Posted by Paul Adler on Wed, Aug 22, 2012 @ 03:12 PM
Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Monday afternoon in Piermont that New York State is now closer to replacing the current Tappan Zee Bridge with a new, $5.2 billion span.
The governor's announcement came hours after a unanimous vote by the New York Metropolitan Transportation Council (NYMTC) to officially incorporate the project into the council's plan.
"Today we are one step closer to building a new, safer bridge that will revitalize the Hudson Valley by creating thousands of jobs," Cuomo said at the 1 p.m. gathering in Flywheel Park.
More than 100 residents and local, state and federal lawmakers gathered downtown, overlooking the Tappan Zee Bridge to the north and local marinas.
After a brief speech, Cuomo signed a letter to U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood, applying for billions of dollars in TIFIA federal loans to help finance the new span.
"The next step is going to Washington to get funding, so we can build the bridge and make tolls affordable," Cuomo said. "After over a decade of delay caused by political dysfunction, this letter demonstrates that we are making real progress towards constructing a stronger, transit ready bridge."
When asked what financing would be in place should the state be declined federal funds, Cuomo was terse.
"I'm an optimist," he said. "They're going to say yes."
Cuomo noted the importance of mass transit, a component local residents and officials have long been asking for.
"The future of transit isn't people getting into cars and driving," Cuomo said. "It's mass transit. Period."
The new span is slated to house a dedicated bus transit lane during rush hour.
The governor recently blasted the proposed $14 toll hike in 2017 as excessive, but did not cite a specific figure that he would like to see—he only advocated a decrease.
From the New City Patch (8/20/12) Cuomo said the sluggish push to build a new bridge over the past 13 years has been time—and taxpayer money—squandered.
"We decided to waste millions," he said. "We decided to put people through traffic and congestion and pollution. It was a failure of leadership, a failure of government."
NYMTC member and Rockland County executive C. Scott Vanderhoef voted alongside others this morning. Late last week, Vanderhoef and lawmakers from Westchester and Putnam counties announced their decision to vote 'yes.'
Vanderhoef said he is pleased to support the project on the heels of Cuomo's assurances that the new bridge is to include mass transit capabilities.
"The governor should be given great credit for making it transit compatible," Vanderhoef said. "I am very pleased to be supportive."
Vanderhoef also said the federal government should assist New York with the financing of the new bridge connecting Westchester and Rockland.
"This new bridge will be safer for our drivers and built to last, and include a dedicated bus lane on day one," said assemblyman Ellen Jaffee, D-Suffern. "It will be a major economic driver for communities across the region, creating approximately 45,000 jobs."
Cuomo said the state expects to hear back about federal funding in the coming months.
Posted by Paul Adler on Thu, Aug 09, 2012 @ 05:45 PM
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEContact:Paul Adler
Vice President | Associate Broker
845-770-1205
Paul.adler@randcommercial.com PINCHUS "PINNY" MOROZOW JOINS RAND COMMERCIAL SERVICESNew City, N.Y. – Rand Commercial Services (RCS), an independent and leading commercial real estate brokerage in the Hudson Valley, announced today the addition of Pinchus "Pinny" Morozow to their sales team in the
New City office.
Pinny specializes in multifamily and project developments with a strong background in residential and commercial construction.
“We are so pleased to have Pinny as an addition to our Rand Commercial Services team,” said Paul Adler, Vice President of Rand Commercial Services. “His breadth of experience and enthusiasm make him a great asset to the company.”
As a resident of Rockland County, NY Pinny specializes in all areas of Rockland County, Westchester & Orange County.
Pinny Morozow can be reached at
pinny.morozow@randcommercial.com About Rand Commercial Services: Rand Commercial Services (RCS) is an independent, full-service commercial real estate brokerage that serves the Greater New York area. The firm specializes in repositioning and redeveloping properties to improve their returns in addition to assisting clients with more conventional sales and leasing. RCS has nearly 30 agents in Orange, Rockland and Westchester counties, and also serves New York City, northern New Jersey and Connecticut. The company’s Web site is
www.randcommercial.com.
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Posted by Paul Adler on Fri, Jun 22, 2012 @ 11:04 AM
New City, N.Y. – Rand Commercial Services (RCS), an independent and leading commercial real estate brokerage in the Hudson Valley, announced today the addition of John A. Sala to their sales team in the Central Valley office.
