When the owners of the Empire State Building in 2007 decided to move forward with a new capital improvement plan, they were looking for standard improvements to get the building to Class A commercial status. At the time they were looking at traditional, "common sense" improvements, such as bringing the 25% to 30% of the building lacking air conditioning some thermal control. The Empire State Building retrofit was selected by the Clinton Climate Initiative as the first, symbollic project for its retrofit division. CCI is now partner in more than 250 retrofits in 20 cities across the world. The team
Faced with a growing enrollment, Quinnipiac University is building a new $300 million, 250-acre residential campus in Hamden, Conn., to house more than 1,500 students. Slide Show Photo courtesy of Shoreline Aerial Photography O&G Industries began construction on the $300 million, 250-acre residential complex at Quinnipiac's York Hill Campus in 2008. Related Links: Selected Higher Education Projects Under Construction or in Design Back to Schools Rock U Still Growing “The university’s goal is to have enough residence hall availability for the entire undergraduate population,” says Joseph Rubertone, associate vice president for facilities administration for Quinnipiac University, who adds that living
Developer Bruce Becker looked to the past to create his vision for 360 State Street, a cutting-edge green residential tower in downtown New Haven, Connecticut. Slide Show Photo courtesy of Becker + Becker The $150 million tower at 360 State Street in New Haven is being designed as a throwback to the once walkable and livable downtown New Haven in a now-sustainable environment. Related Links: Helping Hands Bright Spots in Connecticut The $150 million, 32-story project is located at the site of the former Shartenberg department store, which was razed in 1962 under a then-ambitious urban renewal scheme. Redevelopment plans
The financial meltdown and ensuing recession are forcing universities across the region to delay or scale back construction plans. Activity across the region in the higher education sector has slowed significantly since 2007. But there’s some good news. Despite the relative slowdown at both private and public institutions in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, the Tri-State higher education market seems to have avoided the fate of other once-booming sectors such as residential and commercial building. Slide Show Photo courtesy of City University of New York Construction will begin this year on CUNY's Advanced Science Research Center at City College
Overall, Connecticut construction activity remains slow, but there are some glimmers of hope for better times on the horizon. Slide Show Photo courtesy of Turner Construction Co. Turner Construction Co. is fitting out the upper floors of the Smilow Cancer Hosptial at Yale-New Haven Hospital. Related Links: Helping Hands Re-Imagined in New Haven “On the private side, the market is decimated,” says Don Shubert, president of the Connecticut Construction Industry Association in Wethersfield. “There is nothing going on, very little activity at all.” Shubert reports private universities are scaling back, casino projects have stalled, and there’s just a little happening
“Grim.” “Dire.” “Hairy.”The words construction industry veterans are using to describe the state of project financing show how far the market has fallen since the 2008 economic crash. But while the lean times aren’t over, the market mood appears to be changing from shell-shocked in trenches to a cautious look outward for opportunity. “It is pretty dire out there, with up to 15 to 20% of construction loans in default,” says David Pfeffer, an attorney and co-chair of the construction practice group at New York’s Tarter Krinsky & Drogin. “But I have been seeing a little light at the end
When people talk about green building, construction waste management is rarely given top billing. But for contractors, it is a priority. According to McGraw-Hill’s SmartMarket Report, “Sustainable Construction Waste Management: Creating Value in the Built Environment,” 61 percent of contractors rate sustainable waste management as the second most important aspect of a green building, just behind energy efficiency. Related Links: Tracking Trash : Construction teams place higher importance on construction waste management “People do not see the immediate link to reducing your carbon footprint and wastes,” says Michele Russo, director of Green Content & Research Communications at New York-based McGraw-Hill
With the advent of LEED, construction managers are viewing the dumpster in a new light. Construction wastes, once relegated to landfills, are now recycled or reused to earn LEED credits and comply with sustainable construction initiatives. To meet waste management goals, project teams are employing new strategies and setting up tracking systems to document how wastes are recycled and reused. Photo: Croxton Collaborative Architects, PC Metal recycling area during the renovation of the New York offices of the National Resources Defense Council. The 8,800-sq.-ft. project, which is seeking LEED CI Platinum designation, utilized onsite separation to achieve a 96.5 percent
Several large public projects will continue to move forward in 2010, but with the economy still troubled and financial markets unyielding, private jobs are few. Yet they create opportunities for some firms as the industry right-sizes and moves forward. Turner Construction Co. recently completed construction on a cancer research center and a breast care and imaging center at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York. “The name of the game for 2010 and beyond is to make sure you are well diversified in different product types,” says Pat Di Filippo, executive vice president of Turner Construction Co. in New York,
With the one-year anniversary of the $787-billion federal stimulus package only a month away, we thought we’d use this opportunity to avert our attention away from the doom and gloom predictions for the near future and highlight some of the region’s best stimulus-funded projects. Our parent publication, Engineering News-Record, recently profiled 22 of the nation’s most newsworthy and noteworthy stimulus projects in four categories: Transportation, Energy, Environment and Buildings. As it turns out, all three states in our region – New York, New Jersey and Connecticut – have active projects that made the cut. Those three projects are featured on