Demolition tasks began late last year to pave the way for the first phase of the $1.68 billion Jacob K. Javits Convention Center expansion and renovation project in Manhattan.

The project team started demolition of two buildings totaling 500,000 sq. ft. on the north side of the existing convention center. Once completed in 2010, the first phase will increase the exhibition area by 45 percent to 1.1 million sq. ft. through the addition of 340,000 sq. ft. of new space, including 65,000 sq. ft. of ballrooms.

 Richard Rogers Partnership of London is the lead architect on the expansion project, along with A. Epstein Architects of Chicago and New York-based FXFowle Architects. New York’s Tishman Construction is the owner’s representative on behalf of an affiliate of the Empire State Development Corporation.

In addition to the expansion, the team will design a multilevel truck security screening, marshalling, and loading facility on 12th Avenue.

The city and state are each contributing $350 million toward the first phase’s budget, while another $645 million is expected from the sale of bonds backed by a $1.50 per-key surcharge on hotel rooms in the city. The balance of funding would come from proceeds of sales of other city-controlled parcels in the district.

The state and city also have issued a request for proposals for development of a 1,000-room hotel to be located on 11th Avenue between 35th and 36th streets that would have 50,000 sq. ft. of meeting room space and connect directly to the convention center under the avenue. Work is also slated to begin this year on a $2 billion extension of New York City Transit’s 7 subway line from the current terminus at Times Square to the Javits complex at 34th Street and 11th Avenue.

Construction of the first facility in a seven-building expansion program to attract businesses and jobs to the Brooklyn Navy Yard on Perry Avenue began last fall. The former naval base, which the city acquired in 1966, is home to more than 230 manufacturing and industrial companies employing 4,000 permanent workers in 4 million sq. ft. of existing space.

The $106 million first phase of the expansion will create an additional 401,900 sq. ft. of industrial space in the seven new buildings. Work began with construction of a $20 million, 89,000-sq.-ft. facility that will house multiple businesses and will strive for silver-level Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification.

A second phase currently in design under a separate budget would create up to 1.5 million sq. ft. of industrial space on the navy yard’s eastern side. Once complete, the two-phase expansion program will have added 1.9 million sq. ft. to the site, increasing its capacity by almost 50 percent.

The city has invested $70 million in new infrastructure for the 300-acre industrial park in recent years and has budgeted for another $140 million in infrastructure improvements over the next three years.

The expansion, orchestrated by the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation with TDX Construction of Manhattan as construction manager, will also add a new 60,000-sq.-ft. supermarket serving the community nearby. The first phase will include demolition or downsizing of several structures already on the site.

A new renovation and expansion project broke ground last fall that will create two Class A office buildings totaling 125,000 sq. ft. at Sylvan Corporate Center, located on Sylvan Ave. in Englewood Cliffs, N.J.

Slated for completion in November, the $25 million project being developed by New York-based Andalex Group will connect to two existing buildings through a new multi-story central lobby. The entire campus will have 260,000 sq. ft. of space.

The new buildings will each be two stories and will feature building-wide continuous window lines. The project’s architect and engineer is HLW International of New York, which is coordinating with John E. Collazuol & Associates of Fort Lee, N.J., as civil engineer and Magnetic Construction Group of New York as construction manager.

Work began last fall on a $169 million project to expand and renovate the Cooper University Hospital campus in Camden, N.J.

The project will involve the construction of a 10-story, 312,000-sq.-ft. patient care pavilion and a 9,000-sq.-ft. addition to the existing Keleman Building. Once the new tower opens, the project team will renovate 58,000 sq. ft. of space in the existing building in order to build a new emergency department and operating room support space.

Turner Construction of New York, construction manager on the effort, is slated to complete the new tower in 2008 and the overall project in 2009. EwingCole of Philadelphia is the architect.

A new $22 million loft building broke ground last fall at 475 Greenwich St. in Lower Manhattan.

The Zinc Building, designed by Greenberg Farrow Architects of Atlanta, will have seven stories featuring 11-ft. windows combined with metallic panels. Two New York-based firms, Douglaston Development and Montagu Square Development, are developing the new project using Levine Builders, an affiliate of Douglaston, as construction manager.

The project will house 21 open-layout luxury lofts, including three duplex penthouse residences with terrace space on the seventh floor. Individual units will range from 880 sq. ft. to 2,720 sq. ft. and are priced from $955,000 to $4 million. 

Each residence will feature floor-to-ceiling windows with operable center sashes, Wenge wood flooring, an expansive entry foyer, chef-quality kitchens, Italian porcelain tile floors and walls in the bathrooms, and individually controlled heating and cooling systems.

The building, which is scheduled for occupancy at the end of the year, will also house 5,000 sq. ft. of retail space.