Gruzen Samton Architects to modernize courthouse. (Design and Development).

Gruzen Samton Architects Planners & Interior Designers, LLP, with Weidlinger Associates, an international Structural engineering firm, and the MEP engineering firm, Flack+ Kurtz, have been awarded a contract to modernize the existing Emanuel Celler U.S. Courthouse at 225 Cadman Plaza East in Brooklyn, NY

The $49 million renovation will include a seismic retrofit, blast protection, exterior window replacement, selective interior work, and an upgrade of the HVAC, plumbing, fire protection and electrical systems, and modernization of the electronic security and elevator systems.

The design stage of the project is expected to start in late February 2002 with an anticipated project completion date in 2007.

Gerry Vasisko, the Partner-in-Charge of the project for Gruzen Samton LLP, said "This renovation will complete the three phase expansion of the federal court complex in downtown Brooklyn.

"The Emanuel Celler Courthouse is one of the central Courthouses in Brooklyn and has desperately needed renovations for quite some time," commented Joong Lee, Weidlinger's Partner in Charge for the Cadman Plaza Courthouse. "With all the tragedy and chaos in the world, to be able to enhance the appeal and protection of this courthouse, a symbol of American law and order, makes it an interesting and intense project."

"The existing mechanical and electrical systems at 225 Cadman Plaza are forty years old - very maintenance intensive and archaic by today's standards," says James Standish, PE, CIAQ, and project executive for Flack + Kurtz. 'This modernization project provides an opportunity to design new systems that will meet the court system's high technology needs and mirror the GSA's sustainable design goals by promoting improved indoor environmental quality, high operational efficiency, lower maintenance costs and high reliability."