NEW YORK CITY — The doors to the Brooklyn STEAM Center have officially opened; a new hub to provide career technical training to students from eight local NYC public high schools in a rigorous professional setting.

Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation (BNYDC) joined Deputy Mayor Glen, NYC Schools Chancellor Carranza and Brooklyn Borough President Eric L. Adams on Feb. 11, 2019 for the celebratory ribbon-cutting.  

The innovative model, a partnership between BNYDC and NYC DOE, with support from Brooklyn Borough President Eric L. Adams, is the first-of-its-kind in New York City and takes the Career Technical Education model a step further, bringing students interested in cutting-edge manufacturing and design fields closer to companies in need of highly-skilled workers.

The $17 million Brooklyn STEAM Center, supported with $12 million from NYC DOE and $5 million from Borough President Adams, will serve as a learning center for up to 300 high school juniors and seniors interested multiple industries, including computer science, design and engineering, culinary arts, construction technology, and film and media.

The program seeks to help students develop skills and create pathways to careers in growing industries.

The 30,000-square-foot Brooklyn STEAM Center sits on the third floor of Brooklyn Navy Yard’s newly-renovated Building 77, featuring professional work spaces and equipment for each of the career pathways, including a professional kitchen, a sound stage, multiple computer labs, and construction and fabrication shops.  

The STEAM Center will advance a model for career and technical education that more closely ties industry professionals and employers to students and educators.

Students from eight Brooklyn public high schools will attend the STEAM Center for two-year programs during their junior and senior year, spending half of their time at their home high schools and spending the other half of their time at STEAM developing skills within one of five industry pathways. They will apply these skills directly by completing projects in a real-world environment, taught by teachers with experience in their respective fields.

Students will earn industry-specific certifications and develop relationships with leading industry professionals within the Yard through tours, interviews, job shadowing, and internships.

Upon graduation, these students will be equipped with the skills, networks, and portfolios needed to pursue their field of interest, whether through immediate entry into the workforce, furthering their education setting, or both.

The STEAM Center will work hand-in-hand with BNYDC’s Employment Center, which prepares local residents to apply for and secure jobs with Navy Yard tenants as well as provides internships to young people in several industries including manufacturing, media, design and more.

New York-based multidisciplinary design firm WXY was selected as the architect for the new learning center and began work on the new center in Fall 2018.

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NEW YORK — The new Pre-K Center 613 facility was recently selected as one of the winners of the Concrete Industry Board’s Award of Merit for best design in concrete.

Located at 369 93rd Street in Brooklyn, the new three-story school is sited in a dense urban block surrounded by residential buildings, developed by the New York City School Construction Authority and designed by MDSzerbaty Associates Architecture as part of Mayor Bill DeBlasio’s “Pre-K-For-All” initiative.

“We are grateful for the challenges given to us by the SCA to consider alternate systems for the structure and envelope to expedite construction,” said Michael Freedman, principal of MDSzerbaty Associates Architecture. “Our use of a concrete structure, prefabricated precast wall panels and curtain wall resulted in a high quality, energy-efficient building that was constructed in record time.”

The rest of the project’s team includes: Thornton Tomasetti (Weidlinger Associates, Inc.) as structural engineer of record, NYC SCA Construction Management as construction manager, T. Moriarty & Son, Inc. as general contractor, Darcon Construction, Inc. as concrete subcontractor (foundation and superstructure), BPDL Inc. (Béton Préfabriqué du Lac) as concrete subcontractor (precast), U.S. Concrete-New York as ready mix concrete supplier, and Future Tech Consultants of NY, Inc. as the field testing laboratory.

The building is a concrete structure with a highly efficient precast concrete, curtain wall and metal rain screen envelope that exceeds energy code requirements. Expansive glass surfaces with shade control brings significant natural light to interiors.

The school is also honored for its outstanding design in the 2018 American School and University Architectural Portfolio, a premier showcase celebrating the best in educational design.

The school provides 14 classrooms for 252 students and includes administration offices, a community room and a clerestory-lit multi-purpose room at the cellar level. The interiors use a variety of materials that tie together common and classroom spaces with a soft yet vibrant color palette. The front yard setback provides space for outdoor play areas.

