Structure Tone, New York, broke ground on the $60-million Signature Theater Center in September. The 74,000-sq-ft project includes three theaters and two rehearsal spaces built within an existing 59-floor, mixed-use tower in Manhattan.

Institutional Divide

Since many commercial developers hunker down during the downturn, some contractors are leaning on institutional owners for work.

Major work got underway in Princeton, N.J., last year, including the $180-million Princeton University Neuroscience and Psychology Complex. Construction manager Barr & Barr, New York, broke ground on the project in March 2010, and upon completion in 2013, will deliver the new addition to the university’s natural sciences complex.

Down the road, Irwin & Leighton, King of Prussia, Pa., is building new graduate housing for Princeton Theological Seminary valued at $67 million.

Other New Jersey colleges launched student housing as well. In October, Hunter Roberts Construction Group, Newark, and Epic Management, Piscataway, N.J., started construction of Rutgers University’s $141-million New Livingston Housing project in Piscataway, N.J. The project, set for completion in 2012, includes construction of three new buildings varying in height from three to seven stories, totaling 650,000 square feet of space. Terminal Construction, Wood-Ridge, N.J., broke ground on the $140-million, 567,000-sq-ft Montclair State University Residence Hall project in Montclair, N.J., in May.

Murphy says institutional work has kept Turner busy in recent years, but that could change. Some private university work could continue, but in light of state budget issues throughout the region, he expects a pullback in publicly-funded projects.

The same goes for institutional work in healthcare. In June, Turner started work on a $60-million, 550,000-sq-ft interior fit-out for the Dept. of Health and Mental Hygiene’s new headquarters in Long Island City, N.Y. However, future public work could be scarce, warns Murphy.

“Strong institutions with private funding will continue to invest, but the ones reliant on a high percentage of government reimbursements, like Medicaid, will be susceptible to the budget problems of the states.”

Among its projects for private clients is a $70-million, 90,000-sq-ft expansion of St. Mary’s Hospital for Children in Bayside, N.Y., which started in August and is set to complete in May 2013.

Public Woes

The squeeze on public dollars has had a particularly tough effect on public works projects. The gap between infrastructure needs and available funding is a growing concern, says Viggiano. Skanska started a $150-million reconstruction on the Manhattan Bridge in 2010 for the New York City Dept. of Transportation, but he says progress on other major DOT projects is uncertain.