(PHOTOS IN EXTENDED ARTICLE)

It’s been a matter of pride for both Hamaspik and the communities it serves.

But the rapid ongoing construction at 4102 14th Avenue, home to Hamaspik of Kings County in the heart of Brooklyn’s Borough Park, isn’t just boosting Hamaspik’s neighborhood profile.

It’s also literally raising the roof on the programs and services provided by Hamaspik to that greater neighborhood—creating the office space for much-needed new programming, and the staff power to drive that new programming.

And with every hammer blow, the December 2017 grand opening gets one step closer.

The new office spaces will allow Hamaspik to take community services to the next level. The massive construction project adds 6,000 square feet to the building across an entire new floor being added above the current rooftop.

The project also extends the footprint of the current top floor, bringing its perimeter flush with the floors below by building atop a second-floor roof with the addition of new office space.

The completed project will bring the total number of floors to four.

At the same time, Hamaspik’s daily operations at the site continue undisturbed—with Hamaspik of Kings County Director of Development Naftali Tessler working closely with contractors to ensure that construction is carried out as unobtrusively as possible.

As a result, both new inquirers and existing clients visiting interior offices hardly notice that construction is going on. (Conversely, the exterior scaffolding wrapping the building’s outsides are all but unnoticeable!) Daily work continues undisturbed, with intake staffers, service coordinators and other hardworking staff all tending to their caseloads “with the usual Hamaspik standards,” Mr. Tessler said.

But while all that regular work goes on, so does the contracting work above it.

The new steel exterior frame, crossbeams and roof have long since been put in place. Wooden floorboards have been laid. Walls of standard 2×4 beams have been assembled and erected. Drywall panels have been placed. Windows are being installed. Electric lines are being run.

And all without a single interruption in Hamaspik’s ongoing workflow. Tessler even saw to it that temporary air conditioners were installed and operational while the building’s huge existing central A/C unit was moved by crane from the old roof to the new.

Further hewing to Hamaspik’s standards of excellence are the biweekly meetings between the agency’s Brooklyn leadership and contractor New York Major Construction. As Mr. Tessler puts it “everything NYMC is doing is carried out in a professional way”.

The meetings, also occasionally attended by Hamaspik of Kings County pioneer and Executive Director Joel Freund, review all recent additions and upcoming scheduled developments, seeing to it that construction continues as scheduled and addressing any needed changes in real time. Subcontracting specialty work, like interior tiling or painting, is also addressed.

And throughout it all, from Day One of construction onward, Mr. Tessler has been dispatching regular updates, filled with exciting photos, across the Hamaspik universe statewide.

But now, with the warm summer weather allowing maximal construction, the project’s “heavy lifting” is completed and has moved into the finishing-touch phase, with focus shifting to extensive interior work.

And once completion of work on what used to be Hamaspik’s roof is done, the sky’s the limit on what Hamaspik of Kings County’s new office spaces, and dedicated new staff.

“Reprinted courtesy of the Hamaspik Gazette.”

Photos by JDN