Ronkonkoma, NY – Long Island McArthur Airport received $12 million in mission-critical renovations thanks to another successful partnership between KBE Building Corp. and Balfour Beatty Construction.
The multi-year project, known officially as the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA’s) Control Wing Basement Modernization and Major Mechanical Design-Build Initiative, encompassed two components:
- major mechanical and electrical renovations and replacements within mission-critical data center facilities
- interior architectural renovations, such as replacement of access flooring, new ceilings, and lighting
Flying High
KBE’s experience on other aviation-related projects contributed to its success at Long Island McArthur Airport:
- General Contractor for the $8 million expansion of Concourse C at Bradley International Airport in Windsor Locks, Conn.
- General Contractor for new construction of a $2.8 million hangar for Ritz Flight at Leesburg Executive Airport in Leesburg, Va.
- Construction Manager for the $6.1 million LearJet, Inc. hangar at Fort Lauderdale International Airport in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
“The biggest challenge was keeping this mission-critical facility fully operational at all times,” said KBE Project Manager Mike Guidera. “This required a high level of coordination and planning. We needed to ensure that redundancy was always maintained, as well as we needed to identify all potential risks and addressed them in a way to mitigate any impact to the facility.”
“In essence, the major mechanical systems could never be shut down at any point during the renovation without providing redundancies, which posed significant challenges for installation of new equipment and making the switchover from old to new.”
Another Successful Partnership
KBE served as Consultant for the Long Island McArthur project, its second completed with Balfour Beatty.
“Both times we’ve worked with Balfour, we’ve been so impressed with the firm and how well they work with their team,” said KBE’s CEO and Principal Mike Kolakowski.
KBE is leading several Design-Build teams of its own for two current projects in Connecticut: the $67.8-million Litchfield Judicial District Courthouse in Torrington and the $79-million Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) Residence Hall at the University of Connecticut in Storrs. Both projects are scheduled for completion in 2016.
KBE has completed 12 design-build projects, including six for the State of Connecticut.
