Groundbreaking Set for Downtown SUNY Broome Project

The entrance to the historic Carnegie Library in downtown Binghamton on September 28, 2016. [Bob Joseph/WNBF News][/caption]

A groundbreaking ceremony will be held for a SUNY Broome Community College Culinary Arts Center in downtown Binghamton.

SUNY Broome President Kevin Drumm discussing the downtown project. [Bob Joseph/WNBF News][/caption]

The long-planned project will transform the historic Carnegie Library building on Exchange Street into a modern learning environment.

The ceremony will be held Thursday at 10:30 a.m. A section of Exchange Street south of Court Street will be closed for the event.

Broome County historian Gerald Smith is looking forward to the removal of the cornerstone of the old library. The cornerstone contains a time capsule which was put into place in 1903 as construction of the building was getting underway.

Smith said an inventory shows the time capsule contains copies of various Binghamton-area newspapers. There may be copies of three daily and two weekly papers that existed before the inception of The Binghamton Press in 1904. The capsule also has copies of City Council proceedings from the previous year and letters of support for the project from local officials.

SUNY Broome President Kevin Drumm discussed the new project on WNBF Radio's Binghamton Now program Wednesday. LISTEN as Drumm outlines what's next for the Culinary Arts Center project.

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