ProLiteracy plans grand opening for new headquarters

SYRACUSE  —  ProLiteracy is preparing for a grand opening at its new headquarters in Syracuse’s Near West Side at the end of this week.

The nonprofit adult-literacy organization will host events starting Sept. 7 at 11 a.m. to mark the opening of its 20,000-square-foot headquarters in the former Case Supply warehouse at 104 Marcellus St. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is scheduled to speak at the event, as is John Dau, one of the Lost Boys of Sudan and subject of the documentary God Grew Tired of Us. ProLiteracy also plans to show off a new website and new multimedia teaching tools.

Grand-opening events will continue Sept. 8 with health and digital literacy sessions, family literacy activities, a local literacy fair, and refreshments.

Syracuse–based King + King Architects, LLP and Santa Monica, Calif.–based Koning Eizenberg Architecture designed the new headquarters. Rich & Gardner Construction Co. of Syracuse handled construction, which cost about $2.1 million.

Syracuse’s Near Westside Initiative, which owns the building at 104 Marcellus St., paid for construction. ProLiteracy raised more than $1 million for new furniture, new equipment, and programming activities through a capital campaign. The organization, formerly of 1320 Jamesville Ave. in Syracuse, has taken out a 10-year lease at the new location.

“ProLiteracy’s board of directors made this decision to move our headquarters in order to invest in the future of the organization and in the member programs and adult learners we serve here and around the world,” Kevin Morgan, the organization’s board chairman, said in a news release.

Contact Seltzer at rseltzer@cnybj.com