The SUNY Construction Fund has chosen LPCiminelli, a Buffalo commercial construction company, to build the first part of UB's new School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences in downtown Buffalo.
The SUNY Construction Fund awarded LPCiminelli a contract worth approximately $52.05 million. LPCiminelli placed the lowest bid among three construction companies.
The campus is relocating from UB's South Campus to the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus at Main and High Streets. The eight-story, 540,000-square-foot building is a part of the UB 2020 initiative. The plan is to place UB among the top research universities in the country and is the most ambitious transformation for the university since it joined the SUNY system in 1962, according UB's website.
UB 2020 is part of NYSUNY 2020, which Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed into law in 2011. The legislation is intended to help UB and other New York public universities maintain affordable tuition and improve academic quality for students.
LPCiminelli will take over the first phase of construction for the downtown campus, which consists of excavation, support of excavation, foundations, structural steel and complete frame-up.
The response to the award of the contract has been positive, according to the UB Director of Facilities Planning and Design Kevin Thompson.
"They are a well-known local contractor with the capacity to construct this first phase," Thompson said in an email.
The SUNY Construction Fund is in charge of the contracts for the project, reviewing bids and providing funding.
The new medical school is scheduled to debut in the fall of 2016. Private philanthropy and state funding is financing the $375 million campus.
Thompson said installation and excavation will begin in April.
Phase two, which includes fa?\0xA4ade, roof, completion of interior, all plumbing and mechanical and electrical systems, will be put out to bid in late spring and UB will choose the contractor by fall.
The last phase will involve "F, F and E," meaning furniture, fixtures and equipment. The new medical school will include state-of-the-art medical equipment for labs and other facilities.
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