With 30 years’ experience running his own business in sales, John brings great expertise into the commercial real estate market.
“We are so pleased to have John as an addition to our Rand Commercial Services team,” said Paul Adler, Vice President of Rand Commercial Services. “His breadth of experience and enthusiasm make him a great asset to the company.”
As a resident of Orange, N.Y., John specializes in all areas of Orange County as well as Rockland and Sullivan County.
John A. Sala can be reached at john.sala@randcommercial.com or 845-800-8463.
Posted by Paul Adler on Thu, May 10, 2012 @ 01:46 PM
RYE BROOK, NY -- Cushman & Wakefield released its first quarter 2012 report for the Westchester County office market on April 17 which indicated that market fundamentals remained flat at the beginning of the year.
Although there was a small increase in vacancy and a decrease in leasing activity, the market suffered from large amounts of sublease space added to the market in the first quarter.
Countywide, the Class-A overall vacancy rate increased to 21.1%, a 1.9 percentage point increase over the 19.2% overall vacancy achieved in the first quarter of 2011 and a 1.2 percentage point increase over the 19.9% overall vacancy rate recorded at year-end 2011.
The White Plains Non-CBD’s Class-A overall vacancy rate continues to be the highest in the county at 27.6%. It increased from last quarter’s 23.7% by 3.9 percent points, primarily due to the 222,626 square feet of space added to the market when Starwood Hotels & Resorts completed its relocation to 333 Ludlow Street in Stamford, CT. There was also 36,000 square feet of data space from IBM at 800 Westchester Ave. that was converted to office space and added to the market this quarter.
The Eastern submarket also saw a significant increase in the Class-A overall vacancy rate, rising 24.4% from 18.0% in the first quarter of 2011 and 12.6% from 19.9% at year-end 2011 to the current 22.4%. Contributing to the overall vacancy increase was the 60,000 square feet of sublease space at 440 Mamaroneck Ave. in Harrison that Bank of NY Mellon put on the market, along with the 22,000 square feet of sublease space from Morgan Stanley at 4 Manhattanville Road in Purchase. In contrast, 59,000 square feet of sublease space was removed from the market by Westcon at 520 White Plains Road in Tarrytown, helping to decrease the Central submarket’s Class-A overall vacancy rate from last year’s 19.9% to the current 17.7% rate.
Countywide, Class-A leasing activity in the first quarter was at 230,003 square feet, slightly lower that the 294,692 square feet leased in the fourth quarter of 2011, but somewhat higher than the 213,811 square feet leased in the first quarter of 2011. This level of leasing activity has been consistently flat since the third quarter of 2008, when market fundamentals were more robust.
The largest office transaction of the quarter was TAL International’s 27,718-square-foot lease renewal at 100 Manhattanville Road in Purchase, while the largest new office lease was Voyetra Turtle Beach’s 20,817-square-foot transaction at 100 Summit Lake Drive in Valhalla.
Other significant deals in the first quarter were Byram Healthcare’s 27,011-squarefoot expansion and renewal at 120 Bloomingdale Road in White Plains, Greywolf Capital Management’s 18,531-squarefoot renewal at 4 Manhattanville Road in Purchase, Akzo Nobel’s 17,500-squarefoot lease at 120 White Plains Road in Tarrytown, and Regus Workspaces’ 14,297-square-foot lease at 777 Westchester Ave. in White Plains.
Class-A overall absorption skyrocketed this quarter to negative 403,194 square feet almost quadrupling from last quarter’s negative 51,990 square feet and a more than 10-fold rise from the negative 35,892 square feet recorded in the first quarter of 2011. This marked increase in overall absorption reflects the combination of large amounts of sublease space added to the market, with the flat leasing activity and minimal tenant relocations from outside the county.
Direct average asking rent for Class-A office space in the county decreased by $1.23 per square foot over last year, from $30.87 psf to the current $29.64 psf. The Northern submarket’s Class-A rental rate experienced the most significant yearover- year drop of 11.5% from $28.21 psf in 1Q-11 to the current $24.96 psf. The White Plains Non-CBD submarket also saw a decline in Class-A direct average asking rents dropping 9.2% from last year’s $31.42 psf to the current $28.52 psf. Showing strength, the White Plains CBD’s Class-A overall asking rent reached its highest level since the beginning of 2009 —$33.92 psf —an increase of $0.92 psf over last year.
