Representatives from Urban’s Erie, PA office attended the ribbon cutting ceremony for Niagara Community College’s $30.6 million state-of-the-art Culinary Institute in Niagara Falls, NY on September 28, 2012.

The Culinary Institute is part of a larger project to rehabilitate the Rainbow Centre Mall, a once thriving shopping mall that opened in 1982 as part of downtown Niagara Falls’ renewal effort. Failure to update its facilities and remain competitive with newer stores eventually led to the mall’s decline and abandonment in 2000. The redevelopment project has been highly anticipated by the City as an opportunity to revitalize Rainbow Boulevard in downtown Niagara Falls.

Since 2010, Urban has been engaged in the renovation of the Rainbow Centre Mall, which includes rehabbing the existing concrete structure that houses a 1600-space parking garage and the former two-story shopping mall. The Urban-led design team includes the firm’s structural, bridge, site/land, and environmental practices in addition to Trautman Associates who provided architectural and mechanical, electrical, and plumbing design.

“The opening of the Culinary Institute is a major step toward the resuscitation of southern Niagara Falls,” said Urban’s Structural Project Manager, Jeffrey Yeager, PE. “While the renovation of the mall has been challenging at times, achievements like this remind us that the future is bright for Niagara Falls.”

Work on the three-story building, designed to accommodate 1,000 students began in 2011.