Hines' 7 Bryant Park, a 30-story, 470,000 s/f office tower, has earned the distinction of becoming the first Wired Pre-Certified building in New York City, earning a Platinum certification—the highest attainable. The certification follows a third party audit by technicians from WiredNYC, a program developed by the New York City Economic Development Corp. that evaluates and certifies the connectivity quality of commercial buildings. It means that tenants at 7 Bryant Park, which is set to be delivered to the market in the first quarter of 2015, can have confidence that the building will provide access to the best in class broadband connectivity. "This pre-certified platinum rating from WiredNYC is a result of our commitment to making 7 Bryant Park a model for what 'connected' can mean for New York City buildings," said Tommy Craig, senior managing director of Hines' tri-state operations. "Reliable, fast Internet is crucial for all 21st century tenants, not just financial and tech tenants. We're excited to bring this cutting edge connectivity to the market in a building that is already, itself, LEED Gold Pre-certified." The third party audit that resulted in the certification looked at three areas: connectivity, infrastructure and readiness. Connectivity involves how the building is connected to the Internet—whether fiber or fixed wireless—as well as how those connections are distributed throughout the building and who the independent carriers are. 7 Bryant Park will arrive to the market with the most advanced telecom infrastructure available, affording even the most technologically reliant tenants with the resources they need to conduct business. Infrastructure refers to the bones of the building and how well they support redundant and resilient connections. In the case of 7 Bryant Park, redundant and resilient connections, including two points of entry at opposite ends of the building, and two separate riser systems, provide added peace of mind for tenants. The last category, readiness, is a reference to how well-managed a building's connectivity is. Montgomery Technologies, a San Francisco, Calif.-based telecom consulting firm, worked with Hines to manage connectivity in the building, providing 7 Bryant Park with the most advanced technology available, while anticipating the requirements of technologies developed in the future. Hines is a privately owned real estate firm involved in real estate investment, development and property management worldwide. The firm's historical and current portfolio of projects that are underway, completed, acquired and managed includes 1,208 properties representing more than 488 million s/f of office, residential, mixed-use, industrial, hotel, medical and sports facilities, as well as large, master-planned communities and land developments. Currently, Hines manages 379 properties totaling 137 million s/f, which includes 66 million s/f for third parties. With offices in 104 cities in 18 countries, and controlled assets valued at approximately $23.8 billion, Hines is one of the largest real estate organizations in the world. Hines is also a world leader in sustainable real estate strategies, with extensive experience in LEED, ENERGY STAR, BREEAM, Haute Qualité Environnementale and DGNB green building rating systems.