“Although the Westchester County real estate market continued its malaise through the first quarter of 2012, two drivers are expected to boost market activity in the near future,” said Jim Fagan, senior managing director and market leader of Cushman & Wakefield’s Fairfield and Westchester County region. “The first is adaptive re-uses for existing office product including medical, residential and retail; the second is the increased economic activity that we believe will be created by the new Tappan Zee Bridge project. These factors point to lower vacancy and increased leasing activity in the future.”
The White Plains CBD’s overall vacancy rate for Class-A space averaged 17.1%, on par with last quarter and a slight increase from the 16.5% vacancy rate recorded last year. Class-A leasing activity in the CBD in the first quarter was 48,476 square feet, almost four times the leasing from the disappointing 13,225 square feet leased last quarter, but comparable to the 44,732 square feet leased last year.
Class-A leasing activity in the White Plains Non-CBD totaled only 48,209 square feet, a 70.7% decrease over the 164,430 square feet leased in the fourth quarter of 2011 but more than double the 23,819 square feet leased one year ago.
Posted by Paul Adler on Mon, May 07, 2012 @ 10:40 AM
Become a socially responsible company to stay ahead of the competition and find loyal customers.
April 2, 2012
It may seem like just buzzwords right now, but soon “social responsibility” is going to change the way your company does business. Why? In the next few years, if your company isn’t socially responsible, you’re going to be left in the dust.
“If you aren’t a socially responsible business now,” says Shel Horowitz, green/ethical marketing consultant and co-author of Guerrilla Marketing Goes Green: Winning Strategies to Improve Your Profits and Your Planet, “your market is going to leave you behind within the next few years. It’s going to become a rule of doing business.”
“When you have a socially responsible business plan, it’s putting you in line with the trajectory of how business is being thought about now,” says Summer Rayne Oakes, co-founder of Source4Style, an online marketplace that connects the fashion industry with sustainable materials from around the world. “Having a socially responsible business plan and being able to communicate that internally to your employees and being able to communicate it externally to your consumers, as well as your shareholders, is going to reduce risk.” Socially responsible businesses also tend to attract higher quality job applicants as well as a more loyal customer base, says Horowitz. “If you survive the screening process that they’re going to put you through, they will be evangelists for you,” he says.
Convinced? Read on to find out five ways to incorporate socially responsible practices into the way your company does business.
1. Donate (Your Money and Your Time)
“Focus on community service. Don’t just condone it, normalize it. Work with HR or operations to make giving back easy for your employees. Arrange regular employee volunteer days, and don’t require that vacation time is used for them,” says Jonathan Hsu, CEO of Recyclebank, a website and online community that offers rewards for environmentally friendly actions. He also suggests enabling your team to make automatic paycheck donations to their charity of choice, and partnering with and donating part of your company’s profits to a public-facing charity. Some of the charitable programs Recyclebank has partnered with have included NatureBridge, Alliance for Climate Education, and MillionTreesNYC.
When choosing partner charities, we recommend focusing on organizations that are in tune with your company’s own core values and mission,” says Hsu. “We also suggest including one or two local charities, which will help all employees feel a personal connection to the group.”
2. Sweat the Small Stuff
Often the easiest way to kick off your plan of becoming a socially responsible company is to start with the small things that are easy to change, such as changing the tea and coffee in your break room to fair trade brands.
Once you’ve changed the little things, you can dig a bit deeper. “Examine the environmental practices of your local goods and service providers. Ensure they are transparent in communicating their own impact and strive to use materials that are eco-conscious and not toxic,” says Hsu. “Look at who is making the products that you are using as a business, and who is making the products that you are reselling as a business. What are their practices like? Are they paying a fair wage? Are they establishing good, safe working conditions?” says Horowitz.
3. Communicate
“Get employees to contribute their ideas. You’ll probably find that they have better ideas than you,” says Horowitz. “Create a culture of collaboration; emphasize how you’re all in this together to make this company a participant in a better world.” Hsu suggests regular surveys or an open-door policy to encourage employee feedback and idea-sharing. “Great ideas come from all levels. Start a Green Team composed of a mix of employees, which is something we have at Recyclebank. When new ideas and programs are generated from this group, it encourages broader employee adoption.”
