Early autumn of 2010 may well have been the rock bottom point for the New York region�s design and construction market. That�s when it was clear that its few active sectors � healthcare, K-12 schools, and higher education � had backlogs drying up and new projects delayed, adding to gloom that had already enveloped private commercial and residential construction. Related Links: Subcontractors in Distress Labor Contract Showdown And then came the New Jersey governor’s announcement that the state was abandoning its commitment to the $8.7 billion Trans-Hudson Express Tunnel project – which would have built a passenger rail tunnel and

Few construction industry leaders believe they�ll see a turnaround in the first half of 2011 in the New York region. But they may see one an important milestone by midyear when 30 New York City labor-contractor collective bargaining agreements are set to expire on July 1. Related Links: How To Get Work in 2011 The current crop includes some of the biggest unions, including the steamfitters, operating engineers, carpenters, and laborers. And a standoff looms over costs, says Louis Coletti, president and CEO of the Building Trades Employers’ Association. Coletti says contractors are getting pressure from owners’ groups, such as

Among the darkest clouds looming over 2011 for the New York region�s construction industry is the state of subcontractors � and how many of them may falter this year. Related Links: How To Get Work in 2011 “The subcontractor community is starting to see the wear and tear of this recession,” says Joe Hogan, v.p. for building services at the Associated General Contractors of New York in Albany. “The risk of subs defaulting on projects is getting greater, and [general] contractors now have to look for signs of stress.” Contractors and subcontractors generally aren’t the best judges of their own

For more than three decades, the Jets and Giants have been just as much siblings as rivals in football’s largest market – the older brother crashing at the younger brother’s Shea Stadium pad in Queens for the 1975 season while Giants Stadium was being built on New Jersey swampland, and the younger one then moving over in 1984 for an extended stay at the elder’s new home. And after both scouted options to build new digs – the Jets especially hoping to finally call one their own – they ended up choosing to bunk together again, but this time in

It wasn’t long ago that a listing of major healthcare projects in the New York-New Jersey-Connecticut region would have at least one big job on the campus of every single large medical institution in the region. Related Links: Back to "Serious But Stable" Today, the list is thinner, and designers and contractors are looking to win smaller projects from these same institutions and scouting their master planning efforts to see what’s on the horizon – and how long it will take to get there. Here’s a sampling of the dwindling list of major jobs that are still ongoing, and a

The New York regional construction market’s dark journey since late 2008 has had its few bright spots – K-12 schools, higher education, massive ongoing transportation jobs – but few seemed as brilliant as healthcare. The vital signs were strong, with big projects churning along and expectations that the demographics of aging Baby Boomers and a growing population would keep the market humming. But beneath the veneer of vigor, multiple maladies have set upon the healthcare market, altering its short-term prospects and clouding its long-term outlook. And it all happened quickly, with economic pressures and the healthcare reform debate colliding, says

Related Links: Back to "Serious But Stable" Plenty of industry associations have spent their time in the past two years lamenting the sad state of affairs in the construction world, but the New York Building Congress didn’t start up its new healthcare committee this year with hand-wringing in mind. The new panel has already hosted four events with prominent speakers outlining the outlook for the healthcare market and providing a forum for discussing future trends, says Andrew Holwack, vice president at NYBC and the committee’s staff liaison. He says the group hasn’t ventured in the policy arena yet. “We’re serving

A year ago, signs of the construction market’s collapse were as clear as a crisp autumn day – backlogs were drying up, revenues were swept away, sputtering projects went dormant, and new work was nowhere on the bare landscape.

A year ago, signs of the construction market’s collapse were as clear as a crisp autumn day – backlogs were drying up, revenues were swept away, sputtering projects went dormant, and new work was nowhere on the bare landscape. And in the midst of that chill in November 2009, Structure Tone, a New York contractor with a $3 billion book, jumped on an acquisition of L.F. Driscoll, a Philadelphia market leader with $650 million in work. Most market observers say the construction sector’s swoon actually opened a prime season of mergers and acquisitions, a time for strong firms to not

In the wasteland of the New York region’s slumping construction market, K-12 public schools were the oasis sustaining contractors, designers, and others as work dried up elsewhere. “Thank God for the schools,” says Tom Rogér, vice president for Gilbane Building. “It maintained some level of consistent activity through the recession.” The plodding finance process for school construction had set up several years’ worth of projects as the recession deepened. “Last year, there was still a significant amount of new construction going on, because those were projects approved three years ago,” Rogér adds. But the downturn’s ripples have begun lapping against