Owner: Square Deal Partners, LLC
Architect: Delta Engineers, Architects, & Surveyors
Location: Johnson City, NY
Completion Date: June 2026
As General Contractor, Fahs Construction Group led the adaptive reuse conversion of the former Davis College campus in Johnson City, NY, transforming historic dormitories, classrooms, and office buildings into Riverside Gardens — a 67-unit market-rate multifamily community with roughly 22,000 square feet of commercial space. The project reflects Fahs’s growing portfolio of multifamily and mixed-use construction across the Southern Tier and Central New York, building on similar work completed at LOFTS@JC in Johnson City.
Building Conversion and Tradework: Scope began with full abatement and demolition to return the existing structures to shell condition, followed by new elevator installations and complete tradework buildout — framing, MEP rough-in, drywall, and finishes — throughout the residential and common areas. Units are conditioned with energy-efficient ductless split systems for heating and cooling, an approach Fahs has applied consistently across its multifamily renovation projects in the region.
Self-Performed Site Work: Fahs self-performed sitework and paving across the 16-acre campus, including new asphalt and site utilities. Our self-perform trades capabilities allow Fahs to better control schedule and quality on multifamily and mixed-use developments.
Overcoming Existing Conditions: As is common on adaptive reuse and historic renovation projects, the team encountered significant existing structural conditions and architectural/engineering coordination issues once the buildings were opened up, adding approximately 150 days of work to the schedule. Fahs’s self-perform flexibility across trades and proactive field coordination allowed the project to stay on its original completion date and within budget despite the added scope — a track record multifamily developers and construction managers can rely on when historic or occupied-building conversions carry unknown conditions.
