In 1970 a boy from the South Bronx moved to CoOp City. This is where our story starts. Bruce Jaffe was ten and moved into one of the first buildings of the 35 to be constructed in CoOp City. He was a young man acclimating to his new surroundings and fascinated by the city within a city that was going up around him. He would watch before and after school, mesmerized as the buildings were rising out of the ground (which was the former site of the famous Freedom Land Amusement Park), and intrigued by the men building them. Jaffe quickly made friends with all the construction workers. If you note the date, you will understand as we move forward that this takes place pre-OSHA and thus completely acceptable for when and where. Often times he would sneak in after hours with a flashlight with his friends to show them the progress of the week. Even his mother knew where to find him. He would tell her, "I'll be at building ten or twelve" and she would come looking for him asking the contractors, "Do you know where Bruce is?" They would reply, "No worries Mrs. J he's up on twenty. He's perfectly safe and helping the guys."
I suppose the obvious is that it was then he knew that his future would have something to do with constructing buildings. Due to the fact that both of his parents were artists, Jaffe naturally had an artistic eye and a steady hand. As he worked his way through college, attending classes at night, he gravitated towards architecture. It was only as he furthered his studies that he discovered that his passion really lied elsewhere - in engineering.
Jaffe, a self-proclaimed workaholic, started his career at Syska Hennessy and from day one worked on monumental projects. His first job was the Jacob Javitz Center and what followed were projects of equal size and stature such as 85 Broad St. for Goldman Sachs and 7 World Trade Center. Essentially it was sink or swim, and judging by the success of the teams he was on, he learned how to swim, and fast. Accrediting a lot of his early success to the fact that he had some amazing mentors, Jaffe fondly remembers Michael Marino, Sr. of Lehr Associates PC in particular. "Mr. Marino taught me about marketing, business development and the art of cultivating a relationship," Jaffe said.
He is currently part of the management team of MG Engineering D.P.C. along with Michael Gerazounis, P.E., LEED AP, Peter Gerazounis, P.E., LEED AP and Michael Marino, LEED AP. He fondly remembers the formation of MG Engineering D.P.C. in its infancy - paper fax machines, a lot of drafting (without a computer), and carrying the first cell phones the size of bricks. But he mostly recalls the bonding with his partners who all shared a similar passion. "I think one of my favorite holiday parties was our first," he said. "We bought $5 bottles of champagne, sat on the floor and laughed. It was a great time." Another great memory was shortly after they started the firm they all went out to dinner with their wives. "When the check arrived the four of us examined it and we all started to sweat it out and all the wives rolled their eyes and said, "Oh yeah - start a firm - great idea!"
Well it was a great idea. Twenty one years later they are going strong. MG Engineering D.P.C. is a full-service engineering firm that works on multiple verticals providing a cross section of amazing services which include mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, fire alarm/life safety systems, plumbing/fire protection engineering, central utilities services, building electronic systems, site utilities services, mission critical systems, as well as information technology/telecommunications design services.
As senior executive director, Jaffe is accomplished in hospitality, high-rise residential, broadcast studios and restaurants. He has rolled out McDonald's locations galore and designed the Smith and Wollensky Restaurant in Boston, which is one of numerous restaurants designed for the restaurant chain throughout the U.S. Although Smith and Wollensky went public he still maintains an excellent working relationship with the family working on their latest endeavors. His continued work in the high-rise residential sector has allowed him to work on some of the most exciting buildings and conversion projects, including 388 Bridge St., one of the tallest buildings in Brooklyn at over fifty stories high.
"When a building is over thirty stories high (over the three hundred foot mark), the design of the MEP systems becomes much more challenging. This is when creative design comes into play. You need to leave as much space as possible for the programming and take up minimal space for the MEP Systems," said Jaffe. He feels that it is an honor to work with all of the developers and architects that he deals with day in and day out and he pays particular attention to their programming and design ideas. Luigi Russo, partner of SLCE Architects said, "We have been in association with MG Engineering D.P.C. for several years. They have provided excellent engineering consulting services for us on 170 East End Ave., Avalon West Chelsea and 388 Bridge St. We find them to be extremely competent and on time with few change orders considering the complexity of some of these high end projects."
Jaffe believes strongly in hard work, doing your due diligence and delivering creative solutions. Design development and schematics is where it is at. "If you don't ask all the proper questions up front, the end result will not be a successful project," he said. "We make sure to be heavily involved during the early stages of a project so we can offer multiple solutions to code requirements and give the pros and cons to all options. That is how you get the 'crystal ball' action."
As for Jaffe and MG Engineering D.P.C., the road that lies ahead seems to be stronger than ever. Their methodology of providing hands-on services has allowed the company to continuously grow. Most recently they added a "green" department specializing in sustainability and commissioning services.
Jaffe currently lives in Westchester with his wife Amy. He has three children, Gregory, Brooke and Dana. Tags: