Wikimedia Commons Restoration of the Statue of Liberty was one of Swanke Hayden Connell's most prominent New York City-area projects. Swanke Hayden Connell, the New York City-based architectural practice, filed for protection from its creditors Jan. 9 in federal court in Manhattan.With a glittering portfolio of projects that included restoration of the centennial Statue of Liberty, New York City's Trump Tower and offices of some of the most prestigious corporations in the world, Swanke Hayden had dwindled in recent years to a small practice.The final blow to the company apparently came with a $2.297 million dispute over payments due from
Tony Illia The never-finished Harmon Hotel was to be the centerpiece of the multi-billion-dollar CityCenter complex in the gambling resort. Related Links: Hotel's Razing and Defects Trial Could Be Best Shows in Las Vegas Dueling Las Vegas Hotel Engineering Reports Cloud Conflict Between Perini and MGM A last-minute deal has effectively ended the long-running CityCenter/Harmon Hotel construction-defect legal saga in Las Vegas—with owner MGM Resorts, contractor Tutor Perini and all but one of the litigants in the case agreed to a Dec. 16 settlement.Judge Elizabeth Gonzalez announced the agreement a few hours before the start of an anticipated one-year-long jury
Photo by Tudor Van Hampton/ENR Contractors may opt for accelerated payments in exchange for a small fee to improve cash flow. Related Links: A New Age of Pay Abuse of Subcontractors Specialty Contractors See Opportunities Rising Responding to a persistent problem in the construction industry—the burden on subcontractors to float the cost of labor, equipment, materials and other expenses until the general contractor gets paid—Turner Construction is rolling out a supply-chain financing program aimed at speeding up payments to subs.“It’s a win for the subcontractor,” Mark Boyle, Turner’s chief procurement officer, tells ENR. “They know, date-certain, when they will receive
Related Links: Statement by Australian prime minister and treasurer on G-20 infrastructure actions G-20 backgrounder on infrastructure initiative and hub In another sign of increased global interest in infrastructure funding, a group of world leaders plan to start a worldwide program to draw more private financing for highways, bridges, water facilities and other projects.The Global Infrastructure Initiative, launched during the G-20 Summit on Nov. 15-16 in Brisbane, Australia, also will include a new Global Infrastructure Hub to facilitate and coordinate the effort.The Group of 20, or G-20, includes 19 countries and the European Union.The hub, announced at the summit, is
Richard Korman for ENR Casserley describes the expanding realm of construction-risk professionals. Risk professionals must match the evolving complexity of the construction marketplace and the expanded uncertainties in areas such as P3s, supply chain and cyber theft.Those themes emerged in several different ways during a keynote address by Dominic Casserley, chief executive of broker Willis Group Holdings, at the International Risk Management Institute's "Construction Risk" conference in Nashville on Nov. 11.The new risks include P3 operations, supply-chain concentrations, and cyber sabotage and theft. Significantly for brokers and agents, the risks also include how to deal with new insurers entering the
Surety claims litigation sometimes seems to exist in an alternative universe. Recent cases in Texas and New Jersey bear this out.Continental Casualty Co. claims in a lawsuit that it lost $14 million fulfilling obligations on one payment bond and four performance bonds, all issued around July 2011, following the default of Brownsville, Texas-based Leal Construction Inc.The claim is contained in Continental's lawsuit against Leal in federal court in Brownsville, Texas, and it names Cesario Leal as the first defendant.While the complaint does not elaborate on the cause of Leal Construction’s default, an attorney for the general contractor says it ceased
photo courtesy California Dept. of water resources California, facing historic drought, will build new dams, stormwater recovery and water storage projects with voter approval of a $7.5-billion bond initiative. MGM Corp. Rendering of planned $800-million casino resort in Springfield, Mass. approved by the state after voters rejected repeal of a 2011 expanded casino initiative. Related Links: State Voters Will Weigh Water, Transport Bond Measures Initiative and Referendum Institute, University of Southern California Association of California Water Agencies--Proposition 1 Water Bond California Drought and Climate Fears Spur Approval of Prop. 1 With voter approval of nearly all bond finance issues on
Related Links: Complete 2015 Economic Forecast (subscription required) The construction recovery in 2014 had two major players: A non-residential building market that outperformed expectations and a homebuilding market that fell below expectations. The combined effect will be an estimated 5% increase in the dollar value of construction starts this year, according to McGraw Hill Construction's Dodge Data & Analytics. A year ago, Dodge expected the total construction market to grow 9% in 2014.Dodge predicts that the recovery will regain momentum in 2015, when construction starts are expected to increase 9%. Dodge announced its 2015 forecast during the Outlook Executive Conference
After steady growth in 2014, the construction industry could see a strong uptick in construction starts in 2015, according to Dodge Data & Analytics. Dodge forecasts that the total value of construction starts could reach $612 billion next year—up 9% from 2014.The residential, commercial and institutional sectors, in particular, are expected to boost activity.Dodge estimates that 2014 will close out with $563.9 billion in starts—a 5% increase over 2013. That tally is well above the $550 billion total that Dodge initially forecast for the year.Total construction starts have made solid gains since 2012, led by the residential sectors. However, a
City of Kilgore Kilgore, Texas bills itself as the city of stars. City of Kilgore Kilgore's minor league team plays at Driller Park. A change of heart about whether to require surety guarantees on a small project shows how one small east Texas city weighed the costs and benefits — and may reflect similar decisions about surety made every day around the country.The city of Kilgore, population roughly 13,000, is a community of oil and industrial workers. It bills itself as the city of stars, referring to the stars that top sixty oil derricks throughout the city and are lighted