Phase II of Cornell Health is advancing. A lot of the progress in the couple of months has focused on retrofitting the existing 1957 and 1979 additions – there will be a new three-story wing on the northeast side of the building, but it looks like only the foundation and subsurface utilities have been completed. New steel has been built on the 1979 wing, and rough window openings have been punched into the northern face. Meanwhile, the 1957 wing sports some new and very big panes of glass – recall that the building used to sport three levels of window bands separated by beige concrete panels. These large panes give the effect of a squatter, smaller structure, even though the external dimensions of the wing haven’t changed. The new entrance is still being built out. Looking closely, one can see new steel stud walls going into the interior as the old wings get completely gutted to meet the needs of a 21st century health center.
The renovations and new 18,000 SF northeast wing should be complete by August 2017. The $55 million project is being built by The Pike Company’s Syracuse office.
That new glass on the old building looks fairly nice so far; maybe one of those rare instances of “better than the rendering”.