While the ambitious plans for UB2020 are being scaled back or delayed, at least one component of the plan is moving forward. The $46 million, 64,000 sq.ft. Educational Opportunity Center is being built on Ellicott Street, just south of Goodell. It will connect to the UB Downtown Gateway Complex, the former M.Wile Factory building.
A ceremonial ground breaking was held last September, but actual construction is just now getting underway. The delay was finance related.
Savarino Companies has been retained to build the facility. According to the firm’s president and CEO Sam Savarino, structural steel will be going up in July and the complex will be completed in Fall 2012. The building will be LEED-certified.
The new EOC building will replace its current location at 465 Washington Street and allow the EOC to significantly expand its services, which include programming in remedial and academic preparation, as well as specific job training programs in allied health, life sciences, information technology and environmental industries. Currently more than 2,000 people take part in UB’s EOC services annually.
Designed by Holt Architects of Ithaca under the oversight of the State University Construction Fund, the new EOC building will be constructed primarily of environmentally friendly, durable fiber cement panels and glass. The design will feature large window frames and open stairways that bring natural light into the building, and offer faculty, staff and students dynamic views of the city.