Syracuse, NY - Students at Onondaga Community College will have another new building soon if Onondaga County legislators approve spending $8.45 million to help pay for it. There’s more to this building than just classrooms and a performance hall. Because the structure would be suspended across the gorge that divides campus, students and professors for the first time would...
This artist's rendering shows the proposed $18.9 million building that would span the gorge at Onondaga Community College, connecting both sides of campus.Syracuse, NY - Students at Onondaga Community College will have another new building soon if Onondaga County legislators approve spending $8.45 million to help pay for it.
There’s more to this building than just classrooms and a performance hall. Because the structure would be suspended across the gorge that divides campus, students and professors for the first time would have an indoor route across the divide.
The only way across the Furnace Brook gorge now is a bridge that is open to wind, rain and snow. For an addition to Ferrante Hall, OCC’s architects and engineers designed a narrow, two-story structure to span the campus-splitting gorge.
Alumni Steven Aiello, president of COR Development Co. and an OCC trustee, said he remembers frigid walks across the bridge in January. “Painful,” he said.
Aiello, who spoke to legislators Friday about the building project, lauded the design for its innovative use of otherwise unusable land and for tying together the two sides of campus.
“It’s a great way to handle it,” Aiello said at a meeting of the Ways and Means Committee, which gave preliminary approval to fund the project. “It’s really well done.”
The 44,000-square-foot addition would include classrooms, offices, a music recital hall and rehearsal rooms. Cannon Design architectural firm is collaborating with C&S Companies on the plans.
The county Legislature, which is responsible for half the $18.9 million cost, appropriated $2 million last year for engineering and architectural work. The Legislature will vote Aug. 3 on whether to bond for the remaining $16.9 million.
New York state will reimburse the county for half the cost, which makes the county’s remaining share $8.45 million.
Construction would take about 18 months. OCC is also building a new, 6,500-seat arena.
Contact Tim Knauss at tknauss@syracuse.com or 470-3023.