BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — Construction is underway on the new Golisano Institute for Business and Entrepreneurship in Downtown Buffalo, transforming the former Buffalo News building into a hub for business education. The first class of students is expected this fall.
Jim Dentinger, regional director of the Golisano Institute of Buffalo, said the project is moving quickly.
"It's exciting when you've got studs going up in the spaces you've designed," Dentinger said.
The $12 million renovation is now roughly 25% complete. The Buffalo location will become the second campus of the Golisano Institute, expanding billionaire philanthropist Tom Golisano's vision from Rochester to Buffalo.
WATCH: Golisano Institute for Business and Entrepreneurship takes shape in Downtown Buffalo
Dentinger said the project is being completed in two phases.
"We have two phases. One is trying to get part of our first floor open late spring, with the majority of the building being completed in July," Dentinger said.
The institute is designed to offer students a hands-on, career-focused experience from the moment they walk through the doors.
"This is an experiential school where every day you are kind of connected to a vision of what you want to do in business," Dentinger said.
Work is already taking shape on the first floor, highlighted by a future forum space where students will take part in a weekly speaker series featuring entrepreneurs and business leaders.
"It's a way for us to connect our students with a business opportunity or an idea and then we then follow up with potential internships that are related to that idea," Dentinger said.
The fourth floor will serve as the main academic hub, where eight classrooms have already been framed out and are awaiting drywall. A staircase will connect the fourth and fifth floors, and a new vision is being introduced for the former planter area beneath the fifth-floor skylight.
"We are going to be reintroducing plants but this is also going to have some collaboration areas. So students will actually be able to walk up on top of this and sit down and have a meeting and collaboration with their fellow students," Dentinger said.
The fifth floor will offer grab-and-go food options, recreational activities, a podcast studio and an outdoor terrace. Dentinger said the goal is to offer an atmosphere unlike a traditional four-year education.
"I personally can't wait to see the faces of the students when they walk in and see the vision in action," Dentinger said.
The first, fourth and fifth floors are being transformed into a mix of classrooms and collaboration spaces. The institute offers one and two-year programs, and enrollment is already underway.
"60% of our students come right out of high school, and the other 40% are made up of students that have started some college but didn't finish or they might have a degree that they just can't find a career opportunity," Dentinger said.
The first class of around 100 students is expected to begin this fall.
