SEI Design Group expands architecture firm again with new office

SEI Design Group, an architecture firm in New York that specializes in K-12 public schools districts, has opened a new office in Colonie.

The Rosenblum Cos. recently leased 6,500 sq. ft. of office space on the first floor of 2 Winners Circle.

Distance-wise, the move was short from 187 Wolf Road (7 minutes if you walked).

It is a huge step forward for the company, as it will allow it to double the number of local employees in the next few years.

SEI Design Group employs 70 people in its offices located in Rochester, Buffalo, and Binghamton.

Billings amounted to $16,8 million last fiscal year, with $4.6 million of that total coming from the local office.

Matt Monaghan is one of six founding partners. The firm's name comes from the Italian word sei, which means six.

Monaghan, along with the other partners, had a clientele of K-12 students when they left their large firm in 2006 to start SEI Design Group. They have offices in Colonie & Rochester.

Since then, the company has added a lot more clients and expanded geographically. They now serve more than 60 districts, including urban, suburban, rural, and even remote areas.

Monaghan stated, "In Albany we had many outlier school districts." "We would travel two, three or four hours to reach a client's meeting." Over the years, we have started to move into the Capital District. Some of the clients that are now hiring SEI had been with other firms for a long time.

The size of a project can vary greatly, from a $100,000 remodel to something much bigger.

Schenectady City school district, for example, asks residents to approve 300 million dollars in capital improvements within the next seven-year period. This is the largest renovation outside the five biggest New York cities.

The referendum will appear on the ballot for the first time in May, the date set by the state to vote on public school budgets.

Locally, SEI Design Group is in competition with firms like CSArch Albany and Mosaic Associates Troy who also have a number of K-12 clients.

The firm has also done work outside of the education sector, including the recent renovations to The Desmond Hotel & Conference Center as well as the $25 million Empire BlueCross Office Buildings.

Finding the right candidates to fill vacant roles is the greatest obstacle to growth.

Monaghan's description of the task was "finding talented and good people".