SYRACUSE — Crews are finishing work on Catering at the Zoo, the banquet facility at the Rosamond Gifford Zoo at Burnett Park. The $300,000 project included construction of a new, 2,400-square-foot outdoor patio and interior improvements on the 3,000-square-foot banquet room, says Janet Agostini, president and CEO of Friends of the Rosamond Gifford Zoo. Friends […]
SYRACUSE — Crews are finishing work on Catering at the Zoo, the banquet facility at the Rosamond Gifford Zoo at Burnett Park.
The $300,000 project included construction of a new, 2,400-square-foot outdoor patio and interior improvements on the 3,000-square-foot banquet room, says Janet Agostini, president and CEO of Friends of the Rosamond Gifford Zoo.
Friends of the Rosamond Gifford Zoo is the organization responsible for business operations, education programs, and fundraising on behalf of the zoo, according to its website.
Agostini spoke with CNYBJ on June 16.
The Zoo built the structure in the 1990s, and the organization felt it needed some renovation work, says Agostini.
She referred to the facility as “kind of worn and dated looking.”
“We have clients with differing needs and so we wanted to make sure that we could meet their goals,” she added.
When the Zoo hosts an event, Agostini says it reinvests any profits back into the Zoo, noting the organization refers to it as “catering with a cause.”
Appel Osborne Landscape Architecture of Syracuse handled the design work for the patio space. It also used a series of subcontractors for the construction work.
Various other contractors handled the interior renovation work, including The Effect Group of Syracuse, which installed new carpeting. The improvements also included new chairs, new paint, and work on the interior pillars.
“The interior renovation wasn’t as extensive as the outside construction,” Agostini notes.
The interior renovation started in November and continued through the winter months. Crews started the patio construction in November but stopped during the winter snowfalls before resuming work in March.
“We’re expecting to have it completed by the end of [June],” she says.
The concluding work includes final planting and additional lighting.
Catering at the Zoo continued operations and hosted events, even as the renovation work continued, she says.
“For example, when we did the carpeting, we needed to have a week or 10 days where we didn’t have any events scheduled, so we planned for that,” she says.
A year-round facility, Catering at the Zoo is scheduled to host as many as 27 weddings in 2016, in addition to community events that the venue hosts.
Catering at the Zoo hosted 13 weddings and 171 catered events in 2015, the Zoo said in a June 2 email to CNYBJ.
The facility plans to host about 115 events from mid-June through the end of the calendar year. Altogether, Catering at the Zoo will have hosted at least 191 for the entire year.
Some of its corporate clients will host workshops or brainstorming sessions “because they just find the atmosphere so creative,” says Agostini.
Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com
