SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Upstate Medical University and the Upstate Foundation will use an $8 million dollar donation for an eight-floor, 360,000-square-foot health and wellness complex.
The medical school plans to build the Nappi Longevity Institute on the corner of East Adams and Almond Streets across from the Upstate Cancer Center, Upstate Medical said in a news release issued Friday night.
It expects construction on the building to begin in early 2018.
Edmonton, Alberta–based Stantec, which has locations in Binghamton, Rochester, and Albany, is the architect on the project, Darryl Geddes, director of public and media relations at Upstate Medical University, said in an email response to a BJNN inquiry.
A total cost figure on the project isn’t yet available, Geddes added.
Upstate Medical announced the donation from Sam and Carol Nappi of Jamesville during its gala event held Friday night at the Oncenter.
The Nappi’s $8 million donation is the “largest ever” for Upstate Medical University and the Upstate Foundation, the organization noted.
The medical school will use the funding to expand the building’s services related to “brain health” or neurosciences, including a focus on Alzheimer’s disease. Upstate will name the structure the Nappi Longevity Institute in recognition of the couple’s philanthropy.
“Sam and Carol Nappi have shown over time through their generous gifts, a love for this community and a desire to improve the health of this community,” Dr. Danielle Laraque-Arena, president of Upstate Medical University, said in the school’s release. “Their cause is our mission and we are grateful for their support.”
About the Nappis
Sam Nappi is founder and chairman of Alliance Energy Group, LLC, located near Buffalo. Carol Nappi, a former psychiatric therapist at Community General Hospital, now Upstate’s Community Campus, is on the Upstate Medical University College of Nursing advisory board, and “is active with numerous local and national charitable organizations,” per the release.
The Nappis have a “long history” of supporting local causes, focusing much of their philanthropic initiatives on medical research and community medical care.
Their efforts include the St. Joseph’s Hospital Emergency Services building and the Christina M. Nappi Surgical Tower. Christina Nappi is Sam’s mother.
The Nappis also established the biomedical stem-cell laboratory at Syracuse University.
In addition, the family in 2015 started and funded the first annual Nappi Family Research Awards, a research competition between Syracuse University and Upstate Medical University focused on ideas relating to biomedical and health-care needs.
Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com