With a 9.7% downtown vacancy rate, one
of the lowest in the nation, and some
colossal office projects breaking ground
during the last 12 months, New York’s
construction market is cranking. According
to McGraw-Hill Construction, big deals of all sorts started
up this year in the Big Apple, including the $3 billion World
Trade Center subway and PATH station; the Barclays Center,
an $800 million sports
arena for the NBA’s
Nets in Brooklyn, N.Y.;
a $650 million addition
to Weill Cornell
Medical College; a
$500 million renovation
of Madison Square Garden; a $400 million facelift for the
Jacob Javits Convention Center; and a $300 million upgrade
to the United Nations Conference Center. Outside the Big
Apple; a $213 million expansion of the General Motors plant
in Tonawanda, N.Y.; and three $100-plus million hospitals in
Pennsylvania were some of the largest projects. The region’s
unemployment figures were near the national average and
building permits were up 20 percent at 4,750 through August
in the region’s largest statistical area (New York-Northern
New Jersey-Long Island NY-NJ-PA).