Also make sure you’re communicating your initiatives with partners and shareholders, as well as your employees, who can all help spread the word. And don’t forget your customers, too. E-newsletters and social media can be a great way to let people know about your initiatives, as well as find new ideas.
4. Get out of the Office
Oakes takes her team on monthly field trips to engage them firsthand on sustainable and local business practices. Recently, they’ve been everywhere from a recycling center to a textile arts center to a button factory. Ask your employees where they’d like to go, and incorporate volunteering into your office trips. “Some of the coolest companies I’ve seen are really supportive of their employees who are engaged in their own kind of volunteer efforts. It’s a brilliant opportunity,” she says.
5. Start from the Top
“As a business owner, it’s up to you to set the tone for social responsibility among employees,” says Hsu. “Make it ingrained in your corporate identity and fabric so it’s part of everything you do. This way, it won’t seem like a daunting undertaking but instead a part of daily operations.” In order to have the right company culture in place, says Oakes, a business must also have understanding from partners and shareholders. “And that’s not always easy to create,” she says. However, a small part of the team making strides to make your business more socially responsible can lead to big changes down the road, both for your company and the future of your industry.
“You can shift the culture in about two years, but it’s got to be two years of consistent, honest, committed, and sincere efforts,” says Horowitz. But at the end, he says, “You will have a cleaner conscience. You’ll be able to say, ‘We are doing right by the world.’”
Posted by Paul Adler on Fri, Mar 23, 2012 @ 09:55 AM
WHITE PLAINS – Construction industry association executive Ross J. Pepe briefed members of the Hudson Gateway Association of Realtors on Feb. 28 at the HGAR offices in White Plains on the plans being advanced by state and federal officials to build a new $5.2-billion Tappan Zee Bridge.
Pepe, president of the Construction Industry Council of Westchester & Hudson Valley, Inc. and the Building Contractors Association based in Tarrytown, said that if all goes according to plan a Design- Build contracting firm will be selected this summer and a Record of Decision reached by the end of August or early September with construction starting shortly thereafter. The project calls for the construction of a new bridge that would support mass transit at a future date.
Approximately 50 members of HGAR attended the joint session of HGAR’s Commercial Investment Division and its Legislative, Legal and Political Affairs Council.
After the session was completed, the Legislative, Legal and Political Affairs Council met to discuss the Tappan Zee Hudson River Crossing Project and approved a policy statement in support of the new bridge plan.
HGAR in its policy statement noted, ”Considering that building a new bridge is now among the highest infrastructure priorities at both the federal and New York State levels, that we have the commitments of the Obama and Cuomo administrations to commence the project, and that there is serious consideration of fundraising options by those parties, it does not make sense to risk all that by tacking on an untold number of years to plan and review the transit options. Our preference as an organization is that the project stay on its current fast track and in transit-capable mode.”
The Legislative Committee stressed that its position in support of the expedited plan “is not to be interpreted as a less than enthusiastic endorsement of the mass transit component, but rather a pragmatic seizure of an opportunity that may not reoccur. We do in fact strongly support mass transit, and we urge that every effort be made to start planning for it right now, so that a final configuration could be in place when the bridge construction is completed, if not sooner.”
The committee noted that prior studies have amassed a tremendous amount of information concerning a mass transit component on the new span. The committee stated, “The Federal Highway Administration and the New York State Thruway Authority and Department of Transportation should assist local governments in the I-287 corridor with program grants and other resources to complete the corridor study as a separate project. County governments in the corridor could perhaps be the coordinating entities; Westchester and Rockland both had advisory groups for the former project. In short, we recommend that there be two tracks, the mass transit capable bridge, and the mass transit redesigned I-287 corridor. Neither must wait for the other, the need is too urgent.”
Developments on the Tappan Zee Hudson River Crossing have come fast and furious. In fact, later in the day of the HGAR session was the first of two public hearings on the recently released Draft Environmental Impact Statement on the new bridge project that found no adverse environmental impact. The Feb. 28 public hearing was held at the Palisades Center in West Nyack. On March 1, a session was scheduled at the Westchester Marriott in Tarrytown.
