Morse Diesel to continue CUNY Graduate Center construction

Real Estate Weekly, Sept 2, 1998

Morse Diesel assumed responsibility for the project from AJ Contracting Company in May for the interior rehabilitation and reconstruction of the landmark building. The construction phase, which is approximately 50 percent complete, includes over $45 million worth of interior redesign and additions to the nine floors, basement and sub-basement that comprise the building's 580,000 square feet. Completion of the project is expected by June 1999.

The new CUNY Graduate Center will house Graduate School and Faculty facilities, including the broadcast studios for CUNY-TV, a library, a theater, music studios, classrooms, administrative offices and an on-site day-care center. One of the most noticeable additions to the new Graduate Center will be two huge skylights. One 75 x 75 foot atrium, constructed on top of the ninth floor roof, allows natural light into. the eighth floor student dining area, and a second 7 x 90 foot skylight allows daylight into the ninth floor executive office space. The dining facility will have a seating capacity of approximately 342.

Structurally, MDI is making other bold alterations to the historic design of the original property. Columns throughout a portion of the bottom floor have been removed to create large, open space for an auditorium and a recital hail. Enormous trusses will support the suspended weight of the first two floors, as well as loads from the upper stories of the building. Over 900 existing columns are to be modified and incorporated into the new Graduate Center's structural design throughout the building, after they are refurbished and enclosed in new casings. The third and seventh floors of the building will have soundproof walls, allowing for private rehearsal spaces for music students and their instructors.

An Illustrious Past

Opened in 1906 as Fifth Avenue's first department store, B. Altman's Fifth Avenue building alluded to palazzo-like mansions in the grandeur of its monumental scale. In keeping with the respectable size and simplicity of its design, architects Trowbridge & Livingston kept ornamentation minimal. Architectural details such as column capitals and window surrounds have been removed in the years since the store first opened its doors. Monumental Ionic columns, which form a two-story colonnade around the building, are supported by nearly human-sized pedestals.