Utica attorney J.K. Hage '72 and business partner Joseph Karam are bringing cutting edge technology to the renovation of a downtown office building with the installation of a geothermal energy system that will heat and cool the building without the use of conventional power sources. The energy system, which is already installed, consists of 25 wells that run 420 feet below the earth and draw geothermal energy to the surface. A vegetation-topped roof will help reduce the waste of energy resources.
The former Genesee Street bank, which the owners are hoping will achieve official recognition from the U.S. Green Building Council, will employ a range of other green-inspired products including energy efficient lighting and furnishings made of recycled materials. Hage estimates that the project will cost between $700,000 and $800,000 but H.R Beebee, the Utica-based contractor on the job, is less sure as renovation is often more expensive than building new and the project is the first of its kind in this area.
The building houses a recently conserved 1956 oil mural by former Hamilton Professor of Art William Palmer H '75. Hage is interested in using the structure to display the work of local artists in the dramatic glass-walled atrium and sees this as a good fit in the neighborhood that is home to the Stanley Theatre, Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute, the Utica Public Library and the future Players of Utica theatre.
Hage & Hage LLC, which provides law and financial advisory work to clients throughout the U.S, Mexico and Canada, will be moving into its new offices in the spring after years of declining offers to move to suburban office parks.
"We chose to stay in downtown Utica," Hage told the Utica Observer-Dispatch. "We're both lifelong Utica residents, and we wanted to do something to demonstrate to our fellow Mohawk Valley residents that our area can be at the peak of the wave."
