Airport Construction Projects Move Forward (9/19/01)

Airport construction projects at John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) in Jamaica, N.Y., and Newark International Airport in Elizabeth, N.J., are proceeding on schedule following their shutdown along with the nation’s airports for four days last week.

The airports were shut down after two hijacked jetliners attacked the World Trade Center (WTC), one attacked the Pentagon and a fourth crashed in Pennsylvania on September 11, 2001.

While the shutdown of the nation’s airports led the airlines to lay off thousands of workers, curtail their flight schedules and ask Congress for a bailout, projects and planned projects at JFK and Newark were up and running again and moving to make up lost time on their schedules just one week after the attack on America.

Major projects at JFK include the ongoing work on the International Arrivals Terminal (IAT), AirTrain and an American Airlines terminal. A fourth major project, a new United Airlines terminal, is said to be on schedule.

Ray Finnigan, a manager of construction for the Port Authority of NY & NJ (PA), said the PA’s first concern was its people. He added that in the aftermath of the devastation of the WTC’s twin towers, “Most of our employees made it out. Only four or five out of our 600-member engineering department did not make it out.”

IAT

JFK’s International Arrivals Terminal (IAT), which is also known as Terminal 4, is a $1.2 billion, design-build-operate-and-maintain (DBOM), four-level, 1.5-million-sq.-ft. facility that calls for a 16-gate operation. Plans also allow for expansion to 26 gates along with additional concourse space.

John Babieracki, executive vice president of AMEC Construction Management Inc. of New York, the project’s construction manager, said “IAT is proceeding as planned with the remaining phase of the project due to be completed by late spring.”

Babieracki also said that the project was only affected insomuch as the project was shut down along with the airport for four day.

He added that he does not expect any physical construction changes to the project as a result of September’s attack on America and beefed-up security at the nation’s airports.

“Airlines claiming they will go belly-up won’t affect the airport. What happens with regard to further airport construction remains to be seen. Some new security measures have been implemented, but overall, the general public’s reaction to this event and traveling is a subject of concern for all of the airlines.”

AirTrain

AirTrain is a $1.6 billion project that consists of an 8.4-mi. light rail system. This system includes an on-airport circulator consisting of a 2-mi. loop in the airport’s central terminal area (CTA) with six stations serving the nine existing airline terminals. There is also a connection to link rental car sites and the long-term and employee parking lots.

The project also includes expansion to downtown Jamaica and to Howard Beach, N.Y. AirTrain’s link at Howard Beach provides a link to the A subway train. The link there will consist of an AirTrain station and a new subway station.

The link at Jamaica Station goes further. At Jamaica Station, the link will provide a true intermodal hub with connections to and from the MTA/Long Island Rail Road (LIRR), the E, J and Z trains and 40 bus lines operated by MTA/New York City Transit (NYCT) and private companies, and an AirTrain station that will include ticketing and baggage check-in.

AirTrain consists of a complete grade-separated guideway system with two tracks, most of which will be elevated from 25 ft. to 50 ft based on what had to be crossed over. On the Van Wyck Expressway, the guideway is elevated 45 ft. to 50 ft. above the highway.

Steve Schultz, a project executive with Slattery Skanska of Whitestone, N.Y., part of the AirRail Transit Consortium (ARTC), the project’s DBOM entity based in Jamaica, N.Y., said the project was impacted by the attacks on the WTC “because a lot of our tradespeople volunteered and went down to assist. These workers included ironworkers and crane operators.”

Schultz said these volunteers returned to the project by September 18.

He said the temporary shutdown of JFK and volunteers assisting in the cleanup and rescue operation at the former WTC site did not delay the AirTrain project. He further pointed out that “the Port Authority Airport Access and construction staff are intact. We are proceeding with construction.”

Elaborating, he added that “the only thing that will change is that there will be tighter security within the airport. In our project, most of our station construction is on the airport and near the terminals. We do have some electrical work and track work continuing in Howard Beach and Jamaica.

“The project is proceeding forward. Both the ARTC and the Port Authority are committed to delivering the project on time. The Port Authority of NY & NJ has recovered and resumed normal operations with regard to this project.”

William Foley, a resident engineer of construction for the airport and the project said “We are moving along, proceeding on schedule.”

American Airlines

The American Airlines project at JFK, also known as Terminal 8, is a $1.3 billion, 2.2 million-sq.-ft., four-level project.

Anthony Bosco, project director and executive vice president for VRH Construction in Englewood, N.J., part of the project’s construction management team, said the American Airlines project at JFK is going forward, adding that the project is funded by bonds.

With regard to the on-airport project, he noted: “We had a shutdown for four days for security purposes.” He did not want to speculate on whether the project’s design might change as a result of what happened in mid-September, noting that “Those decisions haven’t been made yet.”

With regard to the four-day shutdown, he added: “We can recoup the schedule.”

Although still being designed, the planned new United Airlines terminal is on schedule, according to William Bodouva, president of William Bodouva Associates, the project’s New York-based architect.

Continental Airlines

The $1.6 billion Global Gateway project at Newark International Airport is a massive program with projects within the project. It is a public-private venture between the PA and Continental Airlines.

Richard Smyth, program principal for Continental Airlines at Newark, said after the shutdown of Newark in the days proceeding the attacks at the WTC and Pentagon that “My project is moving full speed ahead. It is a bonded project and we have the money earmarked for it. After the disaster, we reinforced our security requirements with tighter checkpoints. There are no real construction changes planned. We had to make sure everything was OK to let contractors back to work.”

He added that the project’s contractors would be back to work by September 21, 2001.

27.5M Sq. Ft. Lost; Industry Responds to Need (9/19/01)

The real estate industry in New York has responded quickly to the immediate need for temporary office space for businesses displaced by the September 11, 2001 attack on the World Trade Center (WTC) in lower Manhattan.

In press conferences covering the disaster, New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani said the real estate industry has responded with leases for 4 million sq. ft. of space for displaced businesses.

Meanwhile, the devastation of the WTC and surrounding area in the 16-acre affected area resulted in a loss of approximately 27.5 million sq. ft. of commercial space or approximately 20 percent of the downtown office market, according to initial estimates by Grubb & Ellis.

The available space in Manhattan at the time of the attack was estimated at about 25.5 million sq. ft., according to the firm, which added that only a small percentage of this available space may be in the large floor plate format of the former WTC and surrounding buildings. Another 22 million sq. ft. of vacant space is also believed to be available outside Manhattan in Northern New Jersey and in Nassau, Westchester and Fairfield counties.