NYBC Holds Industry Recognition Dinner  April 2010 Approximately 900 members of the building community gathered to pay tribute to four industry greats during the New York Building Congress 2009 Industry Recognition Dinner at the Grand Hyatt New York last November. EE Cruz & Company CEO Edward Cruz and Boston Properties Senior Vice President/New York Region Manager Robert E. Selsam were presented with Industry Recognition Awards. F.J. Sciame Construction Company Chairman and CEO Frank J. Sciame received the George A. Fox Public Service Award, and Special Recognition for Public Service was given to New York City Department of Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan.

Image courtesy of West 8 Construction on New York City�s ambitious redevelopment of Governors Island is expected to begin in 2012. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg on Monday announced an agreement that gives the city long-term planning and development control of Governor’s Island, a 172-acre chunk of largely undeveloped real estate in New York Harbor. The announcement of the agreement preceded the mayor’s unveiling of a sweeping redevelopment plan for the one-time military base that includes the creation of a new, 87-acre public park and a waterfront promenade and public space. The city also has plans to build a

Construction on the first two phases of the five-phase, multi-use Hindu American Religious Center located on 33-acres in Robbinsville, N.J. is currently under way. The center broke ground in September 2010 and upon its completion in 2016, it will total 262,000 sq ft. Rendering: BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha The first two phases of the project include a main atrium building that will enclose a 9,000-sq-ft, 36-ft high Hindu prayer building known as a Mandir designed by PS&S of Warren, N.J. who are also acting as engineers on the project, in collaboration with local and India based artisans. Hand-carved stone for the

A $266 million project to remediate the Brookfield Avenue Landfill in Staten Island has broken ground. The project which will transform the contaminated site into a 132-acre park is being funded with $166 million in city funding and $100 million in funding from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. The Brookfield site was operated by the Department of Sanitation from 1966 to 1980 accepting 1,000 tons of solid waste per day. In the 1970s, the NYS DEC determined that liquid and hazardous wastes were illegally dumped at the landfill and in 1986, it was classified as a Class

Rochester, NY-based LeChase Construction Services announced that it has acquired Northeast Construction Services of Syracuse, New York. The firm has more than $400 million in work projected for New York State this year. The new logo courtesy of LeChase Construction Services The new company’s Syracuse office will be called “Northeast, a LeChase company” and will work primarily the education, healthcare, process industrial, science and technology and commercial markets. Northeast, founded in 1982 currently employs 55 people and all employees will remain with the company and continue to operate with the same management team in place. Richard Schneider will serve as

Construction is underway on a $41 million project at Newtown High School in Newtown, Connecticut, designed by project architect, Fletcher Thompson Associates of Shelton, Connecticut and lead by construction manager, The Morganti Group, Inc. of Danbury, Connecticut. Photo: Gaffney Bennett Public Relations The project consists of a 70,000-sq-ft addition to the new gymnasium and 15,000 sq ft of interior renovation and is slated for completion in January 2011. Originally built in 1970 and expanded in 1997 to accommodate a growing student population, Newtown High School required even further expansion in 2007. As a result, a 73,000-sq-ft addition to the existing

Skanska USA announced that its building unit in San Antonio was the recipient of multiple health-care construction awards at the 2009 Annual Excellence in Construction Competition hosted by the Associated Builders and Contractors of South Texas. Skanska won the Mega Projects Award, the Healthcare Award, the Institutional Award and the Gold S.T.E.P. Award for Safety. Skanska USA also announced it has completed construction on the Texas Southmost College Arts Center Building in Brownsville. MIYAKODA MENDENHALL LONG TBG Partners promoted employees at three of its four Texas offices. In Dallas/Fort Worth, Kent T. Mendenhall was promoted to principal; in Houston, Yan

New York City's construction industry produced 106,500 jobs in January 2010, it's lowest showing in 58 months, according to a report released by the New York Building Congress. January's numbers brought construction employment down 12% from January 2009 with 121,300 jobs and 16% from January 2008 with 127,500 jobs. In October 2009, monthly construction employment dropped below 120,000 for the first time since February 2007, and has declined in each month since. These numbers include contractors, skilled laborers and specialty tradesmen. They do not include construction workers who work for government agencies, architects, engineers and other off-site workers. "In the

Stalco Construction is currently serving as general contractor for a $30 million capital improvement program that includes additions and renovations at the Ward Meliville High School in East Setauket, New York and renovations at two Junior High Schools and three elementary schools within the Three Village Central School District in Long Island, New York. Photo by Lauren Mancuso courtesy of Wilk Marketing Communications John A. Grillo of Port Jefferson, New York is serving as the architect and interior designer for the entire program and has designed the additions for the high school in accordance with The Collaborative for High School

Building information modeling, still relatively rare in the transportation construction world, proved key in gaining public approval for a planned $573-million, 9.4-mile rapid-transit bus system in Hartford, Conn. Advocates hope transit agencies will begin to ramp up use of BIM in future projects. Slide Show Image: SEA Three-dimensional imaging proved a valuable public-outreach method. The Connecticut Dept. of Transportation had planned on design-build for the line connecting Hartford and New Britain. “We had a designer bring the project from [environmental permitting] to 30% design,” says Michael Sanders, ConnDOT transit administrator. But after then-Gov. John Rowland (R)—who had approved special design-build