhattan, $75 each), of the nonprofit Community Environmental Center, the store deconstructs sites before demolition begins and persuades contractors and building suppliers, who would otherwise have to pay dump fees, to drop off salvaged and surplus materials. The sale of gently used scrap, well established in cities like Boulder, Col., and Portland, Ore., is new to New York, which generates about 13,500 tons of construction and demolition waste (excluding earth and concrete) a day and where the rising costs of new materials and waste disposal have created an obvious niche. Home improvers who go to Build It Green! NYC (3-17 28th Avenue; www.bignyc.org) will also find hardwood flooring worn smooth by players at Henry Miller's Theater on 43rd Street ($2 a square foot). A Dumpster fiend's dream loot, no diving required. CAROLE BRADEN

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