Elmhurst Educational Campus Repurposed Warehouse Transformed Into Four High Schools

SBLM converted an abandoned 200,000 sf former manufacturing warehouse into four high schools serving over 1,600 students, including a District 75 (special needs) school. The project was challenging since the structure of the building was cast in place concrete with dropped panel columns on twenty foot centers. SBLM revised the standard New York City School Construction Authority (NYCSCA) classroom module in order to meet building parameters. The new module allowed the team to incorporate flexible breakout spaces into the plan and use accented color and materials selections to establish separate identities for each high school. In order to remain sympathetic to the window patterns of the existing building, which was under the purview of the New York State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO), the pattern of muntins mirrored the proportions of the original steel windows. The concrete frame, with its existing reinforced concrete columns and two-way reinforced concrete slabs, was kept intact and refinished with a new coating and sealing system. The project team completed the design phase that included fully-coordinated construction documents in six months. Construction was completed in 16 months. The campus is now a state-of-the-art learning environment.