To shorten the construction duration, a reinforced concrete frame with architectural insulated precast wall panels were chosen for their ability to be rapidly constructed and erected.

The building is a Certified NYC Green School, equivalent or greater than LEED for Schools Certification.

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The 4,575-square foot pool is located in a campus building on Harrison Street and the West Side Highway in lower Manhattan. “We performed extensive aesthetic and infrastructure renovations to the 10,500-square foot facility, including work on the steampipe network and the concrete structural system underneath the pool,” stated Kevin G. Harney, Stalco’s Principal and CFO.

While the pool was taken out of service during construction, the team was working during the school year (as well as over holidays) in an occupied building on a busy college campus within a crowded city. Thus, security of access and construction safety were of the utmost importance. “First, we completely fenced off the entire construction area, making sure students and faculty could not enter the site. The next step was to remove two large 5’x12′ windowpanes from the pool area on the Harrison Street side. With this, we created independent access to the construction area,” said Stalco’s Christopher Caulfield, a superintendent on the project. The Stalco team was careful to ensure that this independent access did not interfere with foot traffic.

In addition to Stalco, the project team included construction manager AECOM; the architect and engineer of record was MP Engineers & Architects; Genesys Engineering P.C. was the mechanical, electrical and plumbing (MEP) engineer; Eldor Contracting Corporation was the electrical contractor; Premier Mechanical Services, Inc. served as mechanical contractor; ARA Plumbing Corporation was the plumbing contractor; Norberto Pools served as the pool contractor; and the waterproofing and tile work subcontractor was Baybrent Tile Corporation.

The scope of work also included building a new staff office, mounting all-new diving platforms, renovating a storage room, and installing two new ADA-compliant S.R. Smith’s handicapped lifts to accommodate swimmers in wheelchairs. The lifts are individually operated with a system of button controls. The team installed a competition-level timing system with touchpads, by Colorado Time.

For the most part, the lighting above the pool remains the same. “We cleaned and, where necessary, repaired the existing fixtures, which are long tubular lights designed for installation over difficult-to-access areas,” said Adele Todisco, Stalco’s assistant project manager. The lighting sources are located on both ends of the long tubes, while a series of mirrors and diffusers in the middle portion of the tube serve to spread the light throughout. Maintenance workers simply access the lighting sources at each end from the walkways around the pool when bulbs need to be changed. However, the team did install a new array of emergency lights.

Headquartered in Islandia, N.Y., with a regional office in New York City, Stalco Construction, Inc. is a full-service general contracting and construction management firm active in the Greater New York area and on Long Island. Building Design & Construction magazine recently ranked Stalco as the 101st largest general contractor and the 59th largest construction manager in the United States.

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NEW YORK — Mayor Bill de Blasio, Schools Chancellor Richard A. Carranza, Deputy Mayor Alicia Glen, Council Member Rafael Espinal and Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams have broken ground on a new school facility in East New York. The new state-of-the-art building will provide 1,000 seats for pre-K through eighth grade students, and will open for the 2020-2021 school year.

“For too long in our city, developers wrote the rules while government stood on the sidelines and caused working people to become displaced and many neighborhoods to go underserved,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio. “We believe every zip code deserves high-quality education and are proud to deliver on our promise to the people of East New York with this new state of the art school, which will provide enough seats for future generations to come.”

The NYC school system is the largest school district in the U.S., with over 1.1 million students currently enrolled across the city’s five boroughs: Brooklyn, the Bronx, Manhattan, Queens, and Staten Island. Brooklyn boasts the largest student enrollment across all five boroughs, with a total of 342,622 students reported in the 2017-2018 school year. As of September 2017 there were reportedly 1,843 schools within the city’s Department of Education.

Located at 3269 Atlantic Avenue, the building will be fully ADA-accessible and will include two state-of-the-art science labs, a gymnasium and two exercise rooms, occupational therapy and physical therapy spaces, two art rooms, a music room with sound-proof practice space, a 1,000-square-foot rooftop greenhouse, funded by Council Member Espinal, and a school yard with a basketball court, play equipment, and benches and trees. The playground will reportedly be open to the public during non-school hours.

