Goldman Sachs Breaks Ground on Headquarters

The financial services company's 2.1-million-sq.-ft. building is rising in Battery Park City. Also, New Jersey adds space for college students and hospital patients.

Work Begins on $2.4 Billion Tower

Following months of uncertainty, construction finally began on a new $2.4 billion headquarters for Goldman Sachs Group near the World Trade Center site in late November.

The 43-story, steel and glass tower at Site 26 in Battery Park City, designed by New York's Pei Cobb Freed & Partners, will contain 2.1 million sq. ft. and include 30 floors of office space, six trading floors at the base, three floors of meeting facilities, and 5,000 sq. ft. of ground-level retail. The company also plans to add retail space and a canopy to cover the walkway between its site and the Embassy Suites Hotel-Regal Cinemas complex across the street. New York's Tishman Construction is general contractor on the project.

Goldman will seek a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design gold rating from the United States Green Building Council.

The project is partly financed by $1.65 billion in tax-exempt Liberty Bonds issued by the state's Liberty Development Corp. in order to lure Goldman back after it called off earlier plans for the site last spring, citing concerns over security. The new headquarters will keep 9,000 employees in New York and house 4,000 more after its completion in 2009.

Newark Colleges to Share Dorm

Construction started last fall on a new 812-bed dormitory to serve students at five colleges and universities in Newark, N.J.

The complex, designed by New York-based Granary Associates, will include two buildings, a mini-theater, 6,300 sq. ft. of ground floor retail, and 355 parking spots. It sits on a 1.99-acre parcel at Central Avenue and Lock Streets.

American Campus Communities of Austin, Texas is developing the $63 million project, and will in turn collect rent from the students. Hunter Roberts Construction Group, based in New York, is the main contractor. Completion is slated for May 2007, with the complex ready for occupancy in the following fall semester.

New Morris Plains Hospital

A new 460,000-sq.-ft. hospital now under construction in Morris Plains, N.J., aims to alleviate overcrowding in the state's hospital system by adding 510 beds.

Following demolition of an old dormitory and infrastructure improvements last summer, the $190 million Greystone Park Psychiatric Hospital is going up next to a complex built in 1876. It will consolidate hospital operations under one roof, including administrative offices, 460 patient rooms, and program and treatment areas. Another 50 beds will remain within the existing cottages.

The expansion follows recommendations of the Governor's Task Force on Mental Health, which last March established a $200 million housing trust fund, among other initiatives. The New Jersey Health Care Facilities Authority is financing the project and Torcon of Westfield, N.J., is managing construction, with completion expected in March 2008.

Affordable Development in Harlem

Construction began last fall in Harlem on the first building developed under a New York City lending program that promotes affordable housing by combining public and private funding sources.

The Sutton, a 135-unit mixed-income building on W. 147th St. in Manhattan between Bradhurst Avenue and Frederick Douglass Boulevard, is the first of three projects that the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development included in its Bradhurst Urban Renewal Plan.

Developed for $40 million on city-owned land by New York-based Duvernay + Brooks, the 12-story building was designed by Magnusson Architecture and Planning of New York in partnership with Barbara Skarbinski of New York's ABS Architect. The Bluestone Organization of New York is managing construction, and the project is slated for completion this fall.

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