Developer�s Challenge to Construction: Innovate for Destiny
In Syracuse, N.Y., a developer with big ideas and pockets deep enough to pay for them is challenging his contractors to leap for a green, sustainable future. He has crews powering 70 pieces of equipment with the richest blend of biodiesel that temperatures will permit 100%, or B100 from May 1 through most of October. Up to 97% of construction waste will be recycled, and managers are piling on best-in-class information technology in a drive for paperless collaboration, equipment and materials tracking, GPS surveying and machine control, document management and communications. He also nurtures workforce development with generous pay, benefits and long-term commitments to career training.
Congel’s dreams are huge and futuristic. The vision is to create the nation’s largest sustainable shopping, hotel and event destination. But the starting point is a relatively straightforward LEED Gold expansion by 850,000 leasable sq ft of Pyramid Cos.’ 17-year-old Carousel Mall. The next phase, whose initial designs were released on Nov. 8, is a LEED Platinum, 39-story, 1,300-room, $450-million hotel on the shore of Lake Onondaga, N.Y. Financing is in negotiation but construction is expected to start within 18 months to comply with Destiny’s agreement with the local industrial development agency. A Destiny spokesman says the design is a collaboration; the architect of record is Buffalo, N.Y.-based MWT Architects’ Mark Tiedemann. Thornton Tomasetti, New York City, is the structural engineer on the project.