Manchester, NH Easterseals New Hampshire celebrated the grand re-opening of the John A. Samenfeld Center. The 60,000 s/f facility has been the headquarters and operations center for Easterseals since the early 1980s. A generous donation made by Mark and Sally Stebbins kicked off a capital campaign to fund the $3 millon, 50,000 s/f construction project. 

Cornerstone PDC, LLC of Manchester provided construction management services for the multi-phased project, which spanned nearly ten months and was required to remain open and fully operational during renovations.

The renovation included a seven classroom child daycare center, new five operatory dental center sponsored by Northeast Delta Dental Foundation, military and veterans services, workforce development, community based services and autism services. Other new or renovated spaces in the facility include a new main entry and reception area, all administrative areas, bathrooms, common space, boardroom, numerous conference rooms, training center and site improvements.

According to Roland Martin, president of Cornerstone, the biggest challenge was working the schedule and construction operations around Easterseals programming so they could continue to provide community services throughout the duration of the project. 

“During the second and largest phase of the project, we had 9,000 s/f under complete renovation in three separate areas of the building. The largest portion was the new dental clinic where we had the adult daycare program on one side of us, flanked by child daycare on the other side, then administration and the main access point to the building on the other sides of the area,” said Martin.

Numerous mechanical and electrical system upgrades were also undertaken during the project. All HVAC controls were upgraded to Wi-Fi based systems, lighting throughout was changed to LED, VFD’s and controls were installed on new hot and cold water pumps, a new fire alarm system was installed as well as a new hot and cold water HVAC supply loop around the building. 

“One of the challenges we faced was dealing with two older sprinkler systems serving the building,” said Martin. “Both required rebuilt and upgraded entrances and one also served as the hot/cold water supply for the heating and cooling systems in the building. It took many off-hours system shutdowns to get the new loop built, connected to the heat pumps, cooling tower, boilers and other components and then separate the sprinkler system from it.”

Martin credits much of the project’s success to the MEP team including Longchamp’s Electric, All Temp HVAC Corp. and Hampshire Fire Protection. “We had a lot of twists and turns on this one and every time we asked them to shift gears, they pulled through,” said Martin.

Rounding out the project team were project architect, SMP Architecture of Concord, and Stibler Associates, LLC of Bedford, who provided interior design services. 

“To meet the budget, design intent and expectations of the client, we couldn’t have assembled a better team for this project,” said Martin. “Easterseals senior management and stakeholders have to be credited as well with providing a high level of participation in the project, while at the same time understanding the process and allowing us to do our job.”

“We are so thrilled with the renovation project recently completed by Cornerstone!” said Elin Treanor, CFO for Easterseals. “From beginning to end, our expectations were exceeded in every way, thanks to the great partnership with Roland Martin and the Cornerstone team. Cornerstone’s dedication to service excellence and managing costs is exceptional. We are grateful for the relationship and outstanding job!”

Cornerstone is a design-build CM firm located in Manchester. Other recent, complex, multi-phase renovation projects undertaken by the firm include those for Riverstone Resources in Manchester and Globe Manufacturing in Pittsfield, NH.