111 West Avenue Renovations

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Photos by Stockstudiosphotography.com

The Empire State College Foundation purchased the former Grand Union in March, design began in April, and MLB was selected as Construction Manager in May. MLB's careful planning and scheduling, accurate budgeting, and smart value engineering during the short four-month pre-construction phase led to an October start-up with substantial completion and partial occupancy in April, just six months later.

The interior is comprised of a number of colorful departmental "neighborhoods" for faculty and staff offices, meeting/conference rooms, and distance learning classrooms. Twelve new skylights daylight the interior spaces through attractive fabric hoods. A spacious entry lobby welcomes visitors and introduces them to a variety of roof lines and interesting shapes. The former warehouse area to the rear now serves as a print shop, one of the nation's largest college bookstores, and a very active mailroom and distribution center.

This classic example of intelligent adaptive reuse features a Geothermal heating and cooling system supported by a New York State Energy Resource Development Agency ( NYSERDA) grant, and meets numerous LEED Certified Level requirements.