Levien & Company completes Safe Horizon's $2.5m Manhattan Center

Levien & Company has completed the project management for Safe Horizon's new $2.5 million Manhattan Center, according to Kenneth Levien, AIA, president of the firm. The complex, located at 1753 Park Ave., between 121st and 122nd Sts., will house two of Safe Horizon's most vital victim service programs, the Manhattan Child Advocacy Center and a family-focused Community Center. The 36,000 s/f two-story building will also be home to the Fat Witch Bakery, which is expanding and heading north from its original location in the Chelsea Market. "To provide its services most efficiently, Safe Horizon required a large facility to house the innovative Child Advocacy Center, which eases the experience of child victims of sexual and other abuse by bringing all agencies - the District Attorney, Child Protective Services, medical personnel and NYPD detectives - under one roof," said Mary Hardin, project manager at Levien & Company. "The organization is also taking advantage of the opportunity to build its own space by making the Manhattan Center the model for all future Safe Horizon facilities. This will both provide greater standardization among its locations and allow economies of scale in ordering furniture and materials." The Manhattan Center project team included such noted firms as the architectural firm Gertler & Wente, interior design and branding consultants Perkins Eastman/Russell Design, the engineering firm Lilker Associates, and BDG Construction, an affiliate of the building owner The Blumenfeld Group, as the general contractor.