“This new state-of-the-art-building will be a remarkable asset to Brooklyn students and families,” said Schools Chancellor Richard A. Carranza. “I thank our partners for their collaboration, and look forward to seeing students here in just two years. We’re continuing to invest in high-quality schools and school buildings that give students the resources and opportunities they need to succeed.”

The new school construction is due in part to the East New York Neighborhood Plan, a comprehensive plan designed to promote affordable housing and economic development. The plan was developed through a years-long, robust community planning process which involved close collaboration with residents, stakeholders and elected officials — and that commits $267 million in capital projects and services for East New York residents.

The elementary and middle school is among the most important commitments made to the East New York community as part of the plan, which was adopted by the City Council in 2016. According to the plan, construction of the new 1,000-seat school will alleviate school overcrowding and provide for a growing population.

“This new state-of-the-art school building will bring excitement and vibrancy to all students who come through these doors,” said Lorraine Grillo, President and CEO of the NYC School Construction Authority. “This new space will include all the amenities we expect in a world class educational facility and we are proud to be bringing this school to East New York.”

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Yes, yes and yes thanks to an ambitious effort to further sustainability efforts in New York City and it’s NYC Zero Waste Challenge, an initiative from the NYC Mayor’s Office that encourages waste-generating businesses to strive to reach zero waste to landfill and incineration. The New School, a progressive university with its main campus in New York City, has constructed a 16-story LEED Gold–certified University Center (UC). To date, the center is the only college or university to participate in the the NYC Zero Waste Challenge.

The center first opened in January 2014 and was then one of the most green-friendly academic institutions in the nation. Two years later, the NYC Mayor’s Office invited The New School to participate in its Zero Waste Challenge.

“Achieving the city’s ambitious climate change agenda will require meeting our zero waste goals. The Zero Waste Challenge has proven to be a successful way to highlight effective actions to reduce waste, diverting over 36,000 tons of waste. This should inspire every New Yorker to do their part and commit to sending zero waste to landfill,” said Daniel Zarrilli, senior director for Climate Policy and Programs and Chief Resilience Officer for the Office of the Mayor, in a statement issued when the challenge was first issued.

As part of the challenge, The New School contributed data and other valuable feedback to the city, documenting its experience as a multibuilding campus and the vicissitudes of its various waste streams, according to a post on The University Network blog.

The university has also retrofitted signs on campus disposal receptacles that better identify where recyclables, compostables and materials intended for the landfill should be tossed. Additionally, the university launched a program dubbed “Good As New,” which is a “a reuse and waste reduction initiative that encourages all New School students to donate reusable school supplies and materials at the end of each semester so that these items stay out of landfills and can be used by other students in the future,” according to the school’s website.

In all, the UC enjoys about 360,000 square feet of floor space, which includes classrooms, a cafeteria and a cafe in addition to a 600-student residence hall and a 800-seat auditorium. It boasts smart lighting and climate systems throughout, a cogeneration plant and is topped by a green roof. The university’s investments are also green, as it entirely divested from fossil fuels, which required shedding all related investments, stocks and bonds.

The New School will also deepen its green-themed efforts this-coming May 2018 when the Tishman Environment and Design Center at The New School will partner with the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives in hosting the Design, Justice, and Zero Waste Conference and Research Collaborative. The goal of the partnership is to address the impact of production, consumption and waste on environmental justice communities, workers and vulnerable populations.

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Though groans about gentrification in the Big Apple echoed off the island of Manhattan into the surrounding boroughs years ago, the inclusion of an elementary school with the footprint of an approximately 300,000-square-foot Greenwich Street, Manhattan, address signals something of a sea change for the city’s approach to development — especially in Lower Manhattan, which continues to be one of the city’s premier development sites. The project also includes the adaptive reuse of the landmarked Robert and Anne Dickey House as well as 7,500 square feet of street level retail space and construction of a new handicapped accessible subway entrance on Trinity Place, in addition to the school and 90 luxury condominium homes.

