SUNY Ulster's Kingston Center Opens with Ribbon Cutting Ceremony
Two years after Sophie Finn Elementary School closed due to declining enrollment, the Mary’s Avenue building welcomes students again! The 33,000-square-foot school reopened Tuesday in a ribbon-cutting ceremony as the Kingston Center of SUNY Ulster.
The overall goal of this $7.8 million project was to modernize, renovate and improve the building and site as a functional, energy-efficient, code-compliant, and attractive facility. The project also involved bringing the existing building and surrounding site up to current standards, codes, and regulations to house the satellite campus functions of SUNY Ulster.
The facility is the new home for the police basic training course. Police recruits will now have showers and locker rooms, which are were not previously available. The Kingston Center will also have 17 instructional spaces, where courses for adults and seniors will be offered. It’s new energy-efficient windows, heating, and cooling systems, as well as LED lighting, are features that help to make the facility the greenest building in the county. With the Kingston Center located across the street from Health Alliance Hospital and almost next door to Kingston High School, it is expected to be the cornerstone for new economic development in the area. It will improve access to higher education to inner-city youth, support the revitalization of midtown Kingston and give Kingston High School students easy access to college courses.
The new design included a redesigned entrance and lobby; café-lounge; modernized classrooms and laboratories; new outdoor lighting, pedestrian walkways, and an outside terrace space for students and employees; 115 new parking spaces utilizing green storm water design (pervious paving); energy-efficient systems, including heating, lighting and windows; an elevator and other modifications to ensure ADA compliance and all safety and health codes are met; and sustainable design practices and green building features.
Read more:
