Polshek Partnership, which has been named for its founder, Jim Polshek, in one form or another for almost five decades, is now Ennead Architects. The new moniker, which is the Greek word for “group of nine” - a nod to the firm’s nine partners - became official in June. div id="articleExtrasA" div id="articleExtrasB" div id="articleExtras" “We are changing our name to something that suits us better, and we want to broadcast that message to the world,” says partner Richard Olcott, FAIA. “It’s not revolutionary, but evolutionary.” Indeed, the 47-year-old firm, which has been planning the rebranding for a year and
Construction is progressing at The Residences at Palmer Square, the new luxury townhome and condominium community in downtown Princeton, New Jersey. The project, which is about one-third completed, is rising rapidly with on site-construction cranes lifting the steel infrastructure into place. Rendering Courtesy of Beckerman PR All of The Residence’s 100 homes will feature high quality fixtures and appliances as well as extra-high ceilings and elegant finishes and millwork. div id="articleExtrasA" div id="articleExtrasB" div id="articleExtras" The Residences is a culmination of the dream of developer Edgar Palmer, who in 1937 envisioned a European-style town square for the downtown that would
The Alliance for Downtown New York has proposed a plan to the city that will rescale Water Street and turn it into a more pedestrian friendly, commercial boulevard with a large retail component to meet the neighborhood’s rapidly growing residential population. A proposed plan to revamp Lower Manhattan’s Water Street creates more pedestrian and retail space in response to the area’s residential population boom that began in 2001. div id="articleExtrasA" div id="articleExtrasB" div id="articleExtras" The plan which is being called, “Water Street: A New Approach-Transforming Lower Manhattan’s Modern Commercial Boulevard” is currently undergoing meetings with the city and private property
The American Council of Engineering Companies of New York has inducted new officers and directors for 2010-2011 during ACEC’s annual meeting at the Roosevelt Hotel in Manhattan that took place on June 16, 2010. div id="articleExtrasA" div id="articleExtrasB" div id="articleExtras" Neil Lucey, senior vice president and New York area manager for Parsons Brinckerhoff, New York City is the new chairman and outgoing chairman, Robert J. Radley of T.Y. Lin International Engineering, Architecture & Land Surveying is the new national director of ACEC New York. Radley will serve as a contact between ACEC New York and the national organization in Washington,
Robert Harvey, it seems, is always directing traffic. Harvey, and the organization he leads, the Lower Manhattan Construction Command Center, coordinates every move that is made on every job site in Lower Manhattan. More specifically, the LMCCC oversees every project valued above $25 million south of Canal Street from the Hudson River to the East River. All told the agency is managing about 55 million sq ft of commercial and residential construction, as well as a complete road and infrastructure improvement program. He has a direct line to the governor of New York, the mayor of New York City and
Lower Manhattan, the City’s fastest growing residential neighborhood, is facing a shortage of classroom space. To alleviate the shortfall, the City and the Battery Park City Authority (BPCA) funded construction of a $77 million school at 55 Battery Park Place between 1st and 2nd Place. Designed by New York-based Dattner Architects, the 8-story, 125,000-sq-ft P.S./I.S. 276 will serve 950 Pr-K-8 in 40 classrooms including 10 classrooms for special education students. Construction of the school, one of the first built under the School Construction Authority’s Green School Guide, started in August 2008. Completion is slated for August 2010. Fitting the program
When completed in 2014, the brand-new, $1.4 billion Fulton Street Transit Center will transform Lower Manhattan’s commuter rail traffic by creating a veritable “Grand Central Station” for the island’s southern tip. The Metropolitan Transit Authority’s plan for the hub is to unify the four Fulton Street subway stations into a single complex connected by a concourse level. An iconic four-story glass structure, the Fulton Street Transit Center, will anchor the hub as its main access point. A new underground concourse beneath Dey Street will link the Transit Center to additional stations, the R line at Cortlandt Street and through it
Construction management educators listen to industry feedback, so they can better prepare students to assume positions of responsibility, and many firms offer guidance through internships and participation on advisory boards. Photo Courtesy Of Central Connecticut State University Central Connecticut State University students tour a job site. “Construction management programs are doing a good job,” says Rodney Pope, vice president and employment manager for Turner Construction Co. in New York. “The colleges in the area that offer these programs are trying to focus on what skills the students need to enter the construction industry.” Eric Brown, senior vice president of operations
These are trying times for specialty contractors. Given the limited opportunities for new work, the struggle to get paid for completed jobs and the reluctance within the lending community to extend credit to construction firms, the region’s subcontractors are fighting on all fronts to survive. Many contractors are cautiously optimistic that the economic environment could improve in 2012, but conditions could get worse before they get better. Public projects such as road, transit and infrastructure jobs have provided the most work for specialty firms over the last year. Related Links: TSC Overall Ranking in the Tri-State Area TSC Rankings broken
The headlines about the redevelopment of the World Trade Center site usually include “arbitration,” “notice of dispute,” and “finally started” — with only the occasional mention of any good news. For the people involved with the construction of all the towers and public spaces at the 16-acre site, many of whom have been at it for close to a decade now, this can be particularly frustrating. Because they have been working, regardless of the squabbling between the 19 stakeholders — Silverstein Properties, Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, ConEd, Verizon, and a host of notoriously slow city agencies