SWBR projects recognized at 21st Annual NAIOP Awards Ceremony; Holy Rosary and RIT Golisano Institute of Sustainability

SWBR Architects, a Rochester, New York-based firm, was honored at the 2014 NAIOP Upstate New York Chapter Awards of Excellence ceremony. The firm was recognized for its work on Holy Rosary Apartments in the Adaptive Reuse category and Rochester Institute of Technology's Golisano Institute of Sustainability in the Institutional category. The NAIOP awards celebrate the high-quality and innovative achievements of regional commercial real estate projects from the Upstate New York area, covering the Buffalo, Rochester and Syracuse regions. There are several award categories, and each winner represents the challenge that was overcome and realized results that were economically, environmentally and/or aesthetically achieved. The first project SWBR was recognized for by NAIOP was the redevelopment of Holy Rosary Apartments at 414 Lexington Ave. in Rochester. The firm served as lead architect on the $15 million project for Providence Housing Development Corp. Holy Rosary Apartments provides 35 affordable apartments on its main campus and 25 new single-family homes. The 10,000 s/f historic church has been adapted as a community center, part of which will be leased to Mary's Place Refugee Outreach. The SWBR team transformed the former Holy Rosary Church rectory, convent and school buildings into apartments. The apartments are located in the Holy Rosary complex of buildings, which is a blend of new construction, rehabilitation, adaptive reuse and historic rehabilitation. The second project recognized was the Golisano Institute for Sustainability (GIS) at Rochester Institute of Technology. SWBR served as executive architect and architect of record on the project, with LeChase Construction as design-build team leader and FXFOWLE as design architect. The $36 million RIT GIS project consisted of an 84,000 s/f, four-story building at the university. It houses sustainability research, technology transfer, education and outreach, and is a state-of-the-art showcase for green construction and design, as well as GIS master's and Ph.D. programs in sustainability and architecture. The project was completed in March 2013. It houses one of the world's first Ph.D. programs in sustainability.