Gov. George E. Pataki announced Wednesday that New York State will invest $3 million in the construction of a new Syracuse University School of Management building.

The building, which will be erected on the corner of Marshall Street and University Avenue across the street from Starbucks Coffee, will cost more than $36 million and will be accompanied by an adjacent multi-level parking garage. It will replace a university parking lot.

‘One of the greatest assets across New York State is our great colleges and universities,’ Pataki said.

Flanked by two artist’s renderings of the new building, Pataki said that the state funding is ‘a wise investment’ in the future health of Central New York businesses. He said that although Syracuse is geographically far from Ground Zero, it still felt the economic ramifications of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center with the rest of the state. Projects like the new management building, along with other tax incentives, will help turn the state and local economies around, Pataki said.

‘$300 million in new tax cuts will show businesses that this is the place to be,’ he added.

The facility will hold 23 classrooms, 40 breakout rooms, an amphitheater, research lab and enhanced visitor and career centers among other amenities. The current School of Management building is located in the Crouse-Hinds Hall on South Crouse Avenue.

Elizabeth Rougeux, the director of state and government relations at SU, said that groundbreaking for the new facility is tentatively slated for a year from now. The administration hopes to occupy the building by the start of the fall semester in 2004.

The conference was sparsely attended by anyone other than SU officials, which graduate student Martha Wilson attributed to the short notice that was given for the announcement and that many students on campus had midterms during the 1:30 p.m. start time. The governor’s office only makes Pataki’s itinerary public 24 hours before an appearance.

The announcement itself lasted about 15 minutes, including an introduction by Chancellor Kenneth A. Shaw and short statements by George Burman, dean of the School of Management, and William Devendorf, a graduate of the School of Management and president of local company Eagle Comptronics.

Devendorf said that the money was an important step in empowering students and preparing them for the business world after graduation.

‘If you give a man a fish, then he will eat for a night,’ Devendorf said. ‘But if you teach a man to fish, then he can eat for the rest of his life, as well as feed others.

‘The School of Management is about teaching future leaders how to fish in business today.’

Asst. Feature Editor Chris Jaikaran contributed to this report.

Published on March 6, 2002 at 12:00 pm