Core Strength
Gilbane has several projects under way in its core education and health care sectors. These include a joint venture with LiRo on the $375-million University at Buffalo School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. Set for completion in December 2016, the school is currently the city's largest project.
Major K-12 projects, which account for about 21% of Gilbane's active work in the tristate region, include the two-phase, $1.2-billion Rochester School Modernization Program. Gilbane is the program manager on the $325-million first phase.
One of the firm's most challenging recent projects was its joint venture with McKissack on the Henry Carter facility. Work required a gut renovation of the former North General Hospital in Harlem and construction of a 164-bed nursing facility to accommodate the relocation of patients from Roosevelt Island's Coler-Goldwater facility.
The job's 36-month construction schedule had to be compressed to just 18 months to meet New York City's mandate to break ground on Roosevelt Island's Cornell Applied Science Center by the end of 2013, the company says. The joint venture used a form of integrated project delivery that included proactive preconstruction to complete the project on time.
Bill Gilbane says the company's regional revenue should rise to $985 million by year-end, mostly through expansion in such markets as commercial, mixed-use, residential high-rise, sports and entertainment.
To that end, the firm's largest project to break ground in 2013 was in the cultural space. Gilbane is the construction manager on the $70-million restoration, expansion and modernization of Kings Theatre, a historic performance space in Brooklyn. The firm is restoring the marquee and the terra-cotta and brick facades of the landmark theater built in 1929 and is doing a major rehabilitation of the interior spaces that includes significant plaster and wood repair.
The Martinez + Johnson Architecture-designed building will also be expanded to 105,000 sq ft from its original 85,000 sq ft and include a two-story addition in the back of the stage so the theater can be used as a live performance venue. When completed this December, the theater is expected to host 200 to 250 live performances a year.
Internal Workings
"Their internal culture creates community and loyalty," says Joseph Brancato, managing principal at architect Gensler, a longtime project collaborator of Gilbane. "That's important to our clients."
Most recently, the firms teamed up on the Hajjar STEM Center at New Jersey's Dwight Englewood School. The $20-million, Gensler-designed project broke ground on June 3 and is scheduled for completion by July 2015. Gensler and Gilbane are also bidding together on a design-build project in New York City, but would not provide further details.
