Hebrew Institute of Riverdale

Mc Gowan served as General Contractor for the Hebrew Institute, a ground-up construction of a three-story addition to a Modern Orthadox synagogue building in the residential Riverdale neighborhood of NYC. The structure houses a large lobby, Beit Midrash room, sanctuary, youth Minyan room, Sabbath elevator, offices, community rooms, nine multi-purpose classrooms and an exterior patio.  The interior finishes include millwork, stone and carpet flooring.  

The adjacent building also owned by the Institute features a new curved façade built on the property line on two sides. This adjacent building served as the Institute’s Assembly Hall and Sanctuary during construction, and upon completion of the new addition the Mc Gowan team renovated and expanded the existing Sanctuary in the adjacent building. The phased schedule ensured uninterrupted continuity of educational, religious and community activities.   

One complexity that arose during the project was that the new structure was initially planned to feature foundations bearing on rock. However, during excavation it was discovered that the bedrock sloped down at a 70-degree angle resulting in the original design becoming impossible to build. Following Mc Gowan's suggestions the engineering team designed a new foundation supported by mini caissons with pile-caps. To minimize the impact of design changes on the schedule, Mc Gowan quickly mobilized a specialty contractor to install ten 80-ton caissons with rock sockets driven five feet deep into the bedrock, completed in two short weeks.