The Wooden Lab Behind Laurel Hollow's 25A Fence

What has been going up behind the row of young trees on Route 25A, across from Moores Hill Road?

In its Oct. 6, 2026 issue, the trade publication ENR reported that work is wrapping up on Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory's new Artificial Intelligence and Quantitative Biology building, known as AIQB. It is a three-story lab whose frame is built from glulam columns and beams with cross-laminated timber floor decks. The timber came from sustainably managed forests in the southeastern United States and was fabricated domestically. One cross-laminated timber span runs 80 feet. Skanska, the construction manager, calls it one of the longest single CLT spans in a lab and office building on the East Coast.

That building is one piece of the largest project on this stretch of the harbor's west shore. It is finishing a little later than the lab's own page says. Its last months also fall in a season when the lab, and St. John's Church farther along 25A, each offer a few small, ticketed ways in.

A Mass-Timber First, Built by Comparing Notes

According to ENR, AIQB is Skanska's first laboratory project using mass timber, and its Northeast team and local subcontractors had limited experience with the material. Jonathan Walsh, Skanska's project director, told ENR how his team got up to speed by leaning on colleagues in the Pacific Northwest:

"I was talking to those guys in the Northwest every other day—talking to the supers, talking to the PM that bought it out, talking to everybody. I was like, 'All right, what were your lessons learned on everything from procurement to the contract to the coordination with the MEP?' I picked their brains for a good two months straight."

The design comes from a firm that knows the campus well. Todd Andrews, a principal at Centerbrook Architects, told ENR that the firm has worked at the laboratory for more than 50 years. He said a 2006 campus expansion helped shape the look of this one, and the new buildings take their cues from the older ones around them. That helps explain why the renderings look like more of the same campus, not a break from it.

The Schedule Has Moved Into 2027

AIQB is a $28 million building inside a $248 million, 379,500-square-foot first phase. ENR says that first phase will be complete in early 2027. The laboratory and Skanska gave the same early-2027 target in July 2025, when they marked the project's progress.

The laboratory's Foundations for the Future page still says the project is "currently scheduled to run through Q4 2026." Each date has slipped from the one before it. When CSHL broke ground on the Neuroscience Research Complex in December 2022, it expected that building to be done in December 2025. The AIQB structure topped out with a final beam on July 10, 2025. The latest dated report, ENR's, puts first-phase completion in early 2027. For anyone timing a commute around the 25A construction entrance, that is the realistic date.

The first phase includes these buildings:

The laboratory describes the research in plain terms. The work covers decoding the brain to fight diseases like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's, studying cancer's effects across the whole body, and using the brain to advance artificial intelligence. Part of the money is public. Empire State Development committed $55 million, with $25 million for AIQB and $30 million for the Neuroscience Research Complex. In May 2024 the state also announced $15 million for a Pancreatic Cancer Center of Excellence that is part of the expansion.

Building continues after that. A second phase is planned with an 81,000-square-foot research housing and conference center and a 56,000-square-foot housing and collaborative research center for visiting scientists.

What the Village Arranged Along the Fence

The trees along the fence are one result of planning between the laboratory and Laurel Hollow. CSHL says it worked with the Village of Laurel Hollow to plant 350 trees, each 8 to 10 feet tall, along the construction fence facing 25A and Moores Hill Road. Its FAQ lists several other measures:

• Construction hours follow Village of Laurel Hollow regulations.
• A single construction entrance sits on Route 25A, with flaggers posted at key points.
• Space inside the work area lets vehicles queue and park off the road.
• Vibration monitors are installed around campus and at neighboring houses.
• The gate closes every night, and the site is under 24/7 camera surveillance.

Those measures stay in place until the work is done. On the current timeline, that means the 25A entrance and flaggers will likely still be there through the holidays.

Inside the Gate, 20 People at a Time

The construction itself stays fenced off. The laboratory still opens the rest of its campus to the public in small groups. Its next public walking tour is the Halloween edition on Saturday, Oct. 31, from 10:30 a.m. to noon. The group meets at Grace Auditorium, One Bungtown Road. Tours last about an hour and a half, require a reservation and are limited to 20 people.

The price depends on which page you read. The laboratory's tour page lists $9.31 including fees, and the Eventbrite listing shows $10.38. The checkout screen will have the final amount. The tour is the laboratory's only campus event on its public events calendar right now. The other upcoming program takes place off campus.

The Lab Comes to Huntington on Nov. 19

That other program is the laboratory's Cocktails & Chromosomes series. On Thursday, Nov. 19, from 7 to 8 p.m., CSHL graduate student Alex Cicala is scheduled to speak at Six Harbors Brewing Company in Huntington. The event page sets a few conditions. Food is not provided, seating is first-come, and an Eventbrite reservation does not guarantee a seat. Arriving early is the only way to be sure of a chair.

For a laboratory spending $248 million on its first phase, the public program is modest. It includes one tour capped at 20 people and one hour-long talk in a taproom. Both put a neighbor in the same room as the people who will soon work in the new buildings.

Down 25A, St. John's Takes the Holidays

A short drive along Route 25A, Concerts by the Pond is in its 13th season at St. John's Episcopal Church, 1670 Route 25A, next to St. John's Pond. Its visit page says parking on the church campus is free. Two December concerts are left in the fall half of the season.

Saturday, Dec. 5, 7:30 p.m. Trio Mediæval. This Grammy-nominated vocal ensemble from Norway and Sweden will perform "Yule," a program of medieval carols, Scandinavian folk traditions and contemporary works. Tickets are $75 general and $60 for students.

Saturday, Dec. 12, 7:30 p.m. Holiday Swing II. The Konrad Paszkudzki Trio performs with April Varner. Tickets are $45 general and $30 for students.

Tickets for both are sold through the series' Trio Mediæval page and Holiday Swing II page. After December, the season picks up again with Adam W. Sadberry on Jan. 18, followed by Nathan Amaral on Feb. 13. Rupert Boyd, the Telegraph Quartet and The Westerlies fill out the spring through May 15.

The Rest of the Year in Order

The two village board meetings are the regular sessions on the Village of Laurel Hollow's posted schedule. They are the public meetings closest to the project's final months.

When the fence comes down on 25A, homeowners nearby may want to know where their property stands. Lauryn Koke works with Laurel Hollow and Cold Spring Harbor homeowners and can look at your home in light of the changes along the corridor. Request a complimentary, confidential home valuation whenever you'd like a clear starting point.