3073 Villa Avenue is a 16-story, 120-unit multifamily residential building in the Bronx, delivered in partnership with Rise Architecture and developer Beni Mitaj. Across 59,470 square feet, Downtown Engineers provided full MEP/FP engineering, from the initial layout studies through the final mechanical decisions.
One decision shaped how the whole building came together: the choice between PTAC and VRF for heating and cooling. VRF ties each apartment's heating and cooling to shared refrigerant piping, relies on high-GWP refrigerants, and faces growing regulatory pressure. For a 120-unit building, that meant weighing long-term usability and code compliance against a system that links units through a common refrigerant loop. The decision could not wait. In a residential tower, architectural layouts lock in riser and shaft locations early. Move a shaft after that point and it stops being a design decision and becomes a structural one.
Full MEP/FP engineering for a 16-story, 120-unit multifamily tower in the Bronx.
The team selected PTAC units over VRF systems, eliminating the need for shared refrigerant piping.
Each apartment runs on independent heating and cooling, so if one unit's system fails, the apartment next door doesn't feel it. The choice also keeps the building clear of the newer refrigerant requirements that add cost and compliance risk over time. Making that call meant getting into the layout studies early, before the architectural decisions were finalized. Being in the room at that stage let us influence riser locations and shaft sizing while working with Rise Architecture to keep the unit layouts efficient. The shafts landed where the building needed them, and the units stayed intact.
Downtown Engineers delivered a coordinated MEP/FP system for a high-density residential tower, with a mechanical approach chosen for independent unit control and long-term code compliance.
120
Residential units across 59,470 SF
16
Stories · Multifamily tower under one coordinated MEP/FP scope
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