Renovation and adaptation specialists target NY market.

When Abe Lincoln and Thomas Jefferson needed facelifts (the monuments on Mount Rushmore that is), the nation turned to Einhorn Yaffee Prescott (EYP) for help. And when Merrill Lynch needed to create a reliable environment for its computers, it also turned to EYP.

So, given the fact that the New York market has the oldest and most technologically taxed building stock in the nation, it makes perfect sense that EYP--with its specialties in giving new life to older properties and mission critical engineering--is poised to take on the Big Apple and its corporate design needs.

"Our unique strength and our passion is our dedication to the integration of architecture, engineering and interior design," says principal Steven Einhorn, who with partners Eric Yaffee and Andy Prescott founded EYP in 1972. "For each project, we carefully knit together a group of in-house experts which allows us to create the optimal environment for each of our clients. The New York market provides us with limitless opportunities to tap all our capabilities for the design of visually enriching, functional and technologically sound environments."

Headquartered in Albany with offices in Los Angeles. Washington. D.C., Boston and White Plains, the 400 person firm moved into the New York City market just this summer by joining forces with long-standing and well-regarded City-based architects Mayers & Schiff Associates. This firm earned its reputation on a number of celebrated projects, including the design of the famous TKTS Pavilion in Times Square and the adjacent Renaissance Hotel. In addition, their corporate interiors work includes an impressive roster of prestigious clients such as advertising giant DDB Needham Ernst & Young and the UJA Federation.

Under the EYP umbrella, the New York City office now offers a wider menu of services and areas of expertise, along with the prestige and underlying critical mass that comes with its ranking as the 13th largest A/E firm in the country.

EYP's passion and creative design skills are best exemplified at DDB Needham Advertising's headquarters in Manhattan, where the Mayers & Schiff team began the extensive renovation and redesign of the firm's reception areas, creating the visually stimulating and innovative image that depicts the creative flavor of the firm.

"We are in the business of creativity and wanted the design of our offices to be as creative as our own projects," said Hal Scuft, executive vice president and general manager at DDB Needham Advertising. "We worked closely and intensively with Mayers & Schiff and Jorge Szenduich, the partner-in-charge of the redesign and renovation of our reception areas, resulting in the innovative and cutting-edge look we set out to achieve. Jorge and his team were such a critical tool in our first project and we developed a very strong and ongoing design and construction relationship. The EYP team is now continuing its work with us in the extensive renovation and design of our entire fifth floor office space, in addition to two other major projects in the works."

The "new" New York office also benefits from being spearheaded by corporate and institutional design veteran Hugh Williamson and Andy Wong. Until being named Principal and Partner-in-Charge of Marketing for EYP's New York office this summer, Williamson served as a senior executive at Hellmuth Obata and Kassabaum (HOK) and played a critical role in growing that firm's interior work for corporations in New York and globally.

Wong, also formerly a principal at HOK, heading their science and technology group prior to joining EYP, leads EYP's program, planning and management efforts on technology-driven projects.

"I've had tremendous insight into the design needs of large-scale corporate users in New York, and I am very confident that EYP holds a special place in this market," Williamson said. "We offer a unique solution for corporations that want their space to work visually and mechanically and technologically: a one-stop shop made up of specialists in the most challenging design fields."

Williamson and Einhorn point first to the tradition of design excellence that is the hallmark of the Mayers & Schiff office. Next, they point to EYP's track record in renovating and adapting older buildings--a discipline very relevant when working in Manhattan's aged inventory, and which makes up 70 percent of the firm's practice. Finally, and with great pride, EYP points to one of its great capabilities--its Mission Critical/Critical Power Design Group. This is the engineering group that focuses 100 percent on keeping its computer dependent clients operational 100 percent of the time. The division is headed by Peter Gross, EYP's very own "Agent 007" so named for his world-wide travels solving seemingly impossible situations for his clients on a split-second response basis.

"The world has become dependent on computers and technology systems that run 24-hours a day without interruption, and as this trend continues to grow, every office space will require the services of an engineer who can create a sound, reliable environment for their systems," said Gross, an Executive Principal of the firm. "EYP has seen the future, and they are the first to integrate this vital aspect of design into the overall process."

EYP's Mission Critical service is offered from every office through engineers who have dedicated their professional careers to this specialty. Not surprisingly, Mission Critical design is in hot demand in the New York City and Tri-State market, where so many financial powerhouses are headquartered. Included among the practice's clients on the East Coast are the New York Stock Exchange, the IRS, Bloomberg, MCI, AT&T, Merrill Lynch and Fox Television. On the West Coast, EYP is serving the critical power needs of such distinguished firms as Wells Fargo, Bank of America and Bankers Trust.

New York, in particular, is in need of seamless integration of architecture, engineering and interior design. For one thing, the principals at EYP point to New York's undeniably vintage stock of office product. More than 90 percent of all office space in the City was constructed before 1980, so it's no surprise that most major corporations face huge challenges when their products require the design of technologically-advanced environments.

"It is our goal that when a project's success is dependent upon the careful insertion and integration of A/E systems with the existing building fabric, we want EYP's design solutions to be the industry benchmark," says Einhorn.

"New York's older buildings almost always require the interface of design with engineering and technology, and we are one of less than a handful of truly integrated architecture and engineering firms in the City today," Einhorn says. "The New York office's architectural capabilities make us better engineers, while our in-house engineering expertise make us better architects and designers, allowing us to produce more responsive design solutions in meeting our clients needs."

With over 25 years of architecture and engineering experience, the executives at EYP are acutely in tune with the mindset of New York City businesses and have broken through the conception of integrated A/E firms as unqualified for quality interiors work.

Bringing to the table its ability to run the entire process of relocation, design and project management, EYP eliminates the redundancy and inefficiency of hiring an outside engineering firm, a quality that has secured the firm $100 million in new renovation and design projects since May 1997.

"EYP's talented team of design professionals completely renovated our corporate office headquarters, from the redesign of our interiors to the upgrading of our technological systems, managing the entire process from beginning to end with results that exceeded our highest expectations," said Midge Stathis, vice president of operations at Warner Music International.

As Partner-in-Charge and project manager on the Warner Music corporate headquarters renovation Jim Dunleavy knows the importance of flexibility and design and engineering integration. Serving as principal-in-charge for the facilities planning and interior design for many of EYP's most significant projects over the past decade, Dunleavy emphasizes the firm's "unique integration of service as well as its penchant for project management."

"Our greatest pride comes from the fact that our work does what the client wants and needs," Einhorn said. "The more challenging the objectives, the more we enjoy the process."

EYP's client roster--including more than 50 Fortune 500 companies--speaks volumes to the firm's ability to deliver on its promises and enjoy tremendous success. EYP has already tackled major corporate interior design projects for Time Warner, IBM, Omnicom, Workman Publishing Company and General Electric.

"We know that New York is a `small big market,' yet we welcome the challenge breaking into the City presents," Williamson said. "We look forward to working with owners, tenants and commercial real estate professionals to help make their deals happen and be a part of their teams."