TPHI and New York City School Construction Authority (SCA) entered into an agreement that provides for the design and construction of the core and shell of a pre-kindergarten through 5th grade school. The elementary school will occupy the first eight floors of the project, including the landmarked Dickey House, “a Federal-style mansion built from 1809 to 1810, making it one of the city’s oldest houses, even predating the New York City street grid of 1811,” according to the blog Ephemeral New York, which chronicles the changing face of the city.

TPHI invests in, manages, develops and/or redevelops real estate assets beyond New York City. It also owns a shopping center in West Palm Beach, Fla., and big box retail locations in Paramus, N.J., as well as a 50 percent interest in The Berkley, a multifamily property located in Brooklyn’s Williamsburg.

“Under this agreement, the SCA will purchase a condominium interest in the project and at substantial completion will finish the interior construction,” a TPHI spokesperson indicated in a statement.

To that end, the planned condominium homes, along with the subway improvements, are likewise scheduled to be completed by 2020.

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The $18 million facility is being constructed just north of the university’s current UB Stadium, and it will serve as an indoor practice facility, according to The Spectrum, the university’s student publication. Rochester, N.Y.-based LeChase Construction is serving as the general contractor, while New York-based CHA is serving as the architect.

The new 92,000-square-foot multi-use facility will house a full-size football field as well as a 6,000-foot rubber track for sprint practice, and long jump and pole vault pits. It will also feature motorized suspended softball-hitting tunnels, according to UB Now, another university publication. While there were rumors that the facility would only be used by Division I athletes and club sports, it will actually be available for all recreation programming and intramurals.

Because it’s housed indoors, the fieldhouse will help with year-round training. It will also help with future recruiting now that UB will offer competitive athletic facilities compared to other Mid-American Conference schools.  “It’s a very exciting time for us to get a fieldhouse,” Football Head Coach Lance Leipold told UB Now. “This has been a topic of conversation for 15 to 20 years, and to finally have this opportunity to provide our student athletes with an offseason place where they can work on their skills is tremendous. It’s going to benefit the whole athletic department, whether it be in a practice setting, a strength-and-conditioning session or student athletes working out on their own. It’s going to benefit each team in very unique ways.”

The facility is being built with $3 million in donations from the Murchie family (and some football revenue). It will be named after the Murchies — Tunney Murchie is a former UB student athlete and played for the school’s now-retired Division I hockey team.

Construction on the fieldhouse is scheduled to be completed in spring 2019.

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The 13,000-square-foot space features a six-lane USA Swimming–certified pool with bleachers, locker rooms and a lobby gathering space. The lobby and pool spaces are set behind a tall ribbon of north-facing glass, showcasing the adjacent treetops and hillside, and reinforcing the building’s connection to other athletic facilities on campus. Specifically, it was constructed with pillar supports that allow students to see the view of the Frank J. Bertino Memorial Field from the top of the hill. Shawmut Design and Construction built the facility, working closely with designer PBDW Architects — both of which have offices in New York.

“It was an exhilarating experience for our team to rise to the challenge of building the center on top of a steep, rocky hill,” said Tony Miliote, Shawmut’s vice president, in a statement. “The complex logistics were well worth the effort, resulting in a facility that not only maintains the area’s scenic beauty, but will allow both students and visitors to enjoy a state-of-the-art aquatic center.”

Shawmut carefully selected materials with durability in mind due to the corrosive nature of the pool environment. The space features multiple sustainable elements, including a highly efficient building envelope, reduced energy loads by capturing heat from the pool dehumidification systems, water use reduction, storm water quantity control, use of recycled and regional materials, and increased indoor air quality, according to a statement.

Shawmut is also working on renovations to Riverdale’s Marc A. Zambetti ’80 Athletic Center and recently completed the Lower School’s new Upper Learning Building on the River Campus in August 2016. The new Upper Learning Building replaced the former Perkins Building, with a design that similarly connects students to the outdoors. It allows all third- through fifth-grade classes to learn in one location for greater collaboration.

