Developer plans eco-friendly improvements for former Birmingham schools admin building

West Bloomfield-based developer Jeff Surnow is tackling another project, now that he’s about wrapped up the renovation of the old Birmingham post office.His next project is a former Birmingham schools administration building, at 550 Mills St. He’s not quite as far along with that building — after receiving site plan approval from the city, he then goes through the planning stages, and expects that will take a little bit of time. He’s also looking for tenants to commit to moving in.The older buildings are a little harder to convert energy efficiency, Surnow says, but he’d like to do more of them when the economy picks up. “We’re taking old structures and giving them the modern, green technology to bring them up to date,” he says.Surnow would like to make some of the same improvements in the old school administration building that he did in the former post office — new heating, high-efficiency and low-energy lights, additional insulation, skylights, and more.Source: Jeff Surnow, The Surnow CompanyWriter: Kristin Lukowski