O’Brien & Gere acquires Long Island engineering firm

Deal boosts the Syracuse firm’s NYC–area workforce to 65               

SYRACUSE — O’Brien & Gere has acquired Schuyler Engineering, a Long Island–based firm, in a move to further expand and grow its business in the New York City metropolitan area.

The Syracuse–based engineering firm announced the acquisition in a news release issued March 2. It did not disclose any financial terms of the deal. 

The purchase closed on Feb. 13, an O’Brien & Gere spokeswoman said in an email response to an inquiry from CNYBJ.

Schuyler Engineering, headquartered in Lindenhurst on the South Shore of Long Island, describes itself as a “professional consulting firm specializing in the evaluation, engineering, design, permitting, and construction supervision of heating plants, chiller plants, district heating and cooling systems, and cogeneration and power plants.” 

On its website, Schuyler Engineering refers to O’Brien & Gere as a “longstanding project partner of Schuyler.”

Schuyler Engineering employs 11 people total, including its partners, the O’Brien & Gere spokeswoman said. The acquisition brings O’Brien & Gere’s employee count in the New York City region to about 65, she added.

Schuyler Engineering has experience in central utility plant and energy-system design with clients throughout the greater New York City/New Jersey area, according to the news release. The firm has also worked on projects at SUNY Albany and SUNY Binghamton, according to a projects list posted on the Schuyler website.

The acquisition supports O’Brien & Gere’s plan to grow its business in the heavily populated Big Apple area and its focus on the design, construction, and commissioning of “resilient” energy and utility infrastructure in “complex” urban environments, the company said.

 “New York’s political and business leadership has made it clear that designing and building more innovative, resilient, and efficient energy and utility infrastructure systems is a priority for New Yorkers,” Jim Fox, CEO of O’Brien & Gere, said in the news release. “This investment, together with recent and planned investments in talent and technology in our Upstate New York and New York City offices, supports our vision of becoming the premier provider of solutions within natural and built environments, and emphasizes our continued focus on complex urban energy and water infrastructure.”

Schuyler’s principals, Neil Breen, Kevin Duffy, and Ray Gardner, are joining O’Brien & Gere, according to the Schuyler website. The Long Island firm’s engineering staff members will also stay in their existing roles and continue work on their current projects, but now as part of O’Brien & Gere, the site says.

Breen will manage the Schuyler Engineering office on Long Island, while Duffy and Gardner will serve as “senior managers” in the office, the O’Brien & Gere spokeswoman said.

The acquisition will benefit both Schuyler’s clients and employees, Breen said in the O’Brien & Gere news release.

“We have been successfully building our business over the past 20 years, and with O’Brien & Gere’s complementary culture and skill sets, we are now in a position to provide a broader set of services to our clients throughout the project lifecycle,” said Breen, a Schuyler Engineering managing partner.

O’Brien & Gere employs approximately 900 people, about 450 of whom work in its office in Syracuse’s Armory Square area and in its manufacturing and technology-development center in Clay.