NYCHA land suit scrapped
By Holly Dutton Opponents of a city plan to lease New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) land to real estate developers have dropped a lawsuit … Continued
Category : Construction & Design
Nominations invited for NYC construction awards
Nonimations are now being invited for the annual New York Construction Awards. Presented in co-operation with the New York Building Congress (NYBC) and industry partners, American Council of Engineering Companies of New York (ACEC-NY) and the American Institute of Architects New York Chapter (AIA-NY), and hosted by Anchin, Block &...
Brownfield cleanup makes $7B in private investment
Local communities across New York have received significant direct and indirect economic benefits from the State Brownfield Cleanup Program (BCP) including $7 billion in total investment, 42,300 construction jobs and 15,000 direct permanent jobs (21,300 direct and indirect) – much of it during one of the worst real estate recessions...
TDR shakeup could help housing crunch
A new report issued today by the NYU Furman Center analyzes the untapped potential of NYC’s transferable development rights program, a critical tool for high-density housing development in New York City. The NYU Furman Center report, Unlocking the Right to Build: Designing a More Flexible System for Transferring Development Rights...
DOB welcomes fall in number of building site fatalities
Acting Buildings Commissioner Thomas Fariello announced a 62.5 percent decrease in fatal construction-related accidents in New York City in 2013 when compared to the previous year. There were three fatal accidents in 2013 compared to eight in 2012. All three accidents involved worker falls due to lack of adequate fall...
Paulson Co. to pump $260M into Peurto Rican resort development
Two investment groups announced plans Monday to invest a combined total of more than $460 million in separate acquisitions that will strengthen Puerto Rico’s status as a high-end luxury resort destination. New York investment firm Paulson & Co. said it would invest $260 million to create two high-end luxury resorts...
Gowanus the next Brooklyn Riviera, says Lichtenstein
Brooklyn’s uber-polluted Gowanus Canal is filled with such a mysterious cocktail of substances that the New York Daily News a few years ago reported on a scientist who was searching below its frothy surface for a cure to AIDS. But David Lichtenstein, CEO and chairman of the Lightstone Group, can see past sewage overflow and 150 years of industrial waste. “It’s going to be the Brooklyn Rivera,” he told members of the YM/WREA at the monthly luncheon meeting this week. “You just have to use your imaginations.”
NYC facing $47-billion repair bill
A new report by think tank Center for Urban Future argues that the city’s infrastructure is in dire need of repair, requiring investments of $47 billion over the next four to five years. “Simply put, too much of the city’s essential infrastructure remains stuck in the 20th Century — a problem for a city positioning itself to compete with other global cities in today’s 21st Century economy,” the report states. Some 162 bridges in the city — 11 percent of the total — are described as “structurally deficient”. According to the report, 1,000 miles of water mains are over 100 years old, which led to 403 water main breaks last year. Ageing gas mains are deemed responsible for 5,835 gas leaks in 2012 alone.
NYU group calls for bigger, bolder expansion
A faculty-led NYU working group has called on the university to be bolder in its immediate expansion plans, citing a need for more classrooms, arts space and faculty housing. The NYU Space Priorities Group’s final report proposes to create between 817,000 and 899,000 s/f of academic space and housing on the site of the current Coles Sports Center at 181 Mercer Street. So far, the university’s capital spending and financing plan has budgeted with a 670,000 s/f building at a cost of $727 million on the site. Zoning allows for construction of up to 980,000 s/f. The working group estimates that additional space will lead to added construction costs between $128 million and $201 million — keeping the development’s total cost just below $1 billion.
CONSTRUCTION ROUNDUP: MADGI; Parsons Brinckerhoff; Association of Master Painters
● MADGI Getting creatvie with corporate interiors The commercial interiors studio of the New York City-based architecture and interior design firm of Montroy Andersen DeMarco (MADGI) has completed the 35,000 S/F headquarters of Dentsu Americas, one of the world’s largest advertising, marketing communications, and media buying networks. The new headquarters...