All Over Albany

Architecture gawking: NanoCollege ZEN

In the future we will all ride beams of light on Washington Ave Ext. (Here's a larger version of the rendering.)

The rendering above is for the next major building planned for the NanoCollege empire's capital at Fuller Road and Washington Ave Ext in Albany. Specifically, it's the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering's Zero Energy Nanotechnology building, or just "ZEN." The rendering is via Capital Albany, which posted it online today.

The project is expected to cost about $190 million, according to an application filed with the city of Albany's Industrial Development Agency (IDA). The planned building would be about 355,000 square feet, with space for:
+ A New York State agency data center
+ Tech Valley High School
+ A "DO-IT Center which will establish an environment with specialized infrastructure to educate Small, Minority and Women-owned Business Enterprises and on-site partners on emerging technology platforms"
+ It will also "provide state-of-the-art premises for existing and new CNSE partners"

So, your basic leveraging of synergies while infrastructuring your platforms. (We think that's how it goes.)

Fuller Road Management Corporation, an arm of the NanoCollege, is looking for the IDA to issue $186 million in bonds for the project, and also cut it a break on $2.3 million in mortgage recording taxes.

The ZEN building is scheduled to be finished by the third quarter of 2015, according to the app (early work has already started). And the application forecasts the project will help create 1,000 new jobs.

rendering: EYP