Work resumed this week on the 76-story, mixed-use skyscraper at 8 Spruce Street near City Hall designed by Frank O. Gehry for Forest City Ratner.
About two months ago, work appeared to have stopped when the tower was only about half-way erected.
According to an article by Charles V. Bagli in today's edition of The New York Times, Bruce Ratner, the developer, "had threatened to cap the building at 40 stories" and had been seeking to cut costs and take advantage of falling prices for construction materials and appliances for the tower's planned 900 rental apartments.
The city's construction unions recently agreed to a series of concessions on work rules that some observers said would have developers as much as 20 percent on labor costs, according to Mr. Bagli's article which added that Gary La Barbera, president of the union alliance, the Building and Construction Trades Council of Greater New York, and Louis J. Coletti, president of the Building Trades Employers' Association, said the agreement was "unprecedented and a first step in restructuring the New York construction industry."
Mr. La Barbera and Mr. Coletti said that 12 projects presenting more than $2 billion worth of construction activity and 10,000 jobs have applied for and received tentative approval under the agreement, according to the article, which identified other projects including Tower 111, a 47-story building on West 32nd Street and a hotel on Eighth Avenue at 44th Street.
Mr. Gehry's 867-foot-high building, which is known as the Beekman Tower, is clad in stainless steel and is notable for its undulating facades. The article noted that "bankers and government officials say that annual rents downtown are about one-third less today than the $80 per square foot that Mr. Ratner and other developers had expected."
About two months ago, work appeared to have stopped when the tower was only about half-way erected.
According to an article by Charles V. Bagli in today's edition of The New York Times, Bruce Ratner, the developer, "had threatened to cap the building at 40 stories" and had been seeking to cut costs and take advantage of falling prices for construction materials and appliances for the tower's planned 900 rental apartments.
The city's construction unions recently agreed to a series of concessions on work rules that some observers said would have developers as much as 20 percent on labor costs, according to Mr. Bagli's article which added that Gary La Barbera, president of the union alliance, the Building and Construction Trades Council of Greater New York, and Louis J. Coletti, president of the Building Trades Employers' Association, said the agreement was "unprecedented and a first step in restructuring the New York construction industry."
Mr. La Barbera and Mr. Coletti said that 12 projects presenting more than $2 billion worth of construction activity and 10,000 jobs have applied for and received tentative approval under the agreement, according to the article, which identified other projects including Tower 111, a 47-story building on West 32nd Street and a hotel on Eighth Avenue at 44th Street.
Mr. Gehry's 867-foot-high building, which is known as the Beekman Tower, is clad in stainless steel and is notable for its undulating facades. The article noted that "bankers and government officials say that annual rents downtown are about one-third less today than the $80 per square foot that Mr. Ratner and other developers had expected."
Architecture Critic
Carter Horsley
Since 1997, Carter B. Horsley has been the editorial director of CityRealty. He began his journalistic career at The New York Times in 1961 where he spent 26 years as a reporter specializing in real estate & architectural news. In 1987, he became the architecture critic and real estate editor of The New York Post.
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