Proponents of the project were expected to be out in force for the project that is expected to create more than 10,000 construction jobs and thousands of other jobs. Also predicted to have large contingents at the sessions are those that are pushing state and federal officials to have some form of mass transit (bus rapid transit or commuter rail) be part of the bridge project upon completion. Among those mass transit advocates are Westchester County Executive Robert Astorino and Rockland County Executive C. Scott Vanderhoeff.
On Feb. 7, the New York State Thruway Authority and the New York State Department of Transportation announced they had selected four design-build consortiums as qualified bidders for the new bridge project.
State officials reported that a request for proposals (RFP) would be issued to the four bidders in coming weeks. Thruway Authority officials noted that a total of five design-build partnerships expressed interest in the new Tappan Zee Bridge project, but only four were deemed qualified based on what they said was a “thorough multiagency technical review.” The identity of the firm not deemed qualified was not released.
The four groups that will be sent RFPS for the project are:
Hudson River Bridge Constructors
(a group including Dragados USA, Inc., Flatiron Constructors, Inc., Samsung C&T, E&C Americas, Inc., and Yonkers Contracting Company, Inc.)
Kiewit-Skanska-Weeks Joint Venture
(Kiewit Infrastructure Co., Skanska USA Civil Northeast Inc., and Weeks Marine, Inc.)
Tappan Zee Bridge Partners, a Bechtel/Tutor Perini Joint Venture
(Bechtel Infrastructure Corporation and Tutor Perini Corporation)
Tappan Zee Constructors
(Fluor Enterprises, Inc., American Bridge Company, Granite Construction Northeast, Inc., and Traylor Bros., Inc.)
In relation with the new bridge project, the New York State Department of Transportation announced that Trevcon Construction Company, Inc. of Liberty Corner, NJ was the apparent low bidder at $17.9 million for test pile installation across the Hudson River as part of the Tappan Zee Hudson River Crossing project. Work has already begun on the pile project.
Pepe explained that the design of the new bridge would either be an arch style or “cable-stay” with two towers. Both design options would be a twin span (two decks) each featuring four 12-foot traffic lanes (for a total of eight lanes), a left shoulder and emergency access, a right shoulder, and barriers along the decks’ edges. The left and right shoulders would serve as disabled vehicle lanes. The left shoulder would also provide emergency vehicle access. A bicycle lane would also be provided.
He also noted that the expedited project is being advanced under the “Design- Build” process, which was passed by the New York State legislature last year, where the private sector competes to offer the most innovative, cost effective designs for the new bridge. Rather than the state mandating a specific bridge design and construction method, qualified firms are now competing on their respective designs for the replacement bridge. The designbuild process permits an expedited construction schedule compared to traditional state contracting, and offers significant cost savings with less risk to state taxpayers of design changes and resulting cost overrun, state officials have said.
In October 2011, President Barrack Obama announced that the Tappan Zee Bridge project was one of 14 megaprojects across the nation to be fast-tracked in an expedited approval process. The project team, which includes the Federal Highway Administration, the New York State Department of Transportation and the New York State Thruway Authority (the owner of the bridge that connects Rockland and Westchester counties), are now working on the environmental approvals and design for a new span to be built just to the north of the existing structure. The project team issued a Request for Qualifications to interested contractors in November of 2011.
The Federal Highway Administration, which is now spearheading the project, rescinded the prior environmental studies that were underway, which included a number of designs for a new span as well as bus rapid transit and commuter rail to be possibly incorporated into the project. Cost estimates ranged from $8 billion to $16 billion for a full build-out that included commuter rail in a more than 30-mile study area that began in Suffern and ended in Port Chester. Instead, the new fast-tracked study now involves a little more than three miles from Nyack to Tarrytown, and is focused solely on building a new bridge that “does not preclude transit in the future.”
“Until last October, it would have been a safe bet that a new crossing would not be started or built for at least a five to 10-year period,” Pepe said. “The (prior) process that was engaged had reached nearly a decade with little movement to success.”
He charged that the prior study involved a 30-mile area and included bus and commuter rail options with little financing available to fund the nearly $20 billion project.
The expedited plan could allow a groundbreaking for this project to be held prior to Election Day in November.
