Project Spotlight: Odyssey House Wards Island | New York, NY
This project, funded by the NYS Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services (OASAS) with the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York (DASNY) as design and construction project manager, is a new 19,827 SF, three story, 60-bed residential drug and alcohol rehabilitation facility to be managed by Odyssey House Inc., a local provider of substance abuse and alcohol treatment services.
Posen conducted the Feasibility Study for this project. The new building is to connect to an existing 150-bed building on site. Challenges to project development include the site’s archaeological sensitivity due to the presence of a 19th-century potter’s field, century-old utility infrastructure, and the involvement of multiple stakeholder agencies. Due to the historical and archeological nature of the site, consultation and collaboration with NYS SHPO as well as NYC Landmarks was required.
The ground floor comprises administrative, classroom and dining areas. The dining and recreation spaces are designed to be easily converted into a single, large, multi-purpose room by retracting a folding wall that separates them. Two upper floors feature double-occupancy bedrooms, common restrooms with showers, laundry rooms, multi-purpose group rooms, lounges, and storage. The new facility will connect via a ground floor breezeway to the site’s existing building, facilitating movement between the structures. With two fully code-compliant egress stairs and one elevator, the new building will provide ADA access and compliance for the entire two-building complex. Structural, mechanical, electrical, plumbing and fire protection systems in the existing building will also be upgraded.
This project will be one of the first OASAS funded facilities to be built as a prevailing wage project. In addition, Posen exceeded the state MBE and WBE goals for the project:
MBE Goal: 18% – Actual 24%
WBE Goal: 12% – Actual 17%