Project of the Month: The Nicotra Group to build Corporate Commons Three: An eight-story, 330,000 s/f LEED Silver office building

Staten Island, NY The Nicotra Group, one of the largest private real estate developers in the borough, continues to “Outsmart Manhattan” at their Corporate Park of Staten Island with their newest project, an eight-story, 330,000 s/f LEED Silver Certified, class A office building complete with finishes and amenities that you would expect to find in Manhattan. CetraRuddy, an architecture, planning and interior design firm which recently published an extensive white paper on the future of Staten Island, is working on this project for The Nicotra Group.

Their newest and largest office building, Corporate Commons Three, developed on a 8.5-acre site is “one of the biggest projects we’ve ever undertaken,” said Richard Nicotra, chairman and owner of The Nicotra Group, alongside his wife Lois. Together they own and manage The Corporate Park of Staten Island, which includes their Hilton Garden Inn and Hampton Inn & Suites as part of the more than 1 million s/f of office and hospitality space in their portfolio.

In an effort to continue their history of environmentally responsible development, the Nicotras, Arbor Day Award winning developers, will donate three acres of land to be preserved and gifted to the community, as they have done in the past with the 415 acres that surround the corporate park. To share this unique space, Corporate Commons Three will include an outdoor classroom and walking trails so students and the community can visit and learn about the environment, preservation, and the historical significance of this land.

The property surrounding Corporate Commons Three will feature a vineyard, a pedestrian promenade, a town square, and will be filled with large scale, original sculptures and thousands of flowers. “The rooftop of the building will be green and lush, with a 40,000 s/f organic farm growing tomatoes, fig trees, and herbs, and will include beehives for honey production,” said Lois Nicotra. The rooftop will also feature a truly unique event space.

The new building’s onsite social enterprise restaurant, “Pienza, Pizza, Pasta, & Porchetta,” will donate 100% of its profits to local charities, said Nicotra. This follows the social enterprise model for their COMMONS café, which donates all profits to charities on Staten Island, giving away more than $800,000 in eight years of operation. “We will sell prepared food in the new restaurant and have organic food for sale that grows on the rooftop. Brides who get married at our Hilton venue will be able to have a salad with a tomato that was picked that day, not one shipped green from California two weeks ago,” said Richard Nicotra.

The Nicotra Group owns eleven buildings, including Corporate Commons One and Two at the Teleport. Their Corporate Park is home to more than 200 tenants, with upwards of 10,000 people visiting each day to work, attend classes, see a physician or dine. Corporate Commons Three will generate an estimated 2,500 full and part time jobs for Staten Island’s West Shore, known as the Jobs Coast of Staten Island. Current Nicotra Group tenants include more than 25 medical practices and laboratories, Northwell Health, Richmond University Medical Center, The American Cancer Society, ENT & Allergy Associates, and Child Mind Institute - all located on the Medical Mile. Other tenants include the U.S. Department of Commerce, The Staten Island Economic Development Corp., the NYPD Task Force, Spectrum Communications, Progressive Insurance, Key Food Corporate Headquarters, Allstate Insurance, NY Life, Merrill Lynch, Ameriprise, Pearson Professional Center, Mass Mutual, and National Life. Educational institutions include St. Paul’s School of Nursing, a Universal 3-K operated by the NYC Department of Education and the Nicotra Early College Charter School.