Pepe said that under the new plan the state has been or will be applying for approximately $3 billion in federal (TIFA) loans and TIGER grants. The balance of the project will be financed via traditional bonding (likely to be issued by the bridge’s owner The New York State Thruway Authority) and toll increases. State officials have also said that pension fund and other private investment could be possible.
The New York State Department of Transportation has hired Jeffrey A. Parker Associates of Philadelphia to provide financial advice and analysis on the financing of the new span. A report on financing options is expected to be released soon.
Pepe later in the day was part of a press conference orchestrated by ReplaceTheTZBridgeNow. org, a statewide coalition of major employers, transportation professionals, civil engineers, and labor organizations representing more than 300,000 employees and 15,000 employers, in support of the expedited bridge plan.
In a press statement, Pepe said, “Based on the assessment of the project’s limited funding opportunities for the foreseeable future, the decision to exclude the complete build out of a mass transit program was a wise decision. Based on the reality of the funding that is now available, the new Tappan Zee Hudson River Crossing Project will not preclude the planning, design, construction or consideration of future transit modes through the TZ corridor. In other words, the final bridge design will not preclude future transit operations
Posted by Paul Adler on Mon, Feb 27, 2012 @ 04:04 PM
With the "recovery" moving forward (slowly), folks are getting back into prudent investing. Prudence demands that investors diversify their portfolios (cash, stocks, bonds, gov't T-Bills, & real estate). Real Estate is a staple that belongs in your investment portfolio.
As a commercial real estate professional with Rand Commercial Services, I would be foolish not to encourage people to take a serious look at moving out of their rental properties, and buying a home while prices & financing are at historic lows. House prices are expected to rise slightly in 2012, but bargains are still abundant. Contact a licensed broker - using a broker will actually save your time & money.
Ask your broker about distressed inventory in your neighborhood. Nobody would be a better owner/investor or landlord than you - WHY? Because you already have a vested interest in making that property work!
Remember-the rental market is hot, and if you own a desirable property purchased at a low price; renting it out could provide a very profitiable return on your investment.
When the "for sale" market heats ups, sell on the upswing, don't wait for the top of the market; you'll get burned. Use the money to pay for college or reduce debt. On the commercial front, the "recovery" is lagging behind the residential comeback. 2012 will be a very interesting transitional period for commercial markets.
More to come about: retail, office, industrial and multi-family real estate investments next time. The face of Commercial Real Estate in Rockland is Changing.
Posted by Paul Adler on Mon, Feb 13, 2012 @ 03:06 PM
The Chamber's 55th Anniversary Celebration:
THANKS to all who made this event a fabulous success!
Chamber President Scott Baird accepts an honorary proclamation from NY State Assemblywoman Ellen Jaffee.
Local officials, business owners, non-profit organizers and leading citizens turned out in numbers on February 2 at the Nyack Seaport to mark the Chamber's 55 years of service to the community.
"We want to thank everyone who made this celebration possible --- and for the outpouring of support for Nyack," said Scott Baird, Chamber President.
Sponsored by the Journal News Media Group and M&T Bank, the event included proclamations from Nyack Village, Rockland County and the New York State Assembly. Harriet Cornell, Chairwoman of the Rockland County Legislature, officially declared February 2 "Chamber of Commerce of the Nyacks Day."
An evening of honors --- and fun!
John Costa, local businessman, attorney and civic leader, accepted the Chamber's "Citizen of the Year" award, and Victoria Hertz from the Edward Hopper Art Center accepted the award for "Event of the Year."
The evening's entertainment featured Broadway hits performed by local artists Rita Harvey, John Patrick Schutz and Brian Walters, along with a slideshow of historic photos of Nyack compiled by the Nyack Historical Society and the Local History Room of the Nyack Library.
"It was a great turnout --- and a fantastic tribute to the commitment we all have to keeping Nyack strong and vibrant," said Baird. "Our goal is simple: to bring people to Nyack."
With special thanks to...
Additional support for the event was provided by the Nyack Seaport and Best Western Nyack. The Village of Nyack, Harrington Press, Tappan Zee Florist, graphic artist Hilary Sweeney and photographer Terence Lynch at www.StudioElevenOnline.com
View the photos.
