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The 76-story, Frank Gehry-designed Beekman Tower in Lower Manhattan was going to be capped at 40 stories once funding ran out. Re-energized by the savings provided in the PLA, it is once again being built to the original plans.

New Life: An Oral History of the Industry’s Own Recovery Act
11/01/2009 By Jack Buehrer
On May 29, using words like “historic” and “groundbreaking,” New York City’s Construction Industry Partnership between union labor and contractors announced a project labor agreement both sides said would breathe life into an industry that had begun to circle the drain.

Ramapo College of New Jersey installed a geothermal system on its new Spiritual Center.

Still Going Green
11/01/2009 By Debra Wood
New starts are off, but many owners ready to move forward are still seeking greener structures.

Photo credit Ramapo College of New Jersey

11/01/09	The State of Green By Diane Greer McGraw-Hill Construction estimates that the value of green building construction starts grew five-fold from 2005 to 2008 and will more than double over the next five years reaching $96-140 billion in 2013.
11/01/09	Back To School By Debra Wood With growing interest in sustainability, greater numbers of people are recognizing the benefits of becoming a LEED AP certification, with 132,052 individuals having achieved the rank at the end of June, up from 77,689 at the end of 2008.
11/01/09	First Impressions By Diane Greer Changes in LEED version 3 also known as LEED 2009, are focusing project teams on strategies to save energy and water, reduce CO2 emissions and address issues impacting their region.
11/01/09	Sustainable Classic By Tom Stabile The Empire State Building was a marvel when it debuted as the world’s tallest building in 1931. Built in 18 months, the 102-story building kicked off a race for urban construction heights that continues today.
10/01/09	Redrawn Landscape By Tom Stabile The captains of architecture and engineering practices across the New York region were already enduring hard times in the past year, and didn’t need reminders of how bad things were.
10/01/09	No Longer Misunderstood Landscape Architects Enjoy Renaissance By Alex Padalka Landscape architects are shaping the future of our cities as seen from the sidewalk – and the roof, and the internal courtyard and along the highway.
10/01/09	Market Report: Upstate New York By Debra Wood While the rest of the country percolated with construction activity before the recession hit, Upstate New York construction activity seemed to lag behind, but now technology companies have discovered its attributes and major state and federal projects dot the landscape.
10/01/09	‘Right-Sizing’ Design The long-term impact of recessions is often most evident on projects altered by the economic realities. The most obvious example in the New York region this year was Forest City Ratner’s decision not to have Gehry Partners of Los Angeles as master architect of its massive $4.9 billion Atlantic Yards complex.
10/01/09	A Chance to Rethink the Practice The legacy of a recession on the design world is seldom evident while firms struggle through it. But there is potential for big changes in the disciplines. “In downturns, in recessions, even in the Great Depression, different ways of doing things emerged, says Rick Bell, executive director of the American Institute of Architects New York City chapter.
10/01/09	Not Just a Walk in the Park The landscape architect on Brooklyn Bridge Park, which underwent 20 years of planning and advocacy before it started construction in 2007, is Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates, a 20-year-old, Brooklyn-based firm with more 350 projects from Texas to Korea to their name.
10/01/09	Enter Technology The biggest technological advances for landscape architects have come from the integration of the pen and pencil with the computer. Graphics programs have made presentations, and sharing plans, easier than ever, but the greatest new tools come in the field of Geographic Information Systems (GIS), allowing study of the work site long before an actual site visit.
10/01/09	Big Ideas By Debra Wood The University at Buffalo, a flagship institution of the State University of New York system, has embarked on a $360-million capital improvement program designed to prepare the school to serve more than 38,000 students by 2020.
09/01/09	World View By Tom Stabile The Yellow Pages in Abu Dhabi and Dubai list quite a few familiar names: New York-region contractors, developers, architects, engineers, and project managers are all hanging shingles and winning assignments in one of the world’s busiest construction marketplaces.
09/01/09	Progress By Debra Wood Although controversy once again swirls around redevelopment of the World Trade Center site in Lower Manhattan, both the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and Silverstein Properties of New York report their projects are on schedule and progressing well.
09/01/09	3-D View By Diane Greer From its office overlooking the 16-acre World Trade Center site, the Lower Manhattan Construction Command Center has a bird’s-eye view of the day-to-day progress of construction projects in and around the site.
09/01/09	Bidding Frenzy: Bidding Heats Up as Economy Cools Diane Greer When the New York State Dept. of Transportation put together a needs analysis in early 2008, it based its projections on inflation rates from prior projects.
09/01/09	A Museum Worthy of Its Name: The Renovation of the Museum of the City of New York Alex Padalka New York City’s official chronicler on Fifth Avenue and 103rd Street was originally designed in 1929 as a grand mansion suitable for its subject matter.
08/01/09	Staying Afloat By Debra Wood During the economic recession, specialty contractors are being forced to do what they can to be more competitive and attractive to contractors. For some, that has meant upgrading skills, learning the latest about building information modeling and sustainability.
08/01/09	Come Down in Time Peter Reina Fiterman Hall is finally coming down, and for the City University of New York and the Lower Manhattan community, the resulting hole in the ground will be a most welcome site.
08/01/09	Modeling Green Diane Greer While building information modeling is fostering collaboration and improving efficiencies in sustainable design and construction, most experts across the A/E/C industry say it’s still a work in progress.
08/01/09	Exercise in Efficiency Alex Padalka The development of a 700,000-sq-ft LEED platinum Class A office tower currently in pre-construction in Trenton, N.J., is tied to the revitalization of the city, and the building’s green credentials are being achieved at a minimum of cost.
08/01/09	New Life Aileen Cho A nearly 7,000-ft-long railroad bridge is undergoing an extreme $35-million makeover over the Hudson River, thanks to hundreds of precast concrete panels, community zeal and the windblown determination of engineers and contractors.
07/01/09	Contractor of the Year Jack Buehrer Overlooking the massive jobsite at 1 World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan, Dan Tishman, dressed immaculately in a navy blue suit with a red and pink striped tie, stands watching the 300-plus construction workers scurrying around below him.
07/01/09	Two Weeks in the Life of Langan International’s George Leventis Jack Buehrer and George Leventis The often-dangerous leap into international work was a work in progress for Langan Engineering & Environmental Services for more than a decade. And for George Leventis, it was a labor of love.
07/01/09	A Day in the Life of USGBCNY’s Russell Unger Diane Greer Russell Unger, executive director of the New York Chapter of the U.S. Green Building Council, wants to make green building the norm in New York City.
07/01/09	A Day in the Life of ARUP Engineer Fiona Cousins Diane Greer Fiona Cousins specializes in translating sustainability from an abstract idea into concrete solutions on the ground.
07/01/09	Generation Next Debra Wood The Architecture, Construction and Engineering Mentor Program offers high-school students a chance to discover a range of opportunities in design and construction – and scholarships to help them achieve their goals.

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