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ACEC Survey Foresees Growth, Growing Pains
Industry engineering firms expect robust expansion but problems finding new staff. Also, BOMA New York presents its Pinnacle Awards.
Engineers Expect Changes
A survey of 175 design firms by the American Council of Engineering Companies of New York found optimism for new business but concern about business fundamentals.
The survey by the statewide association of professional consulting engineers found that 64% of responding firms expected the industry to grow over the next 10 years. But the activity also may involve shakeups, with 84% of respondents foreseeing greater consolidation in the industry through mergers and acquisitions.
Among the biggest concerns the respondents cited was the challenge to find and retain qualified personnel. More than 40% of respondents saw this as their greatest concern over the next five years. Of the respondents, 58% said they don’t have enough engineers to meet their existing project loads, and 71% expected to have that problem in five years.
The firms also cited other concerns in the survey, including new competition from both foreign and government sources, higher insurance costs, and ownership transition challenges. Among industry trends the respondents identified were expanded use of design-build and other alternative delivery methods; outsourcing of work, including sending tasks that require limited skills overseas; value-based pricing and greater price competition; and expanded use of telecommuting.
Hearst Tops BOMA Awards
The Hearst Tower in Manhattan won honors as the best new building in the Building Owners and Managers Association of New York’s annual Pinnacle Awards.
Hearst Corp. and its development manager, Tishman Speyer Properties of New York, won the new construction honor for the 46-story tower, which features an innovative diagrid façade, gold-level LEED certification, and extensive historic preservation of the original Hearst building on the site.
Other winners included:
• the Lincoln Building in Manhattan, owned by W & H Properties-Lincoln Building Associates, for the Historical Building award
• the Ted Weiss Federal Office Building, owned by the U.S. General Services Administration, for the Government Building award
• Canstruction, a nonprofit group that sponsors a contest to design sculptures out of canned goods and later donate the cans to food banks, for the Civic Betterment Award
• the Durst Organization for the Henry J. Muller Achievement Award in recognition of its environmentally friendly development efforts
• W & H Properties-1350 Marlboro Associates for a $50 million renovation of 1359 Broadway, for the Renovated Building award.
PWC Hosts Developers Forum
Demand for real estate, both commercial and residential, is primed to grow in New York, according to speakers at a recent forum hosted by Professional Women in Construction.
The “Developers Forum” held at the General Society of Mechanics and Tradesmen library in Manhattan and moderated by Lois Weiss, a New York Post columnist, featured industry leaders who say projected growth of nearly 1 million residents in New York over the next decade offers great development incentive.
The panel included Joseph Moinian, president and CEO of New York’s Moinian Group; Philip Pitruzzello, vice president of Columbia University’s planned Manhattanville campus; Scott Brauser, director of development for the Brauser Group, a parking garage and shopping center developer; Louis Dubin, president and CEO of Athena Group, a New York developer; and Janno Lieber, World Trade Center project director for New York’s Silverstein Properties.
The panel discussed several Manhattan development proposals in the works, including Columbia’s plans to develop the 17-acre Manhattanville parcel in West Harlem; Brauser’s new 41-unit luxury residential development at 6th Avenue and 18th Street and a planned 50- to 60-story residential and hotel tower south of the World Trade Center; Athena’s conversion of a W. 64th Street warehouse into new condominiums; Silverstein’s three new office towers planned for the World Trade Center; and Moinian’s plans to develop more than 4 million sq ft in the Hudson Yards district.
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