Click here to view and/or download the gala photos: Chamber Gala Photos
Upcoming events:
The Chamber's next event is a Merchant's Meeting set for March 13 from 5:30 to 7:00 pm at Hudson House on Main Street in Nyack. Details on our full schedule of After Hours meetings to come!
*************************************************
NOTE: If you haven't yet joined The Nyack Chamber, you might take the opportunity now by clicking here: Chamber Membership 2012.
Please also like The Chamber on Facebook by clicking here:
Scott Baird, President/Chair
Chamber Offices: 845-353-2221
email: pam@nyackchamber.org
Posted by Paul Adler on Mon, Feb 13, 2012 @ 11:14 AM
Four finalists for the Tappan Zee Bridge rebuilding contract are collaborations of engineering and development companies that range from local entities to multinational corporations.
The finalists were announced Feb. 7 by the state Thruway Authority and Department of Transportation (DOT). Contractors submitted statements of qualifications that were reviewed by technical evaluation teams representing the Thruway Authority, DOT, Metropolitan Transportation Authority and Federal Highway Administration.
The four finalists are:
- Hudson River Bridge Contractors, a group including Dragados USA Inc., Flatiron Constructors Inc., Samsung C&T, E&C Americas Inc., and Yonkers Contracting Co. Inc.
- Kiewit-Skanska-Weeks Joint Venture, including Kiewit Infrastructure Co., Skanska USA Civil Northeast Inc., and Weeks Marine Inc.
- Tappan Zee Bridge Partners, including Bechtel Infrastructure Corp. and Tutor Perini Corp. in New Rochelle.
- Tappan Zee Constructors, a group including Fluor Enterprises Inc., American Bridge Co., Granite Construction Northeast Inc., and Traylor Bros. Inc.
Several companies among the finalists have worked previously on the Tappan Zee Bridge, including Tutor Perini, which is currently in the finishing stages of a deck resurfacing project.
The four groups were selected on the basis of several criteria, including prior experience with projects of this scale, past performance records, a familiarity with design-build construction projects, financial capability and environmental compliance records.
The next step will be for each of the finalists to submit a design-build proposal to the state after it issues a formal request for proposals, expected in late February or early March.
Representatives of the four finalists could not be reached prior to press time.
The state Legislature last year authorized the use of a design-build procedure, which enables prospective developers to submit design plans rather than having the state mandate specific design and construction methods for public works projects. The legislation allows projects like the Tappan Zee Bridge to be expedited, reducing the risk of delays due to design changes.
Ross J. Pepe, president of the Construction Industry Council of Westchester and Hudson Valley Inc., called the announcement of four finalists “a major step forward to advance the replacement of the aging Tappan Zee Bridge” and touted the design-build procedure for streamlining the bridge planning process.
The state and federal agencies coordinating the process have not disclosed more details regarding how the estimated $5.2-billion bridge project will be financed.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo in his executive budget proposal outlined an economic development plan that includes billions of dollars in infrastructure funding from state authorities and private funding sources.
Posted by Paul Adler on Tue, Feb 07, 2012 @ 10:22 AM
ALBANY – New York State and federal transportation agencies are committed to an aggressive approval timeline that could end in the start of construction of a new multi-billion dollar Tappan Zee Bridge by the late summer or early fall of this year.
On January 24, the New York State Department of Transportation and the New York State Thruway Authority jointly released the Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the Tappan Zee Bridge project. The DEIS concluded that there would be no adverse impacts with the construction of a new span that would not preclude a mass transit component in the future.
While a host of business and political leaders commented favorably on the expedited plan by the Obama and Cuomo administrations to build a new span, a number of local politicians, including Westchester County Executive Robert Astorino and Rockland County Executive C. Scott Vanderhoef have repeatedly called for mass transit to be included in the initial construction of the new bridge. Proponents of the expedited plan argue that including mass transit now would add years of delay and billions of dollars to the cost of the project.
Major highlights of the DEIS report included: the construction duration is anticipated to range from 3 to 5½ years, and the construction cost is anticipated to run from $3.5 to $5 billion. Using the Design Build project delivery method, a construction duration of 4½- to 5½ years was assumed, and the construction cost was estimated at $4.64 billion (in 2012 dollars). The total number of construction job generated by the project is estimated at 14,094. Over the estimated five-year construction build-out, the project would directly generate an average of 2,819 fulltime workers per year.
