by Brianna Crandall — June 30, 2017 — New York City’s Grand Central station has selected 24 XLERATOR Hand Dryers from Excel Dryer as part of the iconic landmark’s most recent restoration project, which incorporated energy-efficient and sustainable products.
Spanning 48 acres in the heart of Midtown Manhattan, Grand Central Terminal hosts approximately 750,000 visitors daily, 10,000 of which are lunchtime diners. In addition to housing 68 shops and 35 restaurants, the historic train station offers opportunities for tours, special events and entertainment throughout the year. Esteemed for its Beaux-Arts architecture, the high-profile venue also holds another distinction: busiest train station in the country.
With a “historic landmark” ruling assuring the popular station’s longevity, restoration projects commenced, and as new technologies emerged, thoughtful planning was given to upgrading systems and integrating energy-efficient and sustainable products. The electrical, plumbing and lighting systems have all been upgraded, with sustainability in mind.
An area receiving particular attention were the restrooms throughout the facility. Originally outfitted with paper towel dispensers, restroom floors were often strewn with errant waste, and the sinks and toilets, clogged with improperly disposed of paper towels, despite routine cleaning and maintenance. To eliminate these problems and other issues associated with paper towels like the inherent labor, maintenance and waste, hand dryers were considered as a sustainable solution.
24 XLERATOR Hand Dryers were selected as part of the iconic Grand Central station’s most recent restoration project.
With research, Steve Stroh, assistant deputy director of electrical and mechanical maintenance, and his boss determined the XLERATOR Hand Dryer, which Stroh had experienced at a rest stop, could meet all their objectives relative to performance, reliability and sustainability, without compromising the integrity of the original architecture.
Stroh commented:
We thought if they could hold up to the abuse of a public rest area, they would be a great option at Grand Central. With the XLERATOR, we don’t have to worry about paper towels ending up outside the garbage cans, clogging toilets or plugging up on our sewers. It’s eliminated the need for paper towels in our restrooms. We dug around and researched the XLERATOR and saw that it also had a lot of green certifications.
The Grand Central team selected 24 XLERATOR Hand Dryer units to replace paper towels throughout the public and office spaces of the terminal. The XLERATORs provide more benefits than cleaner restroom environments: touch-free, sensor-activated technology reduces touch points and significantly improves hand hygiene. “Visitors don’t want to touch something that hundreds of other people have touched,” Stroh pointed out.
Stroh selected custom covers, offered in a plethora of colors, textures and finishes, to fit in with the décor. An added benefit is the vandal-resistant coating and finish. The XLERATOR Hand Dryers “take a lot of abuse,” he said. “The new covers are great for our application because we can scrub them to get rid of graffiti and keep them clean.”
Others have taken notice of the newfound cleanliness of the restrooms; since the installation of the XLERATOR Hand Dryers, Grand Central Terminal restrooms have been nominated as among America’s best public restrooms in Cintas’ America’s Best Restroom Contest.
For more information about Excel Dryer’s sustainable XLERATOR Hand Dryers, visit the company’s Web site.