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Arnhold Hall is home to the university’s jazz school and it will soon house the Mannes College of Music, currently located 70 blocks away in the city’s Upper West Side. Mannes will occupy roughly 39,500 square feet within the building and will use specific materials, colors and graphics to give it a more distinct architectural identity within the shared space. Mannes’ 300 students will enjoy new custom built classrooms, practice rooms and performance spaces all outfitted with state-of-the-art sound technology, as well as enhanced opportunities for collaboration with other New School divisions. As Mannes Prep students as young as four years of age will also be using the new facilities, spaces will be flexible and accommodate a variety of programs and learners.
The renovated facility will also become the new home of The New School for Drama, as well as a unique “glass box” theater on the ground level. This glass-encased venue will allow passersby to catch a glimpse of the performing arts action from the street.

Establishing these new classrooms and practice and performance spaces will require the first through fourth floors of the Arnhold Building to be largely gutted. The top floor will undergo an extensive renovation and upward expansion in the project’s second phase to accommodate an orchestra-sized practice room.

Deborah Berke Partners of New York will develop the building’s interior and furniture, fixtures and equipment program, and crafted the Arnhold Building master plan. Akustiks of South Norwalk, Conn., will serve as the acoustical engineer and Robert Silman Associates of Washington is the structural engineer.

“Everyone at The New School is revved up about the convergence of Mannes moving to Arnhold Hall, the current renovation and exciting future plans for the building, and the coming together of the three performing arts schools into one brand new division: The College of The Performing Arts,” said Richard Kessler, executive dean for performing arts at The New School speaking with DNAinfo New York on Feb. 25. “All of this will allow us to expand opportunities in world class performing arts education and performances, while partnering with the rest of The New School to engage the much broader community [more] than ever before.”

The total cost of renovations and an estimated completion date for the project have not yet been disclosed, though Mannes College of Music is expected to move into its new home by fall 2015.
Following the relocation, the existing Mannes College of Music building will be acquired by the private, PK-8 Manhattan Country School, which is currently based on the city’s Upper East Side. The move to the six-story, nearly 100-year-old building, as well as the subsequent renovation, will nearly double the school’s square footage.

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If approved, the plan will create new jobs and improve educational facilities throughout Maryland, O’Malley said. He has emphasized school construction since he first ran for governor in 2006.

“To the extent you can go deeper at a time like this, you can benefit schools and help put people to work,” said Michael Sanderson, executive director of the Maryland Association of Counties.

O’Malley announced his proposal at Germantown Elementary School in Annapolis. He last visited the site during a campaign in late 2005, when he used the school as an example of inadequate school funding.

Since taking office in 2007, O’Malley has proposed to meet or exceed a 2004 goal of spending at least $250 million a year on school construction, most of it from borrowing.

During his first year in office, O’Malley proposed $400 million in spending, a level he has not matched since. If the most recent proposal amount is approved, he says it would bring the administration’s six-year school construction commitment to nearly $2 billion.

The proposal includes $15.3 million for a bond program that funds school improvements and $6 million for the Aging Schools Program.

In 2011, lawmakers approved $250 million for school construction. An additional $47.5 million was earmarked from an increase in the state’s sales tax on alcohol.

Thomas Himler, deputy chief administrative officer for budget, finance and administration in Prince George County, said the county’s expected share of the $350 million would put it in the range of what it is seeking from the state for improvements.

Still, some districts are underfunded. “We have a host of schools where people still don’t have gyms, where they are sitting in closets, where they don’t get fed until 2 p.m. because the cafeteria isn’t big enough,” said Montgomery County Council President Roger Berliner.

Some Republican legislators believe additional borrowing to pay for construction will only harm the state by increasing pressure to raise property taxes.

“He (O’Malley) ought to get a cease-and-desist order from the taxpayers of Maryland,” said House Minority Leader Anthony O’Donnell.

In response to O’Donnell’s remark, Raquel Guillory, O’Malley’s spokeswoman, said, “For him, it’s not about how many jobs can be created, it’s about how many negative things can be said about proposals the governor is making.”

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