A new green condo development that promises luxury living is on the rise in an up-and-coming neighborhood.

Upon its completion early next year, the 12-story building at 303 E. 33rd will be the first LEED certified building in New York for Toll Brothers Inc. and its partner The Kibel Companies, which owns the corner property and neighboring buildings.

The site, on the north side of 33rd Street between First and Second avenues, formerly housed a Catholic church, school, and rectory, and is the future site of a stop on the developing Second Avenue subway line. Having purchased it a decade ago, Kibel redeveloped the property with a long-term vision of creating beautiful housing options for young professionals, families, and empty nesters, according to Peter Levenson, RA, principal of Kibel.

Murray Hill, which stretches from 29th Street to 42nd Street and Fifth Avenue to Second Avenue, boasts a variety of stores, boutiques, and restaurants, plus movie theatres and coffee shops, but hasn’t seen much development until recently.

“This is the first green building to be developed in this increasingly vibrant residential enclave,” Levenson says.

Kibel, which owns a 36-story rental building next door, has seen the neighborhood shift from mostly senior citizens to a mix of families and a younger crowd.

“We’ve seen it in our rental,” says Levenson, who represents the third generation of the family-owned and managed real estate firm. “We have 360 apartments here and the demographics of this building have changed quite dramatically in the last 10 years. These are many college graduates, young professionals, people who want to invest in the future.”

Levenson said going green was part of its own investment in the future. “We made a commitment to develop the building in a more environmentally friendly way and LEED certification is the most recognized guideline. Since that time, the market and everyone else has become more centered on building green and we’re glad we chose to go that direction,” he says.

All of 303 E. 33rd’s layouts, materials, and mechanical systems were designed to maximize efficiency and ensure well-being and sustainability, he says. The green attributes include high-efficiency boilers, a water-source heat pump, high-performance window walls, superior insulation, and a 5,000-square-foot landscaped roof terrace, among others.

Each unit has bamboo flooring and many have outdoor terraces and balconies. Kitchens are equipped with water-reducing fixtures, Energy Star appliances, and glass and bamboo cabinetry.

Residents will enjoy a wide variety of amenities, including on-site valet parking and a full-service concierge. The roof terrace will have a recessed reflecting pool, a bocce court, and outdoor grilling and dining area. The building will also have a media lounge, a children’s playroom, and a fully-equipped fitness center.

Designed by Perkins-Eastman, the 12-story, 128-unit building is set back from 33rd and is free-standing, which is unusual in corner properties and allows for windows on all sides. “It’s pretty incredible how open it is for a building of its size, because it has such a large footprint,” Levenson says. “There’s lots of light and air.”

There are one-, two-, and three-bedroom homes in 60 different layouts, including a few two bedroom, two bathroom duplexes with home offices, walk-out terraces and 17-foot living room ceilings. For the most discerning, there’s the three-bedroom, four-bathroom triplex penthouse with a total of 1,700 square feet of outdoor space including a private terrace off of the master suite, which is going for roughly $4.5 million.

Prices start in the low $500Ks for a studio and step up from there.

After roughly eight months of sales, about 30 percent of the units are in contract, says Richard Cantor, principal of Cantor Pecorella, the exclusive sales and marketing agent.

“The market obviously has changed and so we have to be much more aggressive and vigilant. Buyers now are much more involved in seeing and wanting to see the finishes within the building, not just in the sales office. So we are following up every buyer who comes in and staying close to them,” he says. Three model homes are being completed now.

“People are very interested in this building because it’s a green building and because it represents really a good opportunity in a neighborhood that’s burgeoning and changing in character,” Cantor says.

But in today’s market, buyers almost expect green, he relates.

“While buyers are very in tune with the need for ecologically sound buildings, green buildings, they are not willing yet to pay excessively for that privilege,” Cantor says. “So the combination of the hidden costs…in the infrastructure and the demolition and all of the recycling, plus the requirements for specific materials, some of which are more costly as interior finishes, and limiting because you don’t have as wide a range—buyers appreciate that, but they’re not necessarily willing to return the dollars.”

Recognizing that the timing isn’t ideal for marketing such luxury building, the developers are focused on the long term and on their ideological commitment to the future, to a new, ecofriendly way of building.

“This is a commitment that we made and we don’t regret the commitment,” Levenson says.