“New York has spent a decade talking, studying, and meeting about how to replace this vital bridge,” said NYSDOT Commissioner Joan McDonald. “But under Governor Cuomo’s leadership we have been able to make significant progress in building a new Tappan Zee Bridge. The governor’s expedited timeline has accelerated this project, which will create jobs and generate much needed economic development opportunities in the Hudson Valley. At the same time, the study does not rule out mass transit options. Now that we understand the environmental effects of reconstructing the bridge, it is time to start laying out real construction plans.”
Thomas Madison, executive director of the Thruway Authority, added, “The completed DEIS represents the remarkable team effort that is quickly becoming a hallmark of the new Tappan Zee Bridge Project. Leadership from Governor Cuomo and support from President Obama have enabled the Thruway Authority, NYSDOT, and the Federal Highway Administration to work in a focused, collaborative way to meet this critical deadline and maintain project momentum.”
The agencies announced that comments on the DEIS will be accepted until March 15, and public hearings will be held in Westchester and Rockland counties in late February. New York met the January 19 deadline to submit the DEIS to the federal government, state officials said. The replacement bridge will have eight traffic lanes as opposed to the current seven, and feature two breakdown lanes that could also be used to accommodate transit or other transportation purposes, state officials said. Additionally, unlike the current structure, it will include pedestrian and bicycle lanes.
A host of politicians from the region expressed their support of the DEIS and expedited plan in statements included in the state-issued press release, including: Rep. Nan Hayworth, Rep. Nita Lowey, Rep. Eliot Engel, State Senators Suzi Oppenheimer and Andrea Stewart-Cousins, Assemblywoman Ellen Jaffee, Assemblymen Robert J. Castelli, George Latimer and Kenneth Zebrowski, Westchester County Board of Legislators Chairman Ken Jenkins, Rockland County Legislature Chairwoman Harriet Cornell, Yonkers Mayor Mike Spano, and Christopher St. Lawrence, supervisor of the Town of Ramapo.
Marsha Gordon, president and CEO of the Business Council of Westchester, said, “Today’s Environmental Impact Study takes us one step further towards completing Governor Cuomo’s bold plan to aid in the reconstruction of the Tappan Zee Bridge which needs to provide a cohesive transportation network for the region and north-east mobility. Today’s announcement provides a concrete timetable for when improvements will begin, and how the new bridge will differ from its antiquated predecessor. This project also provides thousands of job opportunities for the region and state.”
Al Samuels, president and CEO of the Rockland Business Association, said, “For too long the Tappan Zee Bridge has been rapidly decaying and government has done nothing. The Governor’s Environmental Impact Study demonstrates significant progress in rebuilding one of New York’s most essential bridges. The governor’s expedited plan to replace the obsolete Tappan Zee Bridge, generates much needed job creation and economic development in Rockland and Westchester. It is clear that anyone who opposes the Governor’s plan is directly opposing jobs in the Hudson Valley. I commend Governor Cuomo for his bold plan which will facilitate safer and faster transit to help rebuild our economy.”
NYSDOT and NYSTA are currently reviewing statements of qualifications that were submitted by prospective contractors as of a January 10 deadline. A short list of qualified bidders will be identified by the agencies on January 31. The project team is scheduled to publish the final Environmental Impact Statement, which would include the selection of the bridge design, in June 2012. It will announce the selection of the Design/Build contractor by July 2012 and reach a Record of Decision, execute the Design/Build contract and issue a Notice to Proceed to the winning contractor by August 2012.
In October 2011, President Obama announced that the Tappan Zee Bridge project, which had been mired in more than 10 years of study with no end in sight, was one of 14 mega-projects across the nation to be fast-tracked in an expedited approval process. At that time, the Federal Highway Administration, which is now spearheading the project, rescinded the prior environmental studies that were underway, which included a number of designs for a new span as well as bus rapid transit and commuter rail to be possibly incorporated into the project. Cost estimates ranged from $8 billion to $16 billion for a full build-out that included commuter rail in a 35-mile study area that began in Suffern and ended in Port Chester. Instead, the new fast-tracked study now involves a little more than three miles from Nyack to Tarrytown and is focused solely on building a new bridge that “does not preclude transit in the future.”
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