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When Syracuse University alumni Oliver and Leah Fernandez were living in New York City, they would visit Leah’s sister in Washington, D.C., and walk past the Greenberg House, which was SU’s only building in the city from 1988 to its sale in 2020.

Now, the couple owns the building.

“I was walking by these properties pulling my suitcase to sleep on Leah’s sister’s couch,” said Oliver, the owner and president of McKenzie Construction, a government contractor. “So it’s crazy how it comes full circle. Now, we live down the street from it.”

Oliver and Leah graduated from SU in 2008. Oliver studied civil engineering while Leah studied marketing and psychology.

The two then moved to New York City in 2010, where Oliver worked at an engineering firm while working on the construction business on the side.

When the couple moved to Washington in 2014, they already knew of the Greenberg House as a landmark in the city with a connection to their alma mater. But they never imagined owning the space until they walked by one day in 2020 and saw a “For Sale” sign outside.

SU purchased the Greenberg House in 1988, after which it served as the university’s Washington headquarters. Matt Ter Molen, the chief advancement officer and senior vice president of advancement and external affairs at SU, said in August 2020 that the building would close and be sold because it could no longer provide the necessary classroom, office and event space that SU needs.

At first, the couple wasn’t interested in the house because it needed significant renovations. But when the demand for their businesses — McKenzie Construction and Leah’s real estate firm Properties by Leah — increased, they took a closer look.

When the couple moved to Washington in 2014, they already knew of the Greenberg House as a landmark in the city with a connection to their alma mater. COURTESY OF SCOTT KOTWAS

The couple was in need of a place to coordinate with their respective businesses, and the Greenberg House met their requirements — a five-minute walk from their home, spacious and connected to Syracuse.

“All these things started lining up, and then Syracuse was willing to work with us on pricing. So it was like, ‘Let’s make this happen,’” Oliver said.

Both Oliver and Leah credited SU for their entrepreneurial spirit.

“It was really the next step,” Leah said. “Meeting people that could make things happen, meeting people that were different from myself and then figuring out what I was really interested in. So, for me, Syracuse was just eye opening for the opportunity that was going to be there.”

Under the couple’s ownership, the top half of the building will serve as office space for McKenzie Construction, while the bottom half will house Properties by Leah.

The two emphasized their perseverance when their businesses struggled with the onset of the pandemic.

“We’re not saying that there hasn’t been hardship, but that you know, it’s important to keep moving forward and raise everybody up around you as well,” Leah said. “So we want to do that for the community.”

Above all, they wanted to be an example of success stories for the Syracuse community.

“There’s all kinds of stories to look out for there,” Oliver said. “There are stories of doom and gloom, but there’s also stories of success. And we want to be that example.”

Published on February 2, 2022 at 10:08 pm

Contact Richard: rcperrin@syr.edu | @richardperrins2