Developers, subcontractors team up to construct unique
The new University Plaza Apartments at Binghamton University in Vestal, New York, are not what you think of when you hear the words “student housing.” With four-bedroom/four bath suites, some with soaring 20-foot ceilings, lofts, and exposed bar joists;
phone lines for every resident; high speed Internet in each room; and kitchens decked out with the latest appliances, these dwellings are decidedly 21st century. Designed to surround students with the comforts of home, they’re a far cry from those old homesickness-inducing college dormitories where students slept in bunk beds and cooked their dinner over two-burner hotplates.
Described as a gateway to the entire area, the University Plaza Apartments are part of a mixed-use development that includes restaurants, coffee shops, banks, retail stores, a state-of-the-art fitness center, and bus service to the university. “It’s a living
and learning community,” says Mickey Lloyd, vice president of project management for Ambling University Development Group, which developed the project in partnership with Newman Development Group (NDG). “When school starts, you show up with your TV, your computer, and your clothes, and you’re ready to go.”
The 186-unit project began in August 2004 and finished in July 2005, with students moving in the fall of 2005. Today the apartments are home to 700 students. The area is a thriving commercial center, bringing new vitality to a languishing center of old and outdated commercial establishments.
Bringing the Power
Equipping these 21st-century student apartments involved a web of electrical input and teledata, including fire alarm systems, air conditioning, cable TV, high-speed Internet, power for individual washer/dryer units in each apartment, and a sophisticated intrusion alarm with a panic button over each resident’s bed. The project also required separately metered electrical panels for every apartment. The panels, metering, and teledata cabling were provided by Graybar Electric. Matco worked with Aimee Szwalla on the design and implantation of the high-speed Internet, which was provided by Time Warner. The fire alarm system was provided by Simplex.
“We took care of everything,” says Mark Freije, Matco project manager. “There wasn’t a piece of wire pulled on the project that we didn’t pull.”
Dealing with the volume of electrical equipment and minute components required for each unit presented a special challenge. “There was a lot of repetition on the project, and we were installing the same systems time and time again,” says Freije. Matco Project
Foremen Tom Planavsky and Frank Broderick devised a good game plan by prepackaging all the components needed for each apartment. Each package had a number on it that corresponded to a master schedule. The materials were sent to the job site and
were there when work crews arrived.
“It was a big labor saving step,” says Freije. “The guys aren’t sorting through individual boxes every time. Everything was there in the room for them ready to go when they got there.”
Working Relationship
Freije describes the project as smooth sailing. “It was definitely a well planned-out project, which helped with implementation,” he says.
Matco and Northeast United (NEU), the general contractor on the project, were brought onboard at the planning stages. The companies were involved in initial budgeting and also had some input into the overall electrical design as well as figuring out the requirements necessary to support the significant teledata needs for the project. Matco was able to identify ways to streamline
utility input and reduce costs. One idea, for example, was to bring the Internet system in through the cable television rather than by a phone line-based system as originally envisioned. Utilizing the TV cable saved having to set up individual network hubs and switches.
Matco and NEU have a history of working well together.
“NEU Project Manager John Nicholich has a knack for keeping jobs running smoothly,” says Freije. “He does a great job coordinating and bringing together all the trades. We have target dates, and we actually beat those dates on John’s projects.”
Freije also praised the guidance of Ambling’s Mickey Lloyd. A construction executive with 36 years of experience in the business, Lloyd was able to bring input from many past projects. One specific example is the way he phased construction on the project so work could continue throughout the winter. Lloyd pulled from experience he had doing a project one winter in Minnesota in which crews continued working even as the mercury dipped to 45 degrees below zero. The key, Lloyd says, was to get the building shells in, with the windows on and the roof shingled, by the time winter set in. Then they brought in a portable heating system. “We could
get it to about 45 to 50 degrees inside, so everyone could still work. It didn’t matter what the weather was outside,” says Lloyd.
Gateway to Vestal
The University Plaza project has done more than just create a great living and learning environment for students. It’s also been a major economic stimulator for the area, bringing jobs, producing sales and income taxes, and reinvigorating commerce in the community.
The development helps attract students to the university and also “adds a new dimension to the community we live in, Vestal,” Binghamton University President Lois B. DeFleur said at the apartments’ ribbon-cutting ceremony. “We are very excited to have this as our gateway.” Visitors arriving from Binghamton see the plaza as they come into town.
At 4700 Vestal Parkway East, the complex includes four buildings. Buildings 100 and 200 are four stories with single-floor two- and four-bedroom apartments. Building 300 is a four story unit of one- and three-bedroom apartments. Building 400 houses four-bedroom apartments designed in the style of urban lofts with features like exposed joists, high ceilings, and half-floor bonus rooms overlooking the living rooms. The units have proven highly popular with students.
To build the apartments, NDG tore down several aging commercial structures, including a Grand Union grocery store, a bank (which was replaced with a new bank with two drive-through teller windows), and an old Ames department store. Ambling incorporated features of the existing Ames structure into the loft-style apartment units such as the old store’s ductwork. In giving tours of the development on opening day, NDG reminded visitors of the center’s history. “That was the Grand Union’s dairy section,” Barry Newman, member of NDG and owner of NEU said, pointing to a courtyard in the complex. During the course of Matco’s long-term
relationship with NDG and NEU, the companies have worked on several projects together.
The project brought money into the area even before it was built, according to Lloyd. Most of the several hundred people employed on the project were local. “You’ve got over 200 employees a day out there working; they’ve got to buy gas, food, tools,” says Lloyd.
The success of the project, Lloyd says, “was due to the proper selection of Northeast United and subs like Matco who were willing to do whatever it takes to get the job done even if it meant working longer days or work weeks.” He praised Matco’s “commitment to quality workmanship, being on time, and staying within budget. Everything a general contractor wants, Matco performs at an above-average level. We’d sign that group of subs up tomorrow to do another job.”