The $4.45-billion project to build phase 1 of the SAS is the largest expansion of the subway system in generations, MTA says. The line will have new stations at 72nd, 86th and 96th streets and is expected to open for service in December 2016. An AECOM-Arup JV designed the first phase of the project.

Separately, Skanska and Railworks will begin work this month on the last of MTA's major contracts needed to extend the 7 line to the far West Side of Manhattan. The Hudson Yards Development Corp. provided funding for the $513.7-milllion contract.

The Skanska-Railworks award includes laying tracks through newly completed tunnels, utility connections, architectural finishes, structural work, elevators, escalators, HVAC, tunnel ventilation, fire protection, plumbing, electrical power and lighting, instrumentation and controls as well as signal and communication systems.

Parsons Brinckerhoff designed the $2.1-billion line extension that will run from Times Square to a new station at 34th Street and 11th Avenue. Completion is expected in December 2013.

Queens

Two Affordable Housing Projects Break Ground

Two adjacent housing complexes totaling 182 units and located on a vacant, New York state-designated brownfield cleanup site, broke ground in Richmond Hill, Queens, on Sept. 7. The projects include the 65-unit Richmond Hill Senior Living Residences and the 117-unit Richmond Place.

The Arker Cos., Floral Park, N.Y., is the developer on the combined $53.9-million project.

Richmond Hill Senior Living Residences, a six-story, 62,500-sq-ft building will provide housing for elderly residents with an income below 60% of the area's median income. The project is being financed by a combination of low-income housing credits and state low-income housing credits through the New York State Homes & Community Renewal. Bank of America will be purchasing these credits for $16.7 million as well as providing a construction loan to the Arker.

Richmond Place, a seven-story, 136,300-sq-ft building will also provide housing for residents who earn below 60% of the area's median income and will include 13 studios, 28 one-bedroom apartments, 68 two-bedroom apartments and seven three-bedroom apartments. One-fifth of the units will be reserved for homeless households.

The project is being developed under Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg's New Housing Marketplace Plan, an $8.4-billion plan to finance 165,000 affordable housing units for New Yorkers by 2014. Richmond Place will be partially financed through $17.5 million in tax-exempt bonds issued by the New York City Housing Development Corp. and will cost approximately $33.9 million to develop.

“The availability of affordable housing has decreased over the years as more high-rises and luxury apartments are built across New York City,” said state Sen. Shirley L. Huntley in a statement. “Maintaining and creating more affordable housing in Queens, and throughout the other four boroughs, will ensure families are not priced out of their homes and neighborhoods.”

Construction on Richmond Hill Senior Living Residences and Richmond Place is expected to be completed by December 2012.

New York

ACECNY: M&A, Cost Competition Are On the Rise

An American Council of Engineering Companies of New York survey of 93 consulting engineers in New York shows that merger and acquisition activity is up, especially for non-competing specialty engineering firms.

About 36% of survey respondents reported that their firm acquired another firm within the past five years, and 51% reported that they were likely to acquire another firm within the next five years, says the ACEC.

Although many firms indicated that acquisitions were either in their recent past or would be in their near future, only 17% of respondents reported that they view consolidation as a good thing. More than half of the participants stated that acquisitions force small and mid-size firms out of the market, ACEC says. One-third of the respondents said that acquisitions increase cost competition. The survey also reports that state and federal funding levels are affecting the industry.

The use of alternative project delivery systems, such as design-build and public-private partnerships, is also expected to trend upward during the next five years, ACEC says. About 75% of respondents reported that their firms had been involved in design-build projects and 27% said their firms had been involved in public-private partnerships. The survey also reported that about 48% of respondents viewed these methods positively.

Overall, 61% of the participating engineers were at least “somewhat optimistic” about the outlook of their business for 2012 compared with a similar study from 2009 in which 46% of participants reported a positive outlook for their companies.

New York & New Jersey

VHB Acquires Local Traffic Engineering Firm

Boston-based Vanasse Hangen Brustlin Inc. has acquired Eng-Wong, Taub & Associates, a New York City and Newark, N.J.-based transportation planning, traffic engineering and research firm, for an undisclosed sum. The merger, effective Sept. 1, is the eighth since 2005 for VHB, a planning, design, transportation, land development and environmental firm.

The deal aims to promote VHB's growth in New York and New Jersey, says Bob Brustlin, VHB president and CEO. “We have enjoyed a working relationship with Eng-Wong, Taub for many years,” Brustlin says. “By merging our operations and New York/New Jersey area staff, our clients will benefit from deeper and consistent talent in addition to more service offerings.”

VHB will retain all 40 of Eng-Won, Taub's employees, who will continue to work from its Two Penn Plaza office in New York City and One Gateway Center in Newark. VHB and its New York affiliate VHB Engineering, Surveying and Landscape Architecture have 100 employees at offices in New Jersey at Edison and in New York at Albany, Hauppauge, New York City and White Plains.

Eng-Wong, Taub has worked on some of the New York City region's major projects, including Yankee Stadium, the World Trade Center redevelopment, the Second Avenue Subway, Hudson-Bergen Light Rail, Newark Light Rail, NYC Bus Rapid Transit and East Side Access.

Washington

ABC and CNA Collaborate

Associated builders and Contractors, Washington, D.C., and the construction unit of insurer CNA, Chicago, plan to launch a three-year partnership in January 2012 to advance best practices in the construction safety sector. CNA's construction unit provides insurance offerings to construction contractors, including insurance coverage and claim and risk control services.

Under the partnership, CNA will provide ABC with access to its safety resources library, safety experts and help to enhance the value of ABC's Safety Training Evaluation Process, ABC says. CNA will also sponsor ABC's annual National Safety Excellence Awards as well as the safety management track at ABC's EdCon & Expo, next April.

The new emphasis on safety “will encourage members to revisit their own safety programs and put them at the top of their goals list, where they belong,” says Ruth Mulford, ABC's Long Island/Metro Regional vice president.

CNA's other association partnerships include the Building Equipment Installation and Repair Contractors.