Binghamton Chamber honors Building BC Award recipients

The 2022 Building BC Innovative Award, which recognizes a project, product, or service that “thinks outside the box” went to iM3NY. With a focus on clean-energy, lithium-ion batteries, the company is the first major battery manufacturer to locate in this part of the country, according to a chamber news release. The business looked at non-traditional battery materials that could provide greater heat management in a lithium-ion cell. The unique formula of iM3NY will produce a battery with 20 percent more capacity while providing a longer cycle life, higher safety, and a low environmental impact. Their batteries do not contain any cobalt or nickel.

The SUNY Broome Culinary and Event Center received the 2022 Building BC Restorative Award, which recognizes a project that brings new life into an aging building. SUNY Broome Community College purchased the former Carnegie Library in downtown Binghamton in 2012. Built in 1903, the library closed in 1999 and was abandoned for more than a decade. In 2016, SUNY Broome broke ground on a
$21.5 million renovation project, converting the former library into a culinary-arts facility. The project was sparked by an exchange of ideas between SUNY Broome President Kevin Drumm and Hospitality Programs Chair Rey Wojdat. The city’s expanding downtown restaurant scene gave the college the opportunity to capitalize on the industry and provide an educated labor pool for the growing hospitality sector, the chamber said.

The 2022 Building BC Transformative Award, which recognizes a project that impacts the entire community and fosters growth of those around it, went to National Pipe & Plastics, Inc. The company purchased the former Endicott Johnson Shoe warehouse in 2001 and then the adjacent factory site in 2018 for a new headquarters, per the release. National Pipe & Plastics demolished the old six-story building and cleaned up a hazardous-waste site before building its new $7 million state-of-the-art office building complete with a park-like yard. In the process, the firm expanded portions of Paige Avenue and Maple Street and donated land to provide extra parking spaces for the children’s park located across the street. National Pipe & Plastics also built a new road to connect directly to Route 17C and constructed a mile of railroad track.

Naima Kradjian, CEO of Goodwill Theatre, Inc., won the 2022 Building BC Individual Award, which recognizes an individual whose investment positively impacts the quality of life and job growth to ensure the success of the region’s communities and economy. In 2011, Kradjian worked with UHS Hospital, the village of Johnson City, and area cultural partners to transform the historic Goodwill Theater and surrounding area into the Johnson City Health and Cultural District. Seven blighted properties around the theater were demolished, Binghamton University chose the former Endicott-Johnson Shoe Company factory site to locate its pharmacy school and the Pioneer Shoe Box Factory for its Decker School of Nursing, the chamber stated. Growth in the district continues as UHS looks to expand its footprint and other partners advance projects in the surrounding area. The Schorr Stage, which puts on about 65 shows per year, continued to safely offer entertainment during the pandemic in 2021 through its Summer Performance RestArt Tent in the parking lot. Kradjian hopes to complete the performing arts center complex in the next five years.