Continuing an unbroken track record of major speed-to-market successes, construction leader and expert in adaptive reuse BDB Construction Enterprise has announced its transformation of a high-rise hotel into new student residences in New York’s Financial District. The tower at 99 Washington Street — formerly a 492-key hotel recognized as the Holiday Inn flag’s tallest worldwide — has opened its first phase, now housing students and interns from nearby universities. The highly innovative, 650-bed dormitory complex is cited by CTBUH as a record-setting structure: At 50 stories and 485 feet tall, it is the tallest student accommodation in the world.
Image Courtesy of: BDB Construction
“Our approach to repositioning projects of this kind moves them as quickly as possible to occupancy, allowing the owners to reach their revenue phase early,” says BDB’s Bhutta, who holds advanced degrees in construction management and structural and civil engineering. “Converting the hotel tower at 99 Washington Street into student residences is being completed in two discrete phases, so they achieved occupancy for about half of the 650 planned beds before this fall semester started.”
Bhutta notes that the remaining transformation includes a creative conversion of an adjacent chapel building as shared amenity space, set to open in 2026.
Image Courtesy of: BDB Construction
“We accomplish this kind of speed to market by being involved in the earliest planning phases and contributing to decision-making, so that all stakeholders and trades are aligned on goals, process, and schedule,” adds Bhutta.
A National Campaign for Student Housing
As students nationwide are challenged to find affordable, convenient high-quality residential offerings in major cities, BDB Construction Enterprise is at work nationally readying new and renovated offerings to supplement existing dormitories, says Bhutta.
Other projects underway include a dormitory-style redevelopment of University Centre in Newark, New Jersey. BDB Construction has also recently completed major conversion projects in Midtown Manhattan and in Providence, Rhode Island.
Image Courtesy of: BDB Construction
About Tallal Bhutta
With academic degrees in construction management, structural and civil engineering and valuable experience with all aspects of building construction, Tallal Bhutta is founder and CEO of BDB Construction Enterprise LLC, a construction provider based on Staten Island and operating throughout the region. Steeped in his uncle’s waterproofing and construction business in the late 1990s, Bhutta launched BDB in 2011 as a masonry and roofing contractor, and the company has progressively grown into a general contracting (GC) enterprise handling complex, multimillion-dollar renovation works. Recent projects by BDB include the transformation of a factory and warehouse building into a mixed-use church in the South Bronx, the 150-unit Brooklyn Watchtower housing development, renovations of a Manhattan building for Baruch College and New York University, the exterior restoration of the Renwick Hotel, as well as a 53-unit commercial conversion creating residences leased by Hunter College as student housing.
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