New York City construction spending reached $29.3-billion in 2013, up 6% from 2012, and helped by growth in the government sector, according to a new New York Building Congress (NYBC) study. Rendering Courtesy of New York City Economic Development Corp. Measuring Units: The Hunter's Point South project's 941 units greatly contributed to the rise in building permits issued in Queens last year. Government spending accounted for $13.7 billion, or 47% of construction spending last year, the study says. That is only a slight increase from the $13.4 billion spent in 2012. Spending in this sector peaked in 2008 at $16.3-billion,

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced on April 7 that he is appointing Columbia University civil-environmental engineering and computer science professor Feniosky Peña-Mora, who also had been engineering school dean, as commissioner of the city's Dept. of Design and Construction (DDC). Photo Courtesy of Columbia University Pena-Mora is civil engineering researcher and former Columbia U. engineering dean. Related Links: Columbia Engineering Dean Resigns Under Pressure Columbia U.'s New Engineering Dean Returns to Familiar Campus DDC is the city's capital construction project manager, with a staff of nearly 1,200 and a $10 billion portfolio, says its website.According to a

The New York State Thruway Authority is withholding up to $1 million in project progress payments to Tappan Zee Constructors (TZC), the design-build team on the Tappan Zee Bridge replacement, due to several instances of construction barges becoming loose at the site. Image Courtesy of The New York State Thruway Authority Dredging Up: Work on the new two-span bridge began last October and is scheduled for completion by 2018. “Until TZC delivers a contractually required corrective action plan that can be reviewed and approved” by its project team, the Thruway Authority will withhold the funds as allowed under contract, the

A Democratic New Jersey lawmaker has introduced legislation to replace three of Republican Gov. Chris Christie's nominees to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ) board, including board Chairman David Samson. The bill seeks to replace those members with "public interest" members nominated by the nonprofit and advocacy organizations New Jersey Future, Trenton, and Tri-State Transportation Campaign, New York; as well as research and advocacy group Regional Plan Association, Princeton. The move comes amid questions raised over whether the governor played a role in the September closure of two entrance lanes leading to the George Washington Bridge

Gas leak explosions, like the March 12 blast that leveled two five-story buildings in New York City's East Harlem, are commonplace nationwide and are not always due to aging infrastructure. In fact, experts in and out of industry say significant incidents in U.S. gas distribution pipelines occur on average every four to six days, and excavation work is often to blame for pipeline damage, according to the Pipeline & Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA). Photo By Jeffrey Cox/ENR Investigators are still combing the blast site, where two five-story buildings once stood, for clues. Photo By Jeffrey Cox/ENR Side streets off

The joint venture team of developers Related Companies and Oxford Properties Group broke ground yesterday, March 19, on the $700-million eastern platform over active rail lines on Manhattan's West Side. The platform, part of the massive Hudson Yards redevelopment site, follows the start last December of another project at the site, the 80-story North Tower, 30 Hudson Yards. Rendering Courtesy of Related-Oxford Rising High: The Hudson Yards redevelopment site is expected to take about 10-12 years to complete. The size of the entire mixed-use site grew last year with the addition of 50 and 55 Hudson Yards located between 33rd

Thornton Tomasetti, New York, has promoted Gemini Nazareno to vice president. Nazareno has more than 25 years of experience in plumbing and fire suppression/protection engineering and is a member of the firm's mechanical, electrical and   Nazarenoplumbing team. Nazareno previously worked for five years in the firm's Newark office as a senior associate and project manager. Related Links: ENR New York ENR New York Featured People The Building Trades Employers' Association (BTEA) has elected its 2014 co-chairmen. They are Charles Avolio, vice president and operations manager of Turner Construction Co., and Michael Russo, CEO and corporate secretary of Fresh Meadows Mechanical

  Photo By Sue Pearsall Safety First: DOB credits its enforcement and industry outreach on safety for the decline in worksite fatalities. Photo Courtesy of Several Seconds/Flickr, Licensed Under CC By-NC-ND 2.0 Out With the Old, In With the New: The long-overdue repair and modernization of existing infrastructure in New York City would cost about $47 billion, according to a recent study. Related Links: ENR New York Featured News News Wrap Feb. 24, 2014 New York Worker Deaths Decline, But Injuries IncreaseConstruction-related fatalities in New York City dropped last year, but the number of accidents and injuries rose, says Thomas

The ongoing shift to bring health care services to the masses wherever they live has helped to ignite demand for new construction of ambulatory care centers nationwide. Even old, established institutions including the University of Pennsylvania Health System (UPHS)—which includes the 263-year-old Pennsylvania Hospital—are heavily investing in outpatient satellite centers. The trend, one of several affecting the hospital and health care sector, calls for project teams that can remain as flexible with demand, schedules and costs as their clients, said speakers at ENR New York’s The Future of Healthcare Construction conference, held Feb. 26, in New York.While institutions remain committed

Peter Gisolfi Associates, Architects, Landscape Architects LLP, Hastings-on-Hudson, N.Y., has named Diane Abate associate. She joins fellow associates Klaus Kalmbach, Andy Rong-Hui Lin and Ronen Wilk. Abate's role involves master-plan and conceptual design development. She also will coordinate construction document preparation and all aspects of construction administration. Abate Related Links: ENR New York ENR New York Featured People Thornton Tomasetti, New York, has hired Tom Byrne as a business development senior associate. Byrne, who has more than 15 years of experience in the building engineering industry, will collaborate on national and international business development efforts.WSP USA, New York, has hired