With construction dating as far back as 1872, what was once the convent of the Episcopal Sisters of Saint Mary’s has been part of the history and heritage of Peekskill, NY for nearly 150 years. Built into the hillside overlooking the Hudson River, this century-old convent and chapel has been entirely restored in modern luxury as The Abbey Inn & Spa by Ginsburg Development Companies. While maintaining much of the timeless exterior, the reimagining of the interior for the luxurious suites, event spaces, and full-service spa has earned it the #3 rank on the “10 Best New Hotels” list by USA Today.

This project combined the inherent challenges of designing large, non-uniform spaces with working off existing (and dated) construction. Century-old wood framed floors were reinforced to support various new, non-stacking bearing walls needed to accommodate the ambitious new layout. Catching up on decades of structural code compliance while designing for new heavily loaded spaces required integrating new steel framing, sometimes supported on a combination of existing rubble masonry and fresh concrete piers tied into bedrock. Never knowing what the field team would uncover certainly kept us on our toes.

Our team enjoyed this unique adaptive reuse project with the team at Ginsburg, which was a big deviation from their typical “new construction” projects consisting of mid-rise and high-rise multi-family buildings.

The Selby in Westbury is an expansive 500,000+ square foot 5-story building over 2 levels of covered parking in the heart of Nassau County on Long Island. A combination of luxury apartments and hotel rooms share top-notch amenities in this unique mix of residential & commercial space. The Beechwood Organization is Long Island’s largest homebuilder and developer of sophisticated lifestyle communities.

In addition to the typical complexity associated with parking structures such as ramps and a recessed pool, the mixed-use nature of the superstructure presented its own challenges in accommodating the wide variety of hotel and apartment unit types and amenity spaces. Designing a structure which could allow for these spaces was facilitated by the increased capacity afforded by the light-gauge framing. As with many of our larger multifamily projects, having light-gauge bearing wall design firmly in our wheelhouse allows us to keep up with these taller and more ambitious structures where wood framing may not have been feasible.

Working alongside Ismael Leyva Architects of Manhattan for the first time, The Selby is just one of several large multifamily projects our team has designed for Beechwood in recent years. In addition to our expertise with both wood framed and light-gauge metal projects, they’ve grown to appreciate our practical designs and honest, straightforward communication.

Large multi-family structures in urban settings often present a unique set of challenges, including oblique footprints, varying entry elevations, and restrictive construction sequencing based on site access limitations. Our multi-family design team is well-versed to handle these types of challenges.

100 House at The Enclave, developed by BNE Real Estate Group, offers 4-stories of luxury residential units located just across the Hudson River from lower Manhattan and a short walk from Hoboken Terminal, one of NYC’s major transportation hubs. The elevated concrete podium accommodates the parking level while supporting a variety of amenity spaces including an outdoor bar and grill station, indoor lounges, a theatre, and a bowling alley.

Accommodating utility services is often a complicating factor in the design of foundation systems and making room for the site’s storm water retention basin under the parking garage required some out-of-the-box planning. The reinforced slab for the lid of the basin was designed using Cupolex stay-in-place formwork to avoid accessibility issues with the removal of traditional formwork.

We value our long-term relationships with both BNE and Minno & Wasko, the Architect of Record. It’s always a thrill to see our work come to life, especially on these challenging urban initiatives.

We have been working with Woodmont Properties on a variety of multi-family projects for nearly 10 years. The Woodmont Bay Club in Bayonne, NJ, offers renters in the NYC / NJ metro area upscale lifestyle amenities in a beautiful setting. The 4-story wood-frame structure sits on a 685’ long cast in-place concrete transfer slab over a parking garage, with 4 courtyards on the transfer deck, a 2-story clubhouse on the 1st floor, a 2-story lounge on the 3rd floor, and a rooftop deck. Over 1/3 of the foundation and transfer slab footprint was constructed previously. We re-used the existing foundation walls and column footings where feasible, relocated the elevator and stairs in the existing section, and retrofitted the remaining foundation as required.