The Sheraton New York Hotel and Towers is located in Manhattan on Seventh Avenue between 52nd and 53rd Streets. The 50-story hotel is ideally situated for both business and leisure travelers in the busy heart of the city, near Rockefeller Center and the Theater District. Adjoining retail and business centers, this 1.2 million-sq-ft facility encompasses 1,750 guest rooms and a wide variety of dining, entertainment, and business meeting options. Hotel guests seldom think about the climate control system that serves the hotel; but for the hotel’s engineering staff, comfort systems are a constant concern.
According to the hotel’s property operations manager, Ian Murray, the hotel recently re-evaluated its air conditioning chilled water plant with an eye to ensuring continued system reliability and operating economy. The hotel was built in 1962 and was operating on its original chiller plant. That plant had included two 1,100-ton steam turbine-driven centrifugal chillers and one 400-ton electric centrifugal machine. Steam for the two large machines was supplied by New York’s district steam system.