« Forest City in the News | Main | How ACORN Profits from New York’s Eminent Domain Abuse »
November 19, 2009
Manhattan Awash with Stalled Construction Sites
DNAinfo
By Nicole Bode and Serena Solomon
Manhattan is awash in stalled or delayed construction sites. Some are frozen by the downturn, or hobbling along with the help of reduced union labor costs. Others drag on, bolstered by city programs, in the hope that better economic times will return soon.
...
DNAinfo compiled a list of the top 10 sites around the borough where dismal financial conditions have hampered development or halted it entirely.
...
One site that signed up for the plan was developer Bruce Ratner's Beekman Tower in the Municipal District, a Frank Gehry-designed apartment building that almost lopped off the top 36 floors of the planned 76-story building when financing evaporated earlier this year.Thanks to the labor savings, the project is now working overtime to reach its full height by the time it is slated to open in 2011.
The project landed on DNAinfo's list because it was forced to shut down for three months this spring while Ratner tried to drum up additional funding. The opening day for a new public school housed on the building's lower floors was pushed back from this fall to next fall, The Real Deal reported. A spokeswoman for the developer says the building's topping-off ceremony is on track for this Thursday.
Still, the agreement between developers and laborers doesn't address the newly-stringent regulations by banks who are demanding more collateral up front from developers than ever before.
And some experts predict the temporary activity created by reduced labor costs will bottom out once the projects are complete — leaving the next round of developers on their own.
Posted by lumi at November 19, 2009 6:23 AM