— TL;DR

That A–F letter grade in your building's lobby is Local Law 33. It's a public energy-efficiency rating derived from your LL84 benchmarking data, posted in plain sight, and it shapes both tenant perception and how lenders price your refi.

If your NYC building has a letter grade — A, B, C, D, F — posted in the lobby, that's Local Law 33. It's the public energy-efficiency rating mandated for every building covered by LL84 (the benchmarking law), derived directly from your ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager score, and required to be visible at every public entrance.

Most building owners have no idea what their grade actually means, how it's calculated, or how to improve it. Lenders and tenants increasingly do. Here's the full picture.

01 · WHAT IT ISThe mandate

Local Law 33 of 2018 (amended by LL95 of 2019) requires every building over 25,000 sq ft that's covered by Local Law 84 (benchmarking) to publicly display its energy-efficiency grade. The grade is based on your ENERGY STAR score from the prior year's LL84 benchmarking submission.

It applies to roughly the same ~50,000 buildings that LL84 covers. If you're filing benchmarking reports, you have a grade.

02 · HOW THE GRADE IS CALCULATEDThe score → letter mapping

The ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager assigns each building a score from 1 to 100, where 100 means "performs better than 99% of similar buildings." NYC translates that score into a letter grade:

  • A: ENERGY STAR score of 85+ (top 15% of similar buildings)
  • B: 70–84
  • C: 55–69
  • D: 0–54
  • F: failed to file or submitted incomplete data
  • N: ENERGY STAR doesn't have a benchmark for this building type (some hospital wings, data centers, etc.)

The score itself depends on building type — an office is benchmarked against similar offices, a hotel against similar hotels. A score of 70 means your building is more efficient than 70% of similar properties nationwide.

03 · WHERE IT'S POSTEDThe display requirement

The grade has to be physically posted at every public entrance of the building. The display has to follow a specific NYC-prescribed format — letter grade prominent, ENERGY STAR score below, year of the rating, and the LL33 disclaimer text. The placard must be at least 8.5" x 11", visible from the entrance, and replaced annually as new ratings come in.

Failure to post: $1,250 violation, with potential daily accruals for continued non-compliance. (Smaller penalty than missing LL84 itself, but it adds up.)

04 · WHY IT MATTERSThe market signal

For most buildings, the LL33 grade is the only public-facing energy data tenants and visitors ever see. It shapes:

  • Tenant perception — corporate tenants increasingly screen on energy grades. A "D" grade in the lobby of a Class A office is a leasing problem.
  • Lender pricing — green-loan and PACE financing are often gated on energy grade. Some lenders charge a higher rate for D-grade collateral.
  • Resale signaling — buyers increasingly include the LL33 grade in due diligence summaries. A D in 2026 is going to weigh on a 2030 sale.
  • LL97 risk proxy — a D grade isn't a perfect predictor of LL97 risk, but it's correlated. If your building scores low on energy efficiency, you're more likely to exceed your LL97 emissions cap.

05 · HOW TO IMPROVE THE GRADEThe retrofits that move the needle

The LL33 grade is computed from energy and water use intensity (EUI / WUI). You can move the grade by reducing consumption. Common interventions, ranked by typical ROI:

  • HVAC controls + commissioning — typically 5–15% energy reduction. Often pays back in 2–4 years. Biggest grade movement for the cost.
  • Lighting retrofits to LED — 30–60% lighting energy reduction. Generally already done in NYC commercial.
  • Window retrofits / film — 5–10% reduction in HVAC loads. Capex-heavy, ROI 7–15 years.
  • Boiler tuning + replacement — for buildings still on aging gas/oil boilers, replacement can drop EUI by 20%+ if combined with controls.
  • Heat pumps — full electrification, biggest LL97 win, also boosts ENERGY STAR score significantly.

For most NYC buildings, the path from C to B (or D to C) is HVAC-controls-driven. The path from B to A is harder — usually requires substantive retrofits.

06 · LL33 vs LL95The amendment that nobody remembers

LL95 of 2019 amended LL33's grading thresholds (this is the current scale shown above). Some older lobby placards still reflect the original LL33 of 2018 thresholds. If your placard hasn't been updated since 2019, it's potentially out of compliance even if the grade letter is technically correct.

07 · BOTTOM LINELL33 in one paragraph

Local Law 33 is the public energy grade — A, B, C, D, F — posted at every public entrance of NYC buildings over 25,000 sq ft. It's derived from your ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager score (which comes from LL84 benchmarking data). It increasingly affects tenant perception, lender pricing, and resale value. The grade improves with HVAC controls + commissioning more than any other intervention. Your grade is essentially your LL84 data made visible to the public — improve LL84, improve your grade.

Related

— Data & sources

The figures in this article come from ViolationWatch's analysis of New York City building-violation records — more than 15 million violations across DOB, HPD, ECB/OATH, 311 and DOT. Explore the full data, borough breakdowns, fine trends, and downloadable dataset in our NYC Building Violations Statistics report.

— Stop looking things up manually

Every violation, complaint, and fine at your building — the moment it appears in any source. $9/month per building. Try the free lookup or start a 7-day trial.

— Monitor this continuously

Real-time DOB coverage for your buildings

DOB monitoring

— Never miss a violation again

Catch NYC violations
the moment they exist.

ViolationWatch monitors DOB, HPD, ECB, OATH, FDNY, 311 and four more agencies in real time — for every building you add.

Start 7-day free trial Run a free address check