An official groundbreaking ceremony was held on Wednesday for Corporate Commons Three. (Staten Island Advance/Tracey Porpora)

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Richard and Lois Nicotra remember 16 years ago when 3,000 employees moved out of Corporate Commons One and Two to set up shop across the Hudson in New Jersey.

"For the next 10 years, these two buildings remained vacant with not one person using the elevator or driving into the parking lot. The loss of the 3,000 jobs here hurt the community of Staten Island," said Richard Nicotra, during an official groundbreaking ceremony at the site Wednesday.

"When we bought these two buildings seven years ago, it was like the 'Twilight Zone.' ... It was as though people just got up from their desks and left. Half-smoked cigarettes were still in the ashtrays, coffee cups and work papers were still on the desks," he added.

But today with 2,500 employees already on the campus, the Nicotras hope to double the number of people who work in the Corporate Park of Staten Island at the Teleport in Bloomfield. Their newest venture, Corporate Commons Three, will employ another 2,500 people in an eight-story office building on an 8.5-acre site with a rooftop organic farm, restaurant and vineyard.

"Rich and Lois are the perfect couple to ensure this project is everything it can be. ... You could have built just an office building or a restaurant. Instead, you chose something that would support this community for the long-term," said James Patchett, president and CEO of the city Economic Development Corp. (NYCEDC), which closed on the sale, along with the Nicotra Group, earlier this summer. The Nicotra Group was selected to develop the office complex after responding to a competitive request for expressions of interest in 2013.

Said Borough President James Oddo: "Rich and Lois are good people who do good things and build great buildings. Everything they touch is unique, and everything they touch has class; they are a huge asset to this borough."

FLOWERS & ART



Touting the structure as a way to "outsmart Manhattan" in the Corporate Park of Staten Island, Lois Nicotra said the 330,000-square-foot LEED certified office building will be complete with finishes and amenities that you would expect to find in Manhattan.

Corporate Commons Three will be a project filled with art and flowers. We will create a sculpture garden featuring oversized iconic pieces," said Lois Nicotra.

"We took a trip to Paris this year and experienced Monet's Garden. We were so inspired we thought we could create something like that here on Staten Island but on a much smaller scale," she added.

GROUNDBREAKING

The Nicotras broke ground on Corporate Commons Three in September. At the same time, they hired a landscape architect to create a temporary nursery on the grounds to house tens of thousands of indigenous plants, and hundreds of native trees, to be replanted on the site once the building is complete.

OUTDOOR CLASSROOM

To share the unique space with the community, the Nicotras are building an outdoor classroom, so students can visit and learn about the environment, preservation and the historical significance of this land in an outdoor educational setting. Additionally, the John W. Lavelle Preparatory Charter School will expand operations in the new structure.

The Nicotras said they are in negotiations with several tenants for the new building, which is expected to be complete in 18 months.

GRAPE DONATIONS

While the Nicotras initially planned to make wine at the vineyard, they have now decided to grow grapes that will be donated to soup kitchens and food pantries on Staten Island, said Richard Nicotra.

"We met with a professor at the University of Sonoma in Napa Valley, and he told us, 'You can do that, but it will take about seven years before you have your first bottle of wine,'" he recalled. "And he had a great idea to just grow table grapes."

THE RESTAURANT

The new building's onsite restaurant, "Pienza Pizza, Pasta & Porchetta," will donate 100 percent of the profits to Staten Island charities, said Nicotra. This follows the model at COMMONS Cafe, which also donates all profits to charities on Staten Island, giving away nearly $600,000 in five years of operation.

CetraRuddy, an international award-winning architecture, planning and interior design firm, has designed the facility.

PRESERVING THE ENVIRONMENT

In an effort to continue their history of environmentally responsible development, the Nicotras, Arbor Day Award winning-developers, will donate three acres of land to be preserved and gifted to the community.

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