New Rochelle, NY JLL Project and Development Services has completed the $38 million construction of Iona College’s new LaPenta School of Business. The 68,000 s/f facility is home to the college’s business school.
“As an alumnus of the Iona College business program, being engaged to represent Iona on the day-to-day management of this landmark building was of great significance for me and my team,” said Don Bucci, managing director of JLL’s Connecticut and Greater New York PDS practice. “We are proud to have partnered with such an outstanding institution to successfully deliver this important project.”
Peter Rader, vice president and regional education practice lead, was JLL’s team lead. Supporting Rader and rounding out JLL’s team were: Joseph Denn, vice president; Stephen Gross, senior project manager; and Meg Curtin, associate project manager. Gensler served as the project architect, while Pavarini North East Construction Co. acted as the general contractor.
The new building includes a complete renovation of the college’s existing four-story business school. This Georgian-style brick building has been an iconic structure on campus for many years. Gensler’s design respects this historic structure while creating an inspired, forward-looking building with a 35,000 s/f addition. The building now serves as the home to the new LaPenta School of Business, a nationally recognized business school.
JLL worked closely with the project team and Iona College, including Rich Murray, director of facilities, to coordinate construction of the new building with the school’s on-going operations. Site logistics and phasing were of utmost importance. Working closely with the various stakeholders, JLL led a team that delivered the project on time and under budget, all while accommodating the school’s calendar and key events. The LaPenta School officially opened to its students and faculty on January 21st, and the building’s ribbon cutting ceremony took place on January 29nd. The event was attended by students, faculty, members of the administration, alumni, political dignitaries and community members.
Iona College’s new building was named after Robert LaPenta, an alumnus and trustee of the college. LaPenta is founding partner of Aston Capital Partners, a Stamford-area investment firm. LaPenta’ s generous gift of $17.5 million represents the largest gift in Iona’s history and allowed the college to proceed with the construction of this iconic structure. The expansion of Iona’s business school reflects the growing excitement for the program and its emergence as one of the nation’s best business schools. In fact, Iona’s MBA program was recently honored in The Princeton Review’s “Best Business Schools for 2020”.
JLL’s Project and Development Services division helps clients through all stages of realizing challenging capital projects, with an emphasis on managing scope, cost, schedule and the mitigation of risk. JLL PDS first works with clients to define their project success criteria, then assembles the professional team required to deliver the project successfully to completion. JLL PDS has a diverse practice, accomplishing projects of all sizes, building types and serving many different industries.