Final Steel Beam Is Placed in New Brooklyn Health Center
It won’t be long now. On Friday, May 20 the final steel beam was hoisted into place at the new Brooklyn Health Center. There is much work yet to be done, but the steel skeleton of the facility is now complete and the building will be open for business about a year from now. On hand for the “Topping Out” ceremony were union and hotel industry officials, including Hotel Trades Council President Peter Ward and Hotel Association President Joseph Spinnato.
Topping out ceremonies originated in Europe and consist of placing a tree on the roof of the building once its steel structure is being completed. The final steel beam carries the signatures of administrators, trustees, project officials and construction workers, and it is raised into place by the workers who are building the project. The ceremony is an expression of good wishes for the completion of the structure and for the well being of its occupants.
“Today’s ceremony marks another significant milestone for the new Brooklyn Health Center,” Benefit Funds CEO Dr. Robert Greenspan said. “A year ago we were here standing in a parking lot with the mayor to mark the groundbreaking. Today, the site looks quite different and it is much easier to visualize the completed building. We are here today to put the final piece of steel into place.”
Greenspan thanked Ward and Spinnato and the Board of Trustees for their strong support of the new Brooklyn Health Center and the work performed by the Benefit Funds. He also thanked the architects and builders, the contractors and all the workers involved in building what is readily agreed will be the finest healthcare facility in the country.
“I am so thankful that I can stand here today and say there have been no serious accidents or injuries on this site,” Greenspan added.
We should note that one reason for this perfect health and safety record is that the new Brooklyn Health Center is being built with union labor.
As most members know by now, the new Brooklyn Health Center is located at 620 Fulton Street, across the street from the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) and within the shadow of the Barclay’s Center. It is a short walk from the LIRR’s Atlantic terminal and 13 different subway lines. Four different buses (B25, B26, B38 and B52) stop within a block of it, too.
When it opens its doors next Spring the new Brooklyn Health Center will be 50% larger than the Harlem Health Center. Its dental offices will have more than 20 chairs and its pharmacy will be four times larger than the one currently in Brooklyn.
The new Brooklyn Health Center will be housed in a 12-story, 180,000 square-foot mixed-use building. A total of 65.000 square feet of the building will be used for the actual Health Center and the rest of the facility will be used for office and retail space, which will help offset the cost of the project. It is projected that there will be 70,000 square feet of office space and 20,000 square feet for retail space, with dining facilities on the ground level along with outdoor public space. There will even be terraces on a sixth-floor setback and on the roof. Across the street from the new Brooklyn Health Center will be a beautiful refurbished park.
“Our new building will have a technology-ready infrastructure and yet it will be flexible enough so that we are not tied to a solution that is outdated in a few years,” Dr. Greenspan said earlier this year.
It was obvious from the topping off ceremony that an enormous amount of work has already taken place in the building of the new Brooklyn Health Center. As seen in these photos, the project is rapidly becoming reality. The steel skeleton of the building is now complete and a year from now Hotel Trades Council members will be able to use what many believe will be the best and most modern healthcare facility of its kind.
