From Hudson Yards' long-awaited $843-million first building to several $150-million-plus towers, the tristate region's ranking of the top 25 projects to break ground last year show that building tall and building big is back. The residential sector, in particular, dominates tower construction on the list, with most buildings advertised as luxury apartments and condos in prime New York City locations.
Despite such gains, the aggregated total contract value of the largest 25 starts is about $7.9 billion, even with the prior year's level, which was down from 2010's $8.8 billion. None of these starts, however, came close to the $18.6 billion in new construction represented in the 2009 ranking.