OCTOBER 2019 • LONGISLANDPRESS.COM 65
The Engineering
Marvel of North
Shore Towers and
Country Club Sal Castro, North Shore Towers and Country Club chief engineer (center), surrounded
In addition to the luxury living, many amenities, firstrate
security, and year-round fun activities that North
Shore Towers and Country Club offers its residents
and members, another benefit is its design and the
engineering team that keeps it all humming.
What helps make that possible is Sal Castro, North
Shore Towers and Country Club chief engineer, who
has been working there for a total of 42 years, including
as chief engineer for the past 34 of those years.
Castro joined the North Shore Towers and Country
Club staff in 1977 and, prior to being named chief
engineer, served as watch engineer for three years
operating the energy plant there on various night shifts
and energy plant foreman for five years leading maintenance
repair crews working on generators,
boilers, chillers, water pumps, and cooling
towers.
The North Shore Towers design is “unique
because we were never connected to the
utility grid, so we generate all of our own
power on site,” Castro says. “On one hand,
this makes the 24/7 operation critical, and this
can be challenging. But we have 100 percent
redundancy of generators, so while three are
needed at any one time, there are always three
more ready to go if needed, increasing the
reliability.”
“On the other hand,” he notes, “during the
times there were long grid outages in the Long
Island and New York City area, North Shore Towers
had constant power, which can be rewarding.”
In fact, the North Shore Towers plant reliability has, on
average, been “generally better than grid power reliability
over the last 40 years,” he says.
Further explaining the unique design of the North
Shore Towers energy system, he says its co-generators
“simultaneously generate electricity and free steam
that is used to heat all the water for domestic use in
the three buildings, as well as some of the heat and air
conditioning.”
The local combined generator design, meanwhile, is
“more efficient without the long transmission lines,
and actually uses less fuel and has less overall emissions
than the same energy generated by a utility and a
by a great maintenance repair crew who are committed to providing uninterrupted
services to the residents.
separate boiler for hot water,” he says.
The end result: Residents “share in that common area
energy savings of approximately $1 million per year,
reflected in the maintenance charges,” Castro says.
For Castro, it’s been “rewarding learning the ever-changing
needs” of North Shore Towers and “helping to design
upgrades and retrofits to meet those needs, and managing
the construction of replacement equipment after keeping
the old equipment running 40 years,” he notes.
Among the many reasons Castro says he’s enjoyed working
at North Shore Towers is, “we have a great staff who
are committed to providing uninterrupted services to our
residents.” The power plant department staff includes a
total of 11 people, including one person who handles all
overnight and weekend shifts, so the residents of North
Shore Towers are taken care of around the clock, seven
days a week, he notes.
While there are “normal equipment breakdowns, they go
largely unnoticed by the residents, as standby equipment
is quickly put in use before any effect of equipment
downtime can be felt,” Castro says.
Glen Kotowski was the General Manager at North Shore
Towers on Aug. 14, 2003, when 50 million people in eight
eights and Canada lost electric power for an extended
period.
“As the darkness of night set in, I took an elevator ride
to the roof to observe few lights, other than vehicle
headlights, as I looked at Manhattan to the West, Long
Island to the east, to the north and to the south and saw
the eerie darkness,” he recalls. “Since we are not connected
to the electrical grid, the 3,000 residents of North
Shore Towers were virtually unaffected other than by
the hundreds of visitors who saw lights shining in the
darkness, following our lights to find and enjoy the use of
one of our two restaurants, our movie theater and our air
conditioning to stay cool on a hot summer day.”
A second day that’s vivid in Kotowski’s memory is Oct. 29,
2012, when many people in the tristate area lost power for
days and weeks due to Hurricane Sandy.
“Our population temporarily doubled to about 6,000 as
friends and family members of our residents sought refuge at
North Shore Towers, which maintained full power, water and
heat during and after the storm,” he recalls. “Once again, our
restaurants were available to feed the masses and our in-house
staff performed exceptionally to provide additional
service needs of our guests while continuing to
provide service to our residents. As a retired NYPD
Deputy Inspector, I have to say it was visionary
when North Shore Towers was built to install an
independent power plant capable of maintaining
power during natural disasters and emergencies.
The fact that our equipment and feeder cables are
not exposed to the elements makes us significantly
less susceptible to the loss of power during storms.
North Shore Towers is fortunate to have the dedication
of our Chief Engineer, Sal Castro and his staff
to do an outstanding job keep the power plant
operational and well maintained.”
Of course, in addition to its first-rate engineering
and security staff, North Shore Towers and Country
Club offers an 18-hole golf course, five Har-Tru tennis
courts, indoor and outdoor pools, a sauna, steam rooms, a hot
tub, a state-of-the-art gym offering classes including Pilates,
and many other activities. The Club offers classes that include
boxing and Pilates Reformer, a special exercise machine that’s
“good for stretching your body,” says Country Club Manager
Mary Anne Langone. “A lot of our golfers take the Reformer
class because it helps with their flexibility,” she adds.
Pool activities include outdoor water classes, volleyball and
several outdoor pool parties. There are basketball courts,
boxing and billiards rooms, ping-pong and shuffleboard also.
In addition, there’s shopping, a movie theater, barbecues, a
garden club and many entertainment events.
For more Country Club details and to book a tour, call
Mary Anne Langone at 718-428-5030 ext. 0.
/LONGISLANDPRESS.COM
