Site Plan

STEP will have a series of multi-tenant facilities offering a mix of wet lab, office, and production spaces. These will be clustered into neighborhoods. The image on the right shows the high level view of the entire proposed STEP Site Plan.

The buildings are organized to create identifiable places and outdoor courtyards that are pleasant and that will induce pedestrian activity and informal meetings. All parking is located between the neighborhoods and will be shared by all buildings which allows for parking efficiency and a potential reduction in the total parking area. This will increase open space and decrease runoff, an important feature in sustainable design.

The buildings within the loop road are mostly organized on a north-south axis with the short facades facing east-west and the long facades facing north-south. This is the most advantageous orientation for energy use and thus also contributes to a sustainable design. Several of the buildings are oriented with the long façade facing northwest, to create interest and to allow visitor entrance and turnarounds for each neighborhood. Additional buildings located adjacent to the existing building are oriented to form a relationship with the existing building. The buildings in the Knowledge Community Center are aligned with the road.

The buildings are clustered closely in order to form properly-scaled outdoor "people places," to achieve a campus-like visual impact, and to conserve a meaningful open space around each neighborhood. Buildings are planned to range from single-story buildings to four-story buildings, but in no instance can a building be more than 80 ft. high, including roof top structures. Multi-story buildings are desirable because they offer more design opportunity, achieve an effective scale to create memorable neighborhoods, and conserve land and reduce coverage, important from a sustainable design standpoint. Buildings generally will range in size from approximately 40,000 sf to approximately 100,000 sf, although some buildings may be smaller and some larger. Because these buildings are clustered into neighborhoods, they have a greater impact than if they were isolated buildings, and there is the potential for companies to conveniently expand in multiple buildings within the same neighborhood.

NYSERDA intends to create community facilities for STEP tenants. These may include shared common business facilities, conference facilities, and convenience retail that provide places to meet other STEP tenants and that create a sense of community. In addition, such facilities limit the need for using automobiles, which is another important feature of sustainable design.

Current Space at STEP

STEP has facilities available and in use today. The existing building of approximately 23,000 sf is owned by NYSERDA and leased to companies operating in various clean-energy or environmental related activities. We are adding facilities as we grow. Currently we are building two new buildings where we have companies for more than half of the available space.

STEP will be phased carefully, to control the cost of infrastructure and to carry out development efficiently. The infrastructure for Phase I, the first group of buildings, as seen on the right, within the loop road on the Site Plan, is already being developed at STEP.

The United Group of Companies of Troy, New York was chosen as developer for Sites One and Two at STEP. The United Group's team includes Einhorn, Yaffee, Prescott, architects; Turner Construction (construction); Saratoga Associates (civil engineering); United Realty Management Corp. (property management); and Millennium Capital, LLC (financing).

Construction of Building One at Site One will commence in Spring of 2006. The building will be +/- 56,000 square feet and designed to specific needs of the largest tenant, with additional space for multiple firms. Phasing also must coordinate with development of the Luther Forest Technology Campus (LFTC), off-site highway improvements, and related funding, as well as take into account efficient sizes to permit provision of on-site core facility.

The STEP Development Team is happy to assist you with your relocation and/or expansion needs. For more information about locating your company at STEP, contact Kelly Tyler at (716) 842-1522, ext. 3005.