Bergmann Associates to expand Syracuse office

SYRACUSE — Bergmann Associates, a Rochester–based engineering and architectural design firm, is planning to expand its Syracuse office space by nearly half as it continues to grows its Central New York client base.

Bergmann Associates, which employs 15 people in Syracuse, expects to boost its office space at 224 Harrison St. to nearly 3,200 square feet from its current 2,200 square feet by the end of the year. That will give the firm room for 20 employee workstations, according to Charles (Charlie) Bertuch, regional office manager, who started the firm’s Syracuse office in January 2007 as the only employee at the time.

“We need the expanded space to provide room for our incoming engineers,” Bertuch says.

Bergmann Associates’ Syracuse office has steadily grown from one employee at the start to 10 employees by 2010, and reached its current level of 15 staff members in early July with the hiring of a project manager, according to Bertuch. All the employees work in the engineering side of the firm.

Companywide, Bergmann Associates employs 375 people and generated revenue of $56 million in 2012. Its strategic growth plan calls for projected revenue of $100 million by the year 2018.

The company’s growth in the Central New York market has been fueled by the expanding demand for energy-related engineering services, which the firm has met by recruiting local engineers. “We can hire people to do the work here,” Bertuch says.

In the beginning, Bertuch says, “Most of our work wasn’t in Syracuse. That has changed in the last couple years.”

Bergmann Associates’ growing body of local work includes performing LEED consulting work at the Destiny USA retail and entertainment complex, including helping individual tenants meet the standards needed to obtain LEED certification from the U.S. Green Building Council. “It’s been a great program for us,” Bertuch says.

The firm also works with NYSERDA on a program that helps area businesses and nonprofits identify ways they can make their buildings more energy efficient and perform as designed.

Bergmann Associates is also working on the City of Syracuse Interconnect Expansion Project, which involves design, engineering, and inspection of traffic-signal systems.

The suite of services that Bergmann’s Energy Solutions group offers includes energy audits, energy modeling, feasibility studies, commissioning, retro commissioning, LEED consulting, waste-stream management, water conservation, and renewable-energy system design.

Office expansion

Bergmann Associates’ landlord in Syracuse will take other space in the building and renovate it for Bergmann’s needs, according to Bertuch. He says the cost of the work will total about $30,000 and expects a portion of that to be folded into his firm’s lease terms. The building is owned by 224 Harrison Associates, according to Syracuse property records.

The space will be renovated in a manner to achieve LEED certification and Bergmann Associates will act as its own LEED consultant on the project, Bertuch says.

In addition to Syracuse and Rochester, Bergmann Associates has New York offices in Albany, Buffalo, and Elmira. It also has locations in the Philadelphia and

Pittsburgh areas of Pennsylvania; Jacksonville and West Palm Beach, Fla.; Canton, Ohio; Lansing, Mich.; Charlotte, N.C; and Atlanta, Ga.

The firm has expanded through a combination of organic growth, as in Syracuse, and acquisitions, such as in North Carolina and Michigan.                                          

Contact Rombel at arombel@cnybj.com