One Green OnCenter

The OnCenter Complex in Syracuse, N.Y., is going green with some new improvements at a pair of its venues.

The Nicholas J. Pirro Convention Center got a new topper Oct. 3 with the installation of a 59,000-foot, green roof that features a layer of soil topped with sedum – a low-growing, drought-resistant succulent plant.

The low maintenance roof system cost Onandaga County just more than $1 million and will absorb more than 1 million gallons of rainwater annually, diverting that water from a sewer system that has been overwhelmed by heavy storms in the past.

Additionally, the Complex is in the process of installing a $1.6 million rainwater reuse system at the 6,230-seat War Memorial arena.

The system will use cisterns on the arena roof to recapture rainwater and snowmelt runoff, which will be filtered and stored below ground for ice production, such as for a hockey game